
Dr Sue Jackson
Performance and Wellbeing Psychologist, Author and Consultant
Speaker's biography
Dr Sue Jackson is an experienced psychologist and scholar with a particular focus on performance excellence and wellbeing. Sue is a registered psychologist and full member of the College of Sport and Exercise Psychology in the Australian Psychological Society (APS). With a PhD in sport psychology, and many years’ experience as a practitioner in psychology and performance coaching, Sue has an extensive tool kit from which to draw on to help create positive change and direction in people’s lives. Sue brings an extensive scholarly background in psychological aspects of performance and well-being. Sue has examined a range of issues and topics within psychology, including motivation, self-concept, stress and coping, optimal performance states, and the psychological experiences associated with performing to a high level. The primary emphasis of Sue’s work has been the application of flow theory to understanding experience, and enhancing performance, of individuals in various tasks and settings. Sue is an internationally recognised expert in the study and application of flow state to performance and experience. Sue started researching the flow concept in the late 1980’s, and her academic and applied work has helped to make the flow state both understandable and accessible to all levels of performers. Sue has published extensively on flow, including, with her mentor, and the founder of flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Flow in Sports: The Keys to Optimal Experiences and Performances”. In addition to a Hons (First Class), MSc, and PhD degrees, Sue is a mindfulness practitioner, and she incorporates both western psychological approaches and eastern spiritual traditions to her mindfulness practice and teaching. Sue has a life-long love of sport, and is presently chasing flow in open-water swimming.