Nicky Abdinor
Workforces are tired of resilience training that hands them a checklist and treats wellbeing as a perk. They want substance: how a person actually thinks their way through pressure, setback, and constraint, and what inclusion looks like when the room contains real difference rather than a slogan.
Nicky Abdinor is a South African clinical psychologist and keynote speaker who helps organisations build resilience, optimism and inclusion through clinically grounded psychology rather than motivational generalities.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Nicky Abdinor
- Clinical credibility behind the message: trained in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy at the Albert Ellis Institute and in Schema Therapy, with twenty years in practice, so the resilience content is therapy-grade rather than motivational.
- A live demonstration of inclusion that reframes how teams talk about disability: born without arms and with shortened legs, she founded Nicky’s Drive to fund vehicle adaptations across South Africa, and the lived case sharpens every claim she makes about ability and adjustment.
- Recognised authority on the speaking circuit: 2022 Speakers Hall of Fame recipient from PSASA and a TEDxTableMountain speaker whose “Driving Dreams” talk drew international engagements across Europe, the USA, the Middle East and Australia.
- Eight years lecturing psychology at Varsity College, which means the frameworks she teaches travel from keynote stage into workshop and masterclass formats without losing rigour.
Biography highlights
- Registered Clinical Psychologist, HPCSA PS0087157, in independent practice for two decades.
- TEDxTableMountain speaker, “Driving Dreams,” November 2013.
- 2022 Speakers Hall of Fame Award, Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa.
- Founder and chairperson of Nicky’s Drive, a registered South African non-profit funding adapted vehicles for people with disabilities.
- Trained at the Albert Ellis Institute (REBT, Primary and Advanced Practicums) and the South African Institute of Schema Therapy.
- Eight years lecturing undergraduate and postgraduate psychology at Varsity College, Cape Town.
Biography
Resilience has become one of the most over-claimed words in corporate language. Most of what passes for resilience training is mood management dressed up as psychology. The clinical version is something else. It is a set of techniques, drawn from cognitive-behavioural therapy, rational emotive behaviour therapy and schema therapy, that change how a person interprets pressure and adversity.
That is the territory Nicky Abdinor works in. Two decades of clinical practice, training accredited by the Albert Ellis Institute in New York, a Diploma in Schema Therapy, and eight years lecturing psychology at Varsity College in Cape Town give her the technical foundation. The keynote work translates that material for non-clinical audiences without softening it.
Her own story sharpens the case. Born without arms and with shortened legs, she has built a private practice, founded the non-profit Nicky’s Drive to fund adapted vehicles for people with disabilities across South Africa, and become one of the most decorated speakers in the region, recognised with the 2022 Speakers Hall of Fame Award by PSASA. Her TEDxTableMountain talk “Driving Dreams” carried that perspective onto international stages.
For organisations, the value is direct. Wellbeing programmes that lean on generic motivation tend to wear off. Abdinor brings the clinical mechanics, the language of cognitive reframe, schema work, and self-compassion, alongside a lived case that makes inclusion feel less like compliance and more like capability. The room leaves with vocabulary it can use the next day.
Key speaking topics
- Resilience and adversity
- Cognitive-behavioural therapy in everyday life
- Optimism and mindset
- Disability inclusion and the abilities of people with disabilities
- Self-compassion and emotional wellbeing
- Mental health in the workplace
- Tolerating uncertainty
Ideal for
- CHROs and wellbeing leads building substantive mental health programmes
- DEI and inclusion teams looking for a credible voice on disability
- Leadership audiences facing prolonged pressure or change fatigue
- Conference programmes seeking a closing keynote that combines clinical content with personal narrative
Audience outcomes
- Plain-language tools from CBT and schema therapy that audiences can apply to their own thinking
- A reframed view of disability and ability that reaches beyond compliance language
- Specific cognitive techniques for tolerating uncertainty and recovering from setback
- Vocabulary for self-compassion that managers can carry into team conversations
- A more demanding standard for what wellbeing content should deliver
Talks
A keynote that interweaves personal narrative with cognitive-behavioural psychology to address adversity, hope and uncertainty.
Key takeaways:
- Self-belief and how to build it deliberately rather than wait for it
- Practical techniques for tolerating uncertainty
- The role of gratitude and bravery as trainable skills
A keynote or interactive masterclass applying CBT and schema therapy principles to resilience and self-compassion.
Key takeaways:
- How schema patterns shape emotional response under pressure
- Self-compassion as a clinical practice, not a slogan
- Tools for emotional attunement that audiences can use the same week
A disability-inclusion keynote that reframes how organisations think about ability, adjustment and contribution.
Key takeaways:
- Practical language for inclusion that moves past compliance framing
- The shift from “Can we do it?” to “How can we do it?”
- What credible disability inclusion looks like in everyday operating decisions