Dean Yates

Dean Yates shares his lived experience of trauma, PTSD and moral injury with honesty, insight and hope.

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"Dean’s credibility and value lies in his knowledge about the topics but even more from his lived experience both with trauma and trying to shift organizational culture around mental health. His uniqueness lies in the stories he shares, how he transmits them as well as his capacity to listen to what participants have to say and to the questions they ask with curiosity and compassion. He is respectful and flexible as a trainer and is able to tune into and shift to what participants need, at any moment. He is collaborative and challenging at the same time which makes him a valuable colleague. He is always willing to go the extra mile because of his dedication and passion for what he does ."

Kim Brice, co-founder

The Self-Investigation Media Foundation

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Why you should book Dean Yates for your next event!

Former Reuters bureau chief who turned his lived trauma into powerful lessons on resilience and healing.
Acclaimed author of Line in the Sand, praised by global mental health experts.
Inspires audiences with authentic stories of recovery, courage and systemic change.

Non-binding request for Dean Yates

Author, journalist and leading voice on trauma, PTSD and moral injury

Dean Yates is a powerful and deeply authentic speaker on mental health, trauma and moral injury. A former Reuters bureau chief who covered some of the world’s most devastating events, Dean now dedicates his life to improving mental wellbeing and understanding in workplaces and communities. Through his acclaimed memoir Line in the Sand and his engaging talks, he explores how trauma impacts individuals and organizations and how recovery, purpose and hope can emerge from even the darkest experiences. Audiences connect instantly with Dean’s honesty and practical insights, making him one of the most compelling voices on mental health today.

From journalist to advocate

Dean Yates spent more than two decades with Reuters, covering some of the world’s most significant and traumatic stories. As bureau chief, he led teams through crises such as the Bali bombings, the Boxing Day tsunami in Aceh, and the Iraq War. These experiences took a deep personal toll, ultimately leading to his own diagnosis of PTSD and moral injury. Instead of stepping away from the field, Dean used his insight to design and implement Reuters’ first mental health strategy, supporting over 2,500 journalists worldwide.

A journey through trauma and recovery

Dean’s personal journey is central to his message. Between 2016 and 2018, he was admitted three times to the Ward 17 psychiatric unit in Melbourne, where he received treatment for PTSD and moral injury. His willingness to speak openly about these experiences breaks down stigma and encourages honest conversations about mental health. His story, featured on ABC’s Australian Story in 2023, resonated widely with those facing similar struggles and those seeking to understand them.

The power of Line in the Sand

In 2023, Dean published Line in the Sand, a memoir that has been acclaimed by mental health and trauma professionals worldwide. The book provides an unflinching look at his experiences as a journalist and his path toward healing. It offers insights into the unseen moral challenges faced by reporters, first responders and others who witness human suffering. Dean’s writing not only informs but inspires, showing that recovery and renewal are possible after trauma.

Changing systems and inspiring action

After leaving Reuters in 2020, Dean founded his own workplace mental health consultancy, helping organisations create supportive environments for employees exposed to trauma. His advocacy contributed to significant policy change, including new Tasmanian legislation that recognises PTSD as a presumptive work-related illness for state workers and first responders. This achievement reflects Dean’s commitment to turning lived experience into tangible outcomes that improve lives.

Speaking on moral injury and resilience

Dean Yates is a sought-after keynote speaker for conferences, workplaces, and professional gatherings. His talks on moral injury now recognised in the DSM-5-TR have drawn praise from health professionals, work health and safety experts, and people with lived experience. Dean blends professional insight with personal vulnerability, offering audiences tools to build resilience, foster empathy, and create mentally healthy environments.

Why book Dean Yates for your event

Booking Dean Yates means inviting a voice of authenticity, compassion, and hard-earned wisdom to your stage. His presentations are not about theory they’re grounded in experience and delivered with empathy and clarity. Whether addressing corporate leaders, clinicians, journalists or first responders, Dean leaves audiences with a deeper understanding of trauma, recovery and moral courage.

Through storytelling, evidence-based insights and a quiet strength that comes from lived experience, Dean Yates helps people see that healing is possible, even after unimaginable hardship.

Customer Reviews

Kim Brice, co-founder The Self-Investigation Media Foundation

"We invited Dean to come and share his journey with our team - the format was perfect - it was relaxed, authentic, and engaging. Through his gift of storytelling Dean opened our eyes, minds, and hearts to the reality of the mental health crisis in our community, to the role that we all can play in supporting those around us, and how to better care for our own mental health."

Phil Beeston, General Manager S. Group, Launceston

”We invited Dean to our AGM to talk to members about Mental Health in the workplace, and the importance of disconnecting from work outside of working hours. Dean was an exceptional speaker, sharing his story and experiences in such a thoughtful and generous way that it encouraged many of our members to share their own stories of workplace stress. Dean was engaging, warm and authentic, and really connected with participants in a meaningful way. Dean’s presentation was the highlight for many, and we look forward to working with him again in the future so we can share his gift of storytelling with many more members.”

Alycia Vasilangos, Principal Industrial Officer Local Government Engineers’ Association, NSW

“Dean talks about his severe work-related injury resulting in moral injury with the rigour of his former profession as a foreign correspondent. Unsparing in reflections of his illness and the impact on close relationships, he touches on clinical perspectives and the supports that helped. Altogether, Dean makes a compelling case study on moral injury. Dean has much to offer, especially to organisations at a high risk of moral injury to employees.”

Fiona McCarthy, OH&S and Ergonomics Consultant WorkPS

Keynotes

Keynote by Dean Yates:

An Introduction to moral injury

Moral injury — recently recognised in the DSM-5-TR — is a wound to the soul, a condition that shatters people’s sense of self, their identity, their views of others and sometimes the world. Moral injury has generated growing interest in military circles, first responder communities, healthcare, social assistance, teaching and other frontline roles because it explains the psychological and spiritual impact from transgressions of the self, others or organisations and governments that don’t align with well-established trauma responses such as PTSD.

Dean’s presentation is geared toward frontline occupations; those in leadership positions (govt, NGO or private sector); occupational health and safety, HR & regulators; and clinical & spiritual care teams. Dean talks about his own experience of moral injury; similarities and differences with PTSD; what recognition of moral injury in the DSM-5-TR in Sept 2025 means in practice; moral injury and the workplace; & moral injury prevention and healing.

People get the following from his presentation:

An understanding of moral injury;
An appreciation of why moral injury needs to be factored into the management of psychosocial hazards in the workplace;
Clinicians will better understand clients who might be suffering from moral injury.

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Keynote by Dean Yates:

Healing from trauma and finding meaning in life

Dean takes his audience to some of the biggest news events of the last 25 years. He was one of the first foreign journalists on the scene of the Bali bombings. He covered the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 that killed 166,000 people in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Two of Dean’s staff were killed in Baghdad in 2007 in a U.S. gunship attack, an event known as Collateral Murder after Julian Assange and WikiLeaks released footage of the deadly incident.

A decade later, Dean unravelled. He takes his audience inside the Ward 17 psych unit in Melbourne, where he spent 77 days and nights over a two-year period with veterans and first responders. Dean healed because of his obsession to get better, the support of his family and a mental health system that worked for him.

Dean’s story is inspirational and uplifting.

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