Psychological science. Proven under pressure.
About Dr Ben Robbins
Dr Ben Robbins brings together three perspectives that rarely exist in one person: the expertise of a Clinical Psychologist, the lived experience of a decade as a professional AFL footballer, and years of helping organisations improve performance, safety and wellbeing.
That combination of lived experience, clinical training and practical delivery is what makes Ben's work different.
Holding a PhD in Clinical Psychology, Ben has spent more than 25 years working across elite sport, corporate organisations and blue-collar industries. Everything Ben delivers is grounded in psychological science and translated into practical, evidence-based strategies that people can use immediately.
Whether working with professional athletes, frontline workers or executive leaders, his focus is the same: helping people think clearly, make better decisions and perform consistently when it matters most.
Ph D
Clinical Psychology · AHPRA registered psychologist
10
AFL seasons
25+
years in high-performance environments across sport, industry and psychology
3
AFL clubs in leadership, psychology and wellbeing.
Ben's career started where the spotlight is brightest and least forgiving, spending 10 seasons playing AFL football at the highest level.
Competing at the AFL level teaches you things you can't learn anywhere else, including what sustained performance actually requires.
From the football field to the front line.
There are only three things you can train — your body, your craft, and your mind. Most people spend their entire careers on the first two and wonder why they plateau under pressure.
After football, Ben spent a decade inside Toll Group, one of Australia's largest transport and logistics businesses. Four years in Operations, six years in Learning and Development.
That decade is what makes Ben's blue-collar work different. He didn't learn about frontline industries from a textbook. He learned by being in them.
Ben returned to study to pursue clinical psychology at doctorate level, a PhD in Clinical Psychology, with clinical placements across Swinburne Psychology Clinic, The Mind Room, Albert Road Clinic's addictions program, and Men's Anger Management at Swinburne University. This gives Ben the ability to translate good science into practical tools.
Alongside that training, Ben spent nearly seven years as a Program Facilitator with Smiling Mind. Australia's most widely used mindfulness and mental wellbeing platform. Tens of thousands of participants. Schools, corporates, public events of 1,000+.
The academic foundation and what it's actually for.
Ben has worked across three AFL clubs in leadership, psychology and wellbeing roles — first at North Melbourne as a Player Leadership Consultant, then leading Mental Health & Wellbeing at St Kilda FC, and as Head of Psychology & Wellbeing at Essendon FC.
Working inside an AFL club demands clinical depth, performance psychology, crisis support, leadership development, and the political and cultural intelligence to operate inside a high-pressure organisation under public scrutiny.
Inside the AFL over a decade at the highest level.
An AFL dressing room and a logistics depot have more in common than most people think. High pressure. Practical culture. No patience for anything that doesn't work.
What he has learned inside AFL clubs is exactly what makes Ben effective with corporate teams, frontline workforces and young athletes, because the underlying principles of performance under pressure are universal.
CAREER TIMELINE
30 years. Six very different worlds.
From the Brisbane Lions to Toll Group to Smiling Mind to Essendon FC — the breadth and depth of Ben's career is what makes his perspective genuinely different.
AFL Footballer — Brisbane Lions
Six seasons with the Brisbane Lions (1995–2001). Competing at the highest level of Australian football — learning what sustained performance under pressure, public scrutiny and team culture actually demand from the inside.
AFL Footballer — North Melbourne Football Club
Final seasons of Ben's playing career at North Melbourne (2002–2004). Two AFL clubs across nine seasons.
Operations & Learning Development — Toll Holdings
Ten years working inside one of Australia's largest transport and logistics companies.
Player Leadership Consultant
Returned to North Melbourne working on player leadership development while completing clinical training.
PhD + Clinical Placements & Smiling Mind
Doctorate-level clinical training across multiple settings and nearly seven years as Program Facilitator.
Head of Mental Health & Wellbeing
Leading mental health and wellbeing across the football club supporting players, coaches and staff.
Head of Psychology & Wellbeing
Leading the psychology and wellbeing function at one of the AFL's most prominent clubs.
What Ben believes about mental fitness and how he delivers it.
Philosophy & approach
Ben's philosophy is simple: the mind is trainable, and the same rigorous attention we give to physical training and skill development should be given to developing the internal management systems we need to perform under pressure.
That belief shapes everything about how programs are designed — the content, the language, the measurement, and the delivery. Mental fitness isn't a soft skill. It's a capability that can be built, practised, and measured.
And crucially, it's not therapy. Ben draws a clear line: his programs are proactive performance tools, not crisis support.
Every program is built on validated psychological research not intuition, not trends, not motivational content. The tools used are the ones the science says work.
Evidence first, always
The best psychoeducation is useless if it stays in the seminar room. Every session delivers something participants can use that day not a concept to think about, but a skill to practise.
Practical over theoretical
Jargon is a barrier. Whether Ben is working with AFL players, truck drivers, corporate executives or young athletes, the language adapts while the rigour stays constant.
Language that fits the room
The mental skills that help someone perform better at work are the same ones that help them be a better parent, partner and person.
The whole person, not just the worker
Ben's programs are consistently rated 9+ out of 10. That's partly because they work, but it's also because Ben expects scepticism, respects it, and knows how to meet it.
Sceptics are welcome
QUALIFICATIONS & REGISTRATION
The formal credentials.
Ben is a registered psychologist operating within the standards and advertising guidelines set by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). His clinical training is at doctorate level.
PRIMARY QUALIFICATION
PhD — Clinical Psychology
Doctorate-level clinical psychology training. The highest academic qualification in the field, involving advanced clinical practicum, supervised clinical hours and independent research.
PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION
AHPRA Registered Psychologist
Registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Bound by the Code of Conduct and advertising guidelines that govern all registered psychologists in Australia.
RECENT ROLES
Head of Psychology & Wellbeing
Leading the leadership, psychology and wellbeing function at AFL level for 15 years — active, current practice at the highest level of performance sport in Australia.
Clinical training — broad foundation
Swinburne Psychology Clinic, The Mind Room, Albert Road Clinic (addictions program), Men's Anger Management at Swinburne University, and private practice at Connected Minds.
Smiling Mind — Program Facilitator
Nearly seven years (2017–2024) as a Program Facilitator with Smiling Mind — Australia's most widely used mindfulness and mental wellbeing platform.
