dr ash king
Psychologist. Researcher. Writer. Speaker.
full-time human.
Dr Ash King is a psychologist, researcher, writer and workplace wellbeing expert specialising in the psychology of work, creativity and being human.
Her work explores what helps people function well in the places where life gets complicated: under pressure, inside relationships, through uncertainty, alongside other humans, and increasingly, alongside technology.
With a PhD focused on authenticity, identity and online self-presentation, Ash has a particular interest in the relationship between who we are and how we work. Her expertise spans workplace wellbeing, psychological safety, sustainable performance, burnout, communication & conflict, creativity, leadership, motivation and the changing value of human skills in an increasingly AI-shaped world.
Psychology, meet the real world.
Ash’s career has never followed the traditional psychologist’s path.
Before psychology, she worked across music, media and creative industries, experiences that gave her an enduring fascination with the relationship between creativity, identity, ambition and wellbeing.
Today, she works at the intersection of psychology and industry, helping people and organisations understand not only how to respond when things go wrong, but how to create ways of working that are healthier, more human and sustainable in the first place.
As Mental Health Content & Programs Lead at Support Act, Ash develops and delivers psychological education and wellbeing initiatives across Australia’s music and creative industries. Her work brings her into rooms with everyone from emerging creatives and production workers to managers, executives and global organisations.
Through her independent work, she brings that expertise to organisations and industries navigating their own versions of the same profoundly human problems.
Because burnout isn’t exclusive to creatives. Neither are difficult colleagues, impossible deadlines, identity crises, uncertainty, ambition, conflict or the occasional desire to throw your laptop into the sun.
From creative industries to corporate rooms.
Ash has designed and delivered workshops, training, keynotes, panels, resources and psychologically informed content for organisations across technology, entertainment, arts and culture, education and corporate environments.
Her experience includes work with organisations such as Spotify, Amazon, Pinterest, Linktree, Live Nation, Universal Music, Sony Music, Mushroom, UNIFIED Music Group, MONA, and Galleries & Museums NSW, alongside universities and educational institutions including UNSW, the University of Sydney, COLLARTS and the Australian Institute of Music.
She has spoken and facilitated conversations at industry and academic events including SXSW Sydney, BIGSOUND, Indie-Con and Psychology of Technology in Los Angeles.
Ash is particularly sought out for her ability to hold conversations that are complex, sensitive or psychologically loaded without making them clinical, frightening or painfully earnest.
Human after all.
Ash’s doctoral research examined authenticity, identity and the ways we present ourselves online.
That work has acquired a strange new relevance.
As AI increasingly changes how we communicate, create and work, Ash is interested in a question that sits underneath much of the technological conversation:
What becomes more valuable about being human when machines can increasingly replicate what humans produce?
Her current work explores authenticity, creativity, connection, identity and the distinctly human capabilities that matter in an AI-mediated world.
Rather than positioning technology and humanity as opponents, Ash is interested in how we can use new tools without outsourcing the qualities that make work meaningful in the first place.
Curiosity. Judgement. Creativity. Connection. Empathy. Humour. Imperfection.
The messy stuff.
Heavy Mental
Ash is also the founder of Heavy Mental, a psychology and wellbeing platform created for creative minds and people who have never particularly identified with beige wellness culture.
Heavy Mental brings psychology into conversations about creativity, burnout, identity, relationships, work and the general business of possessing a human brain.
She also created and hosts Interfering Neurotic, a podcast exploring psychology, culture and the peculiar ways people think, feel and behave.
Work with Ash
Ash works with organisations through three core areas:
SPEAK
Keynotes, conference presentations, panels, expert conversations and psychologically informed facilitation.
TRAIN
Workshops, intensives and organisational programs spanning sustainable performance, psychological safety, communication, leadership, creativity and high-pressure work.
ADVISE
Workplace wellbeing consultation, program and learning design, psychologically informed resources and expert content development.
Her work can be delivered in person or online and tailored to the needs, pressures and culture of individual organisations.
For speaking, training, advisory or media enquiries, get in touch.