The Resilience Institute

Research-based resilience training

Contact Us

The Resilience Institute was founded in 2002 in New Zealand by Dr Sven Hansen. Our mission is to deliver high impact, practical, evidence-based and integrated resiliency training by bringing together modern preventative medicine, positive psychology, emotional intelligence, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and neuroscience.

Our programs are available in the United States as face-to-face workshops, high-impact learning labs and scalable on-demand digital training. All of our resiliency training is measurable using the Resilience Diagnostic.

With teams across the world, we are well-positioned to deliver effective programs to organisations looking for sustainable human performance and employee wellbeing.

408-680-5150

brad.hook@resiliencei.com

Meet the Resilience Institute US team

  • Dr Sven Hansen
    Dr Sven Hansen
    Founder
  • Bradley Hook
    Bradley Hook
    General Manager
  • Declan Scott
    Declan Scott
    Senior Consultant, New Zealand
  • Justin Schaefer
    Justin Schaefer
    Facilitator, North America
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Dr Sven Hansen
Founder

Dr Sven Hansen is the founder of The Resilience Institute. From a medical family, Sven joined Pathfinders, a special forces team in South Africa, before completing medicine.  His passion for sport and flow took him into sports medicine and a personal practice in resilience.

Asking if organisations might be interested in applying sports science to good business and leadership, Sven began a corporate health business in 1988. He completed his MBA in 1993 and set about building an evidence-based, integral and practical solution to sustainable performance in life, sport and business.

Over 20 years Sven has worked extensively with High Performance Sport, professional firms, banks, corporates, government, entrepreneurship, universities, and schools.  He leads the development of The Resilience Institute’s methodology and is an experienced executive coach, keynote speaker and leadership trainer.

He has a specific interest in developing leadership teams and the application of biological principles to leadership, strategy and resilience in the community. Sven lives in Auckland with Susan and their two children. He is a keen surfer, paddler and kitesurfer.

See Sven in action delivering a keynote presentation.

Sven’s latest articles, videos and book reviews.

sven.hansen@resiliencei.com
Phone: +64 21 730 995
Postal Address:
PO Box 28-123, Remuera
Auckland, New Zealand

Bradley Hook
General Manager

Brad is General Manager of the Resilience Institute.

He has worked internationally in South Africa, London and Sydney, before moving to New Zealand. His background is in technology, design, analytics and marketing, with a focus on growth and innovation. Brad has created a number of learning tools, including meCentral.com, used by companies such as SAP, Ernst & Young, 3 Mobile, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and more.

At the Resilience Institute, Brad is focused on helping people realise their potential through the development of practical, evidence-based resilience skills.

Brad’s writing has been featured in international business and travel magazines, including several cover stories, and his non-fiction book Surfing Life Waves made it onto the Amazon bestseller list (for Philosophy) in 2012.

Brad is a dedicated resilience practitioner who enjoys surfing, trail running and videography. He lives in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, with partner Geniya and his daughter, Anastasia.

brad.hook@resiliencei.com
Phone NZ: (+64) 021 367 654
Phone USA: (+1) 408-680-5150

Declan Scott
Senior Consultant, New Zealand

Declan joined the Resilience team in 2015 and brings practical experience from both the professional practice field across a number of countries to hands on business knowledge in owning and growing a business from Startup stage. He is dedicated to helping change the culture of business by inspiring a renewed sense of purpose and creativity in the workplace.

Declan is a former Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland and has worked internationally as a corporate tax advisor prior to moving to New Zealand in 2005. He is one of the original founders of SHE Universe group in Christchurch. Declan has held various lecturing positions at a number of universities in Australia and New Zealand and is also a recognised keynote speaker and workshop facilitator.

declan.scott@resiliencei.com
Phone: +64 27 695 8922

Justin Schaefer
Facilitator, North America

Justin Schaefer is an accredited resilience practitioner. As a global executive with 20+ years of experience excelling in leadership roles with Sales, Finance, HR, IT, and Project Management, he brings a highly relevant perspective and message for those aspiring to thrive through adversity, sustain performance and lead stronger.

As a truly global leader, Justin has successfully built and led cross-functional and cross-cultural teams worldwide. He began his resilience journey while on an expat assignment in China. While some of our simpler bounce back strategies were already in place and being practised, the experience allowed him to identify and fill in gaps, overcome weaknesses and excel in a highly visible and demanding role. Continuing his work in fast-moving, complex and changing, publicly traded companies; with high delivery, execution and performance expectations, practising resilience has become a way of life for Justin.

His dynamic and engaging style enables him to translate his life experiences into evidence-based, practical, and integrated methods that teach how to measurably improve and sustain performance. Leaders from many backgrounds, cultures and countries find him easily relatable and can quickly connect with his personal experiences and background.

When Justin and his fiancé aren’t raising their 6 teenagers, he enjoys a broad range of hobbies from fitness, travel, photography and outdoor sports.