My Mission
To support leaders, teachers and school staff to work together and put staff health and wellbeing at the top of their school's priority list. With a focus on people AND pedagogy, it's my aim to help school staff thrive in both their professional and personal lives, going on to contribute to a positive school culture and influence student outcomes.
The Problem
We’re all so caught up trying to achieve strategic goals that the workload creeps upon us and we don’t have the skills to manage it or balance the immense amount of stress we’re put under in our day-to-day work.
On the one hand, you have stressed-out teachers who struggle to keep up with their workload, set boundaries, and prioritise what’s important.
On the other hand, you have leaders getting so caught up in delivering results they are pushed to prioritise that they sometimes lose sight of the fact that staff aren’t faring well.
Soon, we realise that our results are unlikely to come and we begin losing our valuable resources - our people.
Stressed
Unhappy
Burnt Out
Disengaged
The Solution
We put our people first.
A holistic and integrated approach to school wellbeing seeks to address the root causes of the underlying challenges.
By first identifying exactly where the problem lies and then equipping leaders and school staff with essential skills, tools, and resources designed to support personal wellbeing and address the school’s specific needs, you can begin to build a culture that weaves wellbeing into its everyday ethos.
Take a proactive, not reactive approach to wellbeing and you will create a ripple effect that positively impacts staff wellbeing and engagement, relationships between staff, student learning outcomes, and everything in between!
My Story
I knew I was pushing my limits. In just 3 years’ time, I’d climbed from an entry-level teaching role to a position on the school leadership team. Usually, it takes at least double that time. On the outside, everyone thought I’d ‘made it’. But on the inside, I felt anything but successful.
Before my career, life had been turbulent, to say the least. I’d suffered my fair share of childhood trauma, grief and loss. Alongside chronic stress, I had ongoing gut health issues, battled with eating disorders and poor mental health.
By the time 2018 rolled around, my body had had enough. I discovered I wasn’t able to conceive naturally because of the stress-fest that was the first 30 years of my life. The writing was on the wall. I needed to take a breather before I had a full-blown meltdown.
Never one to give up, I set off on a long journey to healing myself. I read hundreds of books and studies and listened to countless podcasts. I even sought support from specialists and healers. I went on to heal my gut, my trauma, my fertility, and my ‘all-or-nothing’ mindset. I couldn’t believe the incredible results I was seeing.
So, I became certified as a Health and Wellbeing Coach and decided to help teachers, educators and school leaders do the same. Soon, my principal was lending me out to present at other schools on ways staff could look after their personal wellbeing. Eventually, I recognised the need to do more at a school and organisational level and this evolved into my work now as a School Wellbeing Consultant.
Fast forward to today, and I’ve helped droves of private clients beat burnout and reclaim their health and with my help, Over 40 schools have used my advice and guidance to transform their cultures for the better in the last 18 months alone. Our team has also grown to a group of five hard-working staff, who are committed to working with our growing client base of schools across Australia.
Through my consulting, countless teachers, principals, and school leaders have achieved better whole-school outcomes with dedicated support inside of our Well Led Schools Partnership Program, staff and leadership development sessions and staff wellbeing survey data analysis projects
The Stats
Saying I change lives is one thing. Showing you with quantifiable results, is another.
50+
Schools have worked with us in 2022-2024 as part of our School Partnerships and Staff Wellbeing Survey & Data Analysis Projects
95%
Gave 4-5/5 star reviews for my school consulting services
7 Years
Of professional health & wellness coaching and consultancy experience in schools
14 Years
Working in Education as a consultant, school leader and/or teacher
Meet the Team
Adrienne Hornby
Director & Wellbeing Consultant
School Leader and Teacher
M.Ed (Leadership) Current, B.Ed (Primary) 2010
Livv Bessant
Executive Assistant
B.A. Sports Science, 2023
Elisa DiRito
Content Manager
B.A.Psychology
Kate Parker
Data Assistant
Teacher
B.Ed (Primary) 2010
Muhammad Abdullah
Data Analyst
M.Sc. - Data Science
Rob Lans
Contributing Wellbeing Consultant
School Principal
B.Ed
BOOK A CALL
Kickstart your school's improvement journey today
Fast-track your schools journey to improving staff wellbeing, school culture and student outcomes with tailored school wellbeing consulting.
Why choose me?
Let’s face the facts. There are a lot of the people out there that call themselves health and wellness consultants. Here’s why I’m different.
Walked the walk
I’m no armchair expert. I’ve been through teacher burnout myself. I’ve hit rock-bottom, turned it all around again and came out the other end stronger as a better and well-respected leader. I know what it's really like for teachers on the ground.
Actionable advice
I don’t give band-aid solutions or woo-woo treatments. My tailored approach is rooted in Positive Psychology, up-to-date educational leadership research, and advice from leading Australian wellbeing and mental health organisations.
First-hand Experience
As a school leader myself, I’ve seen first-hand the effects of poor health and wellness of teaching staff and leaders. I provide the support they need to prevent burnout & manage wellbeing that goes beyond encouraging self-care or tokenistic approaches to staff wellbeing.
5-star ratings
Providing a quality service is highly important to me. I survey the leaders and teaching staff after every school wellbeing workshop I deliver, maintaining a 5/5 star rating among 95% of participants.
From Our Clients
A snapshot of just some of the lives I’ve helped turn around.
“The entire staff were engaged in the process and the results and insights were both fascinating and extremely useful to understand and implement.”
“I have had an excellent experience working with Adrienne!
I found the Staff Wellbeing Survey to be a very detailed and a broad-based tool providing staff input on their health and wellness needs.
The entire staff were engaged in the process and the results and insights were both fascinating and extremely useful to understand and implement. The data analysis was extremely insightful, responsive, professional and accommodating.
Not only did it give results but provided realistic recommendations for the development of a solid Wellbeing Action Plan which takes into consideration the unique needs of the staff.”
Val Ciuffetelli
- Assistant Principal, ACT
Adrienne’s survey tools, follow-up reporting, staff workshops and leadership development have opened a whole new perspective, for both my staff and I, on staff wellbeing as being the responsibility of the collective. Adrienne has facilitated the development of a ‘Wellbeing Action Plan’, that is tailored to our staff in our school context, through getting to know and understand how we work and using the PERMA(H) model. Her independent and empathetic ear, partnered with her research, expertise and on-the-ground awareness has been embraced by the entire staff. Our return survey results evidenced growth way beyond my expectations over a 12-month period.
Without reservation, I would highly recommend Adrienne’s Consultancy and guidance. It takes the pressure off the principal to be the one and only. ‘Us and Them’ is now a thing of the past.
Anne
- School Principal
I attended a high quality presentation related to staff wellbeing which Adrienne presented over two days at a conference. She provided a wealth of research-based findings and evidence-backed advice about how to improve schools’ productivity through assisting staff. I highly recommend her as a capable consultant who listens well and walks the talk.
Peter
School Principal
Without a doubt, the most powerful learning staff have done this term.
Adrienne shared her personal journey and supported staff to reflect on ways in which they can change themselves, make wiser choices and harness their potential to improve the quality of their lives and, in turn, those of our students.
It was an incredibly powerful session.
Kate
Deputy Principal, ACT
Our staff were fully engaged in Adrienne’s enjoyable, thought provoking and practical presentation. They each found different things to take away and help them and Adrienne shared a variety of aspects to cater for everyone. Setting her apart were the stories of her own life and how she has overcome many obstacles. Throughout her personal struggles, she found things that worked to keep her positive and she communicated these well. We are excited to explore some of these in more depth with Adrienne throughout next year.
Deb
Principal - Theodore Primary School, ACT
“Adrienne’s manner, organisation, professionalism, knowledge and understanding of staff wellbeing has allowed for positive change in our school community. I have found it the most useful to discuss with staff about big issues and possible actions and solutions for addressing these. These sessions have been so useful in moving forward and meeting the needs of our school. I am looking forward to where our staff wellbeing action plan takes our staff and school.”
Kristy
School Leader, St Clare of Assisi Primary School, ACT
Adrienne has been a blessing in my life. She is always listening and responding, prompting me to think and act in new ways and encourages self-reflection. She sees things from a mature and experienced point of view and backs up her suggestions with evidence and results. I highly recommend Adrienne to those who need advice on any aspect of their health and wellbeing.
Tori
Executive Teacher
Adrienne has worked with our leaders and staff in the professional development space. She is extremely informative and motivating. Her presentations are practical and hands on. I look forward to working with Adrienne again in the near future. I highly recommend her for your individual self or workplace.
Christina H
Deputy Principal, Barmedman Primary School, NSW
Thank you for your friendly and approachable facilitation of our whole school scan. We felt the timing of the session was appropriate and encouraged feedback from each member. The session gives us an overview of feedback to date with time and support to unpack the information for our context. It was so useful to compare our data with other schools to see where we are on our journey. I liked the guidance received to review our data and make connections.
Yvette
Deputy Principal
Adrienne is an excellent facilitator. Her background in Education was evident and very relevant. The gallery walk was an excellent way to unite all staff. It was the best PD I have been to in 10 years! I will be recommending Adrienne’s workshops to my friends in leadership roles.
Chanelle
Teacher
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