Beverly Beuermann-King
Expert. Keynote Speaker. Author. Consultant. Entrepreneur. Leader. Sensei.
The Foundation…From Frontline Reality to Workplace Strategy
Long before workplace mental health became a strategic priority, Beverly Beuermann-King was in the room.
In 1998, she began delivering intensive, six-hour training programs on mental illness and suicide prevention to frontline social service professionals working with the most vulnerable populations through the Canadian Mental Health Association. These programs covered depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders including OCD and PTSD, personality disorders, schizophrenia, and suicide risk,at a depth that exceeded what many physicians at the time received in their general medical training.
These presentations were delivered during a period when mental illness was still widely misunderstood, stigmatized, or quietly avoided. Conversations about suicide were often discouraged out of fear that “talking about it would make it worse.” Personality disorders were labelled as untreatable. Stress was framed as a personal weakness. Leaders were rarely expected to play a role.
Beverly challenged those assumptions.
Her training emphasized education over fear, connection over silence, and practical intervention over avoidance. She taught people how to recognize warning signs, ask direct questions, set clear boundaries, support without rescuing, and protect their own wellbeing while doing difficult work. She embedded hope, not as platitude, but as a strategy.
The Foundation…con’t
As the field evolved, research began to confirm what her work already reflected:
- that asking about suicide does not increase risk
- that recovery is possible, even in complex conditions
- that boundaries protect both helpers and those they support
- that stress, burnout, and/or mental illness is not a personal failure, it is often a systems issue.
- and that culture and leadership matter as much as individual coping
Today, mainstream mental health science has caught up to those early practices. Trauma-informed care, recovery-oriented models, psychological safety, and leader accountability are now widely recognized as best practice.
Beverly didn’t pivot to these ideas—she helped build the bridge to them for public understanding.
What Beverly witnessed repeatedly was this:
crisis rarely appeared out of nowhere.
Long before someone reached a breaking point, there were warning signs: chronic overload, emotional exhaustion, lack of support, poor communication, toxic dynamics, and cultures that rewarded overwork while ignoring recovery. The same patterns surfaced again and again, across roles and organizations.
That insight reshaped the direction of her work.
Today, Beverly’s work focuses on burnout prevention, resiliency, corporate culture, toxicity, and engagement—helping leaders and teams address the root causes of stress before they become crises. She equips organizations with practical, human strategies to reduce mental fatigue, manage difficult behaviours, strengthen connection, and build cultures where people can perform without sacrificing their wellbeing.
Her approach blends psychological literacy, lived experience, and organizational insight. She doesn’t just teach coping skills, she helps leaders understand how expectations, communication, workload, recognition, and behaviour shape mental health every day at work.
The evolution of her work reflects a deeper truth:
If we want fewer crises, we need healthier cultures.
With more than two decades of experience translating complex mental health research into clear, relatable, and actionable strategies, Beverly brings credibility that spans prevention to performance, crisis to culture. She understands not only what we need to do now, but why it matters, and how we got here.
Her work resonates because it has never been about trends.
It has always been about people, energy, and the environments in which they are expected to thrive.
Keynote Speaker…Not Your Typical Journey
I wasn’t born a natural keynote speaker or facilitator.
Like many of you, I lived through serious traumatic and challenging events. Gratefully, I not only lived through them, but I also learned to thrive because of them. They became the foundation that developed my resiliency and my journey as a keynote speaker and trainer.
Life Is Full Of Irony
In public school and into university, I dreaded public speaking. It made me ill just to think about standing on stage in front of others. I would visibly shake. Tears would roll down my face. And often all I could hear was the buzzing in my ears. It would have come as a surprise to all my teachers, and especially my English teacher, that after university, I was hired by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), to be a public presenter of mental health information and stress management strategies.
After I was hired, I was petrified thinking about my being a keynote speaker and trainer. The memories from the past seeped in. What if I really couldn’t handle the presentations? What if my fear prevented me from being a keynote speaker and sharing these strategies? What if that fear caused me to lose my job?
This was my dream job. I wanted to be a part of a movement to remove stigma, bring understanding and help others find the strategies that they so desperately needed.
So, I stepped into my role and a surprising thing happened once I got started—I was not so nervous, upset or even flustered. I was energized, passionate and powerful—even funny—and my audiences responded.
Seeing their ‘light-bulb moments’ fueled me even further.
I discovered the secret to overcoming my public speaking fear.
PASSION. PURPOSE. POSSIBILITY.
I could help others by sharing my insights from past lessons learned and information researched. When I connected to these, the fear was inconsequential.
I went on to become a keynote speaker and trainer, reaching thousands of people on behalf of the Canadian Mental Health Association. Together, we helped reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and mental health, and the media even dubbed me The Resiliency Builder.
That experience shaped the foundation of my work, but it also taught me something even more important. Lasting change doesn’t happen simply because people become more resilient. It happens when leaders intentionally create workplace cultures where people feel supported, valued, and able to perform at their best.
Today, I help leaders and organizations strengthen leadership, navigate change, address difficult workplace dynamics, prevent burnout, and build healthier workplace cultures where both people and performance can thrive. My proprietary frameworks provide practical, research-based strategies that help organizations move beyond reacting to problems and begin creating the conditions for long-term success.
Whether I’m speaking to front-line employees, emerging leaders, senior executives, or entire organizations, my goal remains the same: to spark those “light-bulb moments” that inspire meaningful action and create healthier workplaces for everyone.
Beverly's Keynote Speaker, Education, and Business Credentials
With an impressive track record spanning over 25 years, Beverly has been guiding individuals, leaders, and organizations with the clarity, confidence, and resilience needed to NAVIGATE challenges, ADDRESS difficult dynamics, and ENGAGE fully – without sacrificing well-being or humanity through her innovative S-O-S Principle™.
As the driving force behind WorkSmartLiveSmart.com since 1995, Beverly has been at the forefront of transforming teams across diverse industries, including healthcare, education, government agencies, finance, and not-for-profit sectors, from overwhelmed to resilient powerhouses. Her presentations, rooted in extensive research and drawing from her background in psychology, sociology, management, and adult education, are both enlightening and inspirational, offering audiences the precise strategies needed to improve mental health, tackle workplace challenges, and enhance engagement.
Beverly’s influence extends far beyond her captivating speaking engagements. She is a prolific author, esteemed podcaster, and a sought-after media and brand spokesperson, gracing over 500 television and radio shows such as City TV and CBC, and in national publications from the Toronto Star newspaper to Chatelaine magazine.
Recognized as one of the esteemed Certified Speaking Professional, a distinction held by less than 70 Canadians, she has also made history as the inaugural dual Certified Virtual Presenter through eSpeakers and Power Women WorldWide. Beverly was proud to be the National President of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers in 2024. These designations and involvements are the promise that Beverly is going to be the easiest part of planning your meeting or event.
Audiences leave with practical tools, renewed confidence, and actionable strategies to strengthen leadership, build healthier workplace cultures, navigate change, and create lasting results for both people and performance.
Why Choose Beverly as Your Keynote Speaker?
Experience!
Beverly is not a 'flavour-of-the-day'. For over twenty years, she has worked with leaders and teams, using her S-O-S Principle™. Beverly's early days saw her partnering with the Canadian Mental Health Association, sharing their messages around awareness, stigma and support. Today, one hundred thousand leaders and employees have learned about Beverly's S-O-S Principle™ which is tried, tested and proven to work. Her depth of knowledge and ability to connect is why she is a trusted keynote speaker and expert and why she has given over 750 media interviews in print, television and radio.
Effectiveness!
Beverly’s focused stress, health and wellness topics are customized to directly relate to your group’s needs. From a timely, inspiring keynote to a more in-depth seminar or workshop, she can accommodate your needs. Audiences continually rate Beverly above 90% for quality of presentation and information, and above 90% in relevance to daily living. Ranked as one of the Top 0.4% of people talking about mental health, this depth of knowledge is key to meeting your team's needs.
Excellence!
As one of less than seventy five Certified Speaking Professionals and Certified Virtual Presenters in Canada, Beverly takes her gifts and her business seriously. As the 2024 CAPS National President, a two-time president of the CAPS-Toronto, and part of a Global Speaker's Community for over 20 years, she continually updates her knowledge and speaking skills. Beverly is the author of many articles on mental health and is very proud of her book, Stress Out! 52 Weeks To Letting More Life In.
Being a Keynote Speaker and Work Life Satisfaction
Beverly works hard at keeping balance in her keynote speaking and training business and believes that an important part of that is in giving back to her community. Beverly dedicates about a third of her time to multiple community agencies. She currently sits on the Board or volunteers with Karate Kawartha Lakes (instructor and Board) and the SWKKF (Chair of Strategic Planning and Risk). She has been a Board member for the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (2024 Canadian National President), Grace House (Board President), MMHA, Ascension, Grace Lutheran (Board President) and on committees or volunteered for MADD Canada, Distress Center Peel, COWHA and the United Way.
The most important part of Beverly’s balance is the time spent with her family including her two boys, husband and her office companions: Flannel and Carly. Beverly lives in the Kawarthas and takes full advantage of the opportunities to garden, camp, sit by the camp fire, boat and explore in her vintage Mustang.
Check out more Fun Facts about Beverly below.
Fun Fact #1
Beverly is a karate Sensei and can count to 10 in Japanese. But, she can’t sneak up on you like a ninja...yet.
Fun Fact #2
Beverly is the farmer’s daughter. And, she has rode a calf, milked a cow, and loaded hay bales into the hayloft.
Fun Fact #3
Beverly has more than 20 flower beds and over 1000 outdoor plants. But, sadly, she can’t prevent the plants in her house from dying.
Fun Fact #4
Beverly hates exercise and loves brussels sprouts and ice cream. But, certainly not mixed together!
What is the Importance of Beverly's Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) Designation in Choosing Your Next Keynote Speaker and Trainer?
“The CSP designation is the promise that I am going to be the easiest part of your event.”
The CSP certification is the indication that you are booking a committed speaking professional who has a history of success with many audiences. I am proud to have been granted my CSP in 2007 and I am committed to upholding the professionalism that this designation represents.
What is a CSP?
The Certified Speaking Professional designation, established in 1980, is the speaking industry’s international measure of speaking experience and skill. The CSP is conferred by the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the Global Speakers Federation only on those accomplished speakers who have earned it by meeting strict criteria. The letters CSP following a speaker’s name indicate a speaking professional with proven experience who understands what is required and knows how to deliver client satisfaction.
Why Should I Hire a CSP as My Next Keynote Speaker or Facilitator?
It will make your job easier! The success of your meeting will be judged largely on the caliber, professionalism and appropriateness of the topic and presenter you select. Choosing a CSP maximizes your opportunity of providing a keynote speaker and facilitator with a message that will focus, elevate and enhance the mission of your meeting and stick firmly in the memories, attitudes and action plans of your attendees.
How Many CSPs Are There?
Less than 10% of the speakers who belong to the Global Speakers Federation member Associations to hold this professional designation. In Canada, there are less than 70. Beverly is honoured to be one of these keynote speakers, facilitators and trainers.
What Is The Criteria for the Certified Speaking Professional Designation?
In order to earn the prestigious CSP designation every applicant must:
- maintain membership in a GFS Association and subscribe to its Code Of Professional Ethics
- serve a specific number of clients within a 5-year period
- present a specific number of professional speaking engagements within this same 5-year period
- submit testimonial letters from clients served
- submit professionally prepared promotional materials
- receive excellent ratings from past clients on professional performance evaluations
- continue education in the professional speaking field through GSF Associations’ many educational programs
What Benefit Does a CSP Bring to Your Meeting or Event?
A CSP brings a proven track record of continuing speaking experience and expertise. CSPs are committed to ongoing education, outstanding service and ethical behaviour. CSPs offer wide varieties of approaches, topics and styles. Only you can determine which speaker will best fit your needs. A Certified Speaking Professional provides a solid place with which to begin your search.
Comments From Those Who Hire CSPs to be their Keynote Speaker or Facilitator:
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