Nigel Latta
Renowned Psychologist, TV presenter, author & documentary producer.
Profile
Born and raised in Oamaru, Nigel first attended Otago University, where he completed an MSc in Marine Science. He then moved to Auckland where he trained as a Clinical Psychologist and graduated with a Master of philosophy with 1st class honours in Psychology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology.
Nigel has worked for the last two decades in a number of agencies including Drug and Alcohol rehabilitation, Sex Offender Treatment Programmes, Family Therapy agencies, Child Youth and Family, Probation Services, and extensively in private practice.
He continues to work as a clinical psychologist in private practice consulting with organizations and agencies from throughout the country, and has lectured on a number of senior courses at the New Zealand Police College.
Author
He has written a novel and seven non-fiction books which are now published in nineteen countries and ten languages.
Media & documentary experience
He presented the critically acclaimed television series “Beyond the Darklands”, which was based on his work as a forensic psychologist. “Beyond the Darklands” ran for five seasons in New Zealand. It has screened in Australia, Sweden, Spain and recently in several Latin American countries. He presented the top rating “Politically Incorrect Guide to…” Series which has run for three seasons in New Zealand, and in 2012 presented the same series for Channel Nine in Australia. In addition to this Nigel has also presented documentaries on how to help children cope after the Christchurch earthquake, and how parents can help teenage drivers stay safe on the road.
Other projects include a documentary series which screened on TVNZ in 2014 and investigated some of the important issues within our society including alcohol, education, sugar/obesity, poverty and inequality, child abuse, crime and punishment. In 2015, he did a six part popular science primetime series titled, “Nigel Latta Blows Stuff Up”.
In 2016, Nigel and two of his colleagues who were instrumental in the making of many of these documentary series, started a production company called Ruckus Media. Ruckus’ first production ‘Mind Over Money’ screened on TVNZ in February 2017. ‘Mind Over Money’ examined the decisions we make about money and ran for two seasons. Ruckus also produced a ground-breaking five part live and interactive TV series called ‘What Next’ which explored how New Zealand might respond to the many challenges of the next twenty years. Nigel co-hosted this series with one of New Zealand’s most respected and award winning journalists, John Campbell. More recently Nigel and the team at Ruckus produced ‘The Curious Mind’, a four part documentary series which explores the wonders of the human brain with the help of Baby X, the world’s most advanced virtual human infant.
Awards
In 2012 Nigel was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to Psychology as part of the Diamond Jubilee Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Keynote speaker
A sought after speaker, Nigel has presented keynotes at a range of industry and corporate conferences both in New Zealand and overseas. His particular gift is blending real world pragmatism, the latest psychological research, and humour in an engaging and thought provoking manner that has relevance to a wide range of audiences and organisations. His specific interests include the psychology of success, dealing with difficult people, mental toughness, decision making skills, leadership, the process of change in an organisation, the ‘myth’ of happiness and stress management.
Media
Feedback
Nigel entertained his audience extremely well, and was a fantastic speaker to end our conference on a very high note. Nigel was very interactive with delegates and was pleasant and easy to talk on the day of his presentation.
Nigel was funny, informative and entertaining. He was well received and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to have him present to us.
Nigel was an excellent closing keynote speaker for our conference. His presentation was light hearted and informative and the delegates left on a high note.
Feedback has been fantastic in regard to Nigel’s presentation. Absolutely on the money, and hit all the marks we had discussed pre-conference. Loved the way he was able to draw into the presentation key points from our other quest speaker as well…brilliant. Nigel was a pleasure to work with. We’d book him again any time.
Nigel was one of the most entertaining speakers we have had for a while and everyone laughed the entire time . He was very professional and his presentation was very much in line with our conference topic His closing was humorous and was a great note to finish with
Such an approachable and friendly guy. Loved his sense of humour. Really related well to everyone.
People really enjoyed him. Not only was the content informative and relevant but Nigel is easy to listen to. He has a sense of humour and down to earth.
Nigel was professional and really hit the nail on the head with the content he delivered for our event. The audience loved him and we enjoyed working with him.
Nigel knew the sector inside out, was positive and approachable to the audience and was an expert on the zoom platform we used.
We are really pleased we chose him to speak. He was everything we wanted - warm, engaging, entertaining. He turned a normally staid AGM into something special.
He was humble, professional and a pleasure to deal with.
To say your speech was a hit would be an understatement. It was perfectly pitched - the right mix of serious advice and hilarious anecdote and was incredibly memorable for an audience who’ve fronted New Zealand’s defence of COVID-19 and are feeling burnt out.
Many of our delegates have mentioned in their survey feedback how much your presentation struck a chord, whether that was for your clear understanding of what they needed, or the levity you spoke with; it was all a marvellous and memorable conference experience.
Thank you again for taking the time to speak on this important topic and ensuring GP21: the conference for general practice was memorable and offered valuable experiences.
Pragmatic and simplistic approach to the philosophy of success.
The presentation was extremely well received. I was impressed with how Nigel engaged with the audience, both during and either side of the presentation. It was evident that he had read the brief and had taken my comments on board.
Nigel was right on the money as always. Adapted well to the brief and his message was 100% on point. Feedback from the team has been full of praise.
Nigel was great! Stayed & chatted to our members during morning tea, very accommodating & nothing was a bother. A true professional, needed no guidance.
