Keynote Speaker | Mental Health Expert | CEO Faresa | Professor VUB | Author
Nele Jacobs is a clinical psychologist, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and expert in mental health. She translates scientific insights into practice and makes complex topics on well-being, leadership, and personal development accessible to executives, managers, and HR professionals.
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Nele Jacobs is a clinical psychologist, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and expert in mental health. She knew by the age of ten that she wanted to become a clinical psychologist. She steadily worked towards that ambition. She earned a Master in Psychology, magna cum laude, at KU Leuven (2006), a Master in Health Sciences (Health Policy, Economics and Management), cum laude, at Maastricht University (2009), a PhD in Biomedical Sciences at Hasselt University (2011), and a postgraduate in Behavioral Therapy at KU Leuven (2013).
At the age of 26, during her doctoral research, she founded Faresa, a company specializing in mental health that helps organizations and individuals achieve better mental health at home and at work. In 2013, Faresa developed the first digital tool for burnout prevention, which has since evolved into AI-driven applications. Today, the company has 16 employees and operates from two Belgian locations in Hasselt and Brussels. Faresa works for companies such as Aperam, Tessenderlo Group, Proximus, VIAS, Nelissen Steenfabrieken, Workplace Options, and Human & Work. Recently, the company completed a successful capital round with support from LRM and BAN Vlaanderen, aiming for further international growth.
Besides her role as an entrepreneur, Nele is a part-time professor of psychology, leadership, and personal development at the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG), stemming from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Vesalius College. Since 2022, she has been the chair of the Board of Directors of the Flemish Association for Behavioral Therapy. She has been working on workplace well-being for over 15 years, delivered more than 37 presentations at national and international conferences, and published over 20 articles in international journals. Additionally, she is affiliated as an expert with Better Minds.
Today, Nele is primarily active as a keynote speaker. She translates scientific insights into practice for executives, managers, and HR professionals, with themes such as mental resilience, female leadership, and evidence-based prevention and reintegration policies. She is also working on her first book, Authentically Ambitious: Discover the Phoenix in You, and remains actively involved through Faresa in the development of digital and AI-driven applications for mental health.
Nele is available for keynotes, workshops, and webinars, in Dutch and English, both in person and online. Additionally, Nele is available as a moderator and facilitator for panels and conferences, and for CBT supervision and training, executive coaching for C-level executives, academic guest lectures and advice, and board advisory.
About mental resilience and bouncing back after setbacks: how to identify your (imaginary) obstacles, and how to rebuild yourself through emotional intelligence and value-driven actions.
Fulfilling ambition in a healthy way: ambition as both a blessing and a curse, grit management, and staying flexible on your ambitious path. Together with The Phoenix in you, also the common thread of her upcoming book Authentically Ambitious: discover the phoenix within you.
Guides HR business partners and directors through mental health issues beyond burnout and stress: recognizing signals, building a support ecosystem, and facilitating reintegration.
Shows how ‘soft skills’ are the strongest driver for modern leadership, and how female leaders combine empathetic connection and psychological safety with decisiveness and result-orientation, supported by fifty years of leadership research and neuroscience.
Provides managers and leaders with a human-centered framework to move from isolated actions to a strong, structural reintegration and prevention policy, including impact measurement and ROI.
An academically supported compass for business leaders: from wellness proliferation to evidence-based prevention and reintegration policy (the match model), with AI as a proportional accelerator for early detection, linked to SDG 3 and SDG 8.
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