Health Promotion
One of Nelly’s great passions is using comedy to promote important social messages, especially those relating to health. It proves to be an effective, guilt-free and entertaining way to talk about important topics without preaching or boring everyone to death!
"These are overwhelmingly highly successful events. It seems that health promotion via comedy is a very engaging and accessible format..."
Meg Gulbin, Royal Women's Hospital
"Because it is funny, everyone is more open"
Girl, Age 14 (from an Evaluation)
DVD
Nelly has recently released her first health promotion DVD – "The Talk", a sexual health and ethics DVD for teenagers and their parents/carers featuring celebrities such as Leigh Matthews, Cal Wilson and Anthony “Lehmo” Lehman, health ambassadors, experts and comedians all talking The Talk.
Heath services and schools
Nelly is a highly sought after speaker in the education and health sectors as both an individual performer and as part of the group shows she has put together.
For group shows, see the navigation bar to the right of this page.
Other options include:
The Talk Live
Based on Nelly’s ground-breaking sexual health and ethics DVD “The Talk” Nelly goes into school communities and talks to parents about how to have The Talk with their kids. The presentation is fun, informative and light-hearted and goes for 30-40mins, followed by a Q&A with Nelly, the local school nurse (or counsellor) and the parents. A great way to get the parents involved in their kids’ health.
Feedback from the Talk Live (March 2013)
"Rare it is for someone to deliver high quality health information with a blend of humour and jocularity. Nelly had our parents engaged from the outset and “the talk” was over before we knew it. We had great parent feedback including one parent who said the presentation had inspired her and given her the confidence she needed to talk to her kids about what can be such a difficult subject - sex. We look forward to having Nelly return to work with our students in what is sure to be a brilliant success."
Tim Jezard, Head of Student Services, Overnewton Anglican Community College
Growing Up a Girl
A presentation designed for young women about growing up a girl. It covers all the big issues – body image, name calling, sexualisation, self esteem, puberty, feeling good about yourself, media & culture – in a funny, age-appropriate and heart-felt way. School groups often invite the mums/carers along too which makes the event even more powerful for the school community.
Indigenous Health
Nelly has extensive experience working with Indigenous performers and health workers and in Indigenous communities and recently wrote the ground-breaking Indigenous No Means No Show. She is often called upon to present to Indigenous youth and /or health workers about sexual health and respectful relationships.
“We had overwhelming praise of our choice of Nelly as an MC. For those that already knew her, they were adamant that she never fails to please with new comedy surprises. Those who didn’t know her, demanded to know where we found her and what a great atmosphere and commentary she provided to uplift such a difficult topic. On top of this, Nelly was a charm to work with. She was highly professional in her understanding of the running of the schedule and asked all the right questions to make sure she met our needs for the event. When things didn’t go as planned, she was on the ball to redirect and keep everything running smoothly.” Once again, our deepest thanks!
On behalf of the Eva Awards organising committee
Fiona McCormack, CEO
Domestic Violence Victoria
"On behalf of Marie Stopes Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program (SNAKE Condoms), we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for participating in the recent SNAKE Forum: Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. It was a truly inspiring event, and since its finish we have already received many reports back from community about how greatly empowered and stronger the women have returned... Your ‘No Means No’ excerpts session was actually mentioned as being one of the most useful and enjoyable of the whole Forum! Thank you again for the magic you brought to the Forum, and we very much look forward to working with you again in the future."
Bev Greet, Manager Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
Marie Stopes International Australia www.mariestopes.org.au
"Thanks so much Nelly for launching our Mum’s the Word program yesterday. According tothe girls you were ‘laugh out loud hilarious’. I have received so many emails and comments from mums and the women that attended the breakfast saying what a fantastic program launch it was... I loved the way you were so hilariously funny yet delivered a very powerful message to our girls and their mums about growing up, relationships and acceptance of themselves. We could not have had a more perfect person launch the program."
Nadia Bettio, Principal, Delacombe Primary School
"We were thrilled to have Nelly perform at our ASHE Opening Day. She just has this relaxed way of connecting with young people that makes them comfortable to engage around what is a pretty delicate but really important issue. Hopefully this is not the last we see of Nelly. Her No Means No sidekick, Isaac Drandich, was fantastic too."
Phillip Guthrie, Manager - Academy of Sport, Health and Education
Epworth nurses of all backgrounds celebrated International Nurses Day in the presence of hilarious storyteller Nelly Thomas. Did they hear a thing or two about medical appointments from the patient’s perspective? Sure did and they nodded, giggled and guffawed throughout. Apart from being very funny, Nelly is relaxed and very easy to work with! She engages wonderfully with any audience!
Colleen Coghlan, Media Manager, Epworth Healthcare
For information on each of the shows click on the links to the right, or if you’d like to book Nelly to perform at host your event please email to discuss your idea.
Audience Evaluation Comments from the Each Youth Conference 2010 where Nelly did a snippet of the No Means No Show:
"No Means No show needs to go into schools, Tafes and Uni and sporting clubs including catholic schools "
"More funding for youth mental health and No Means No Show"
"Need to approach the AFL, all its members players and senior people need to be aware of the profound influence on young men and their behaviour"
"No Means No, Show should be an Australia wide show in theatres, community and schools"
Some more health related reviews…
Nelly recently performed at the 2010 Australian Women’s Health Network Conference where the vast majority of surveyed respondents rated her performance as “excellent” - she was a huge hit among audience members. Audience feedback from the evaluations included:
'Hilarious. I love her.'
'Superb.'
'A great choice, what a smart, funny comedienne.'
'Loved Nelly - good to start with a laugh at ourselves.'
'Nelly said it all.'
"Your performance was definitely a highlight of the evening. You managed to keep 340 women in stitches and there was only positive comments made regarding your performance. You greatly contributed to the success of Night Off-Night Out and you helped ensure that the ladies really did get a chance to unwind."
Amanda Driscoll, Events Coordinator, PANDA (Post and Antenatal Depression Association)
"Nelly Thomas – Wow!, fun, engaging, and I admire the way [she] can put a truthful, guilt-free slant on the most normal/abnormal conditions of human nature, and make us as an audience laugh without prejudice. "
Gippsland Women’s Health Service
"She had an obvious ability to engage people, draw them in and cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time… Feedback from the staff and volunteers was particularly positive and favourable. Nelly had obviously done her homework …"
Alex Nikolovski, Aids Hepatitis and Sexual Health Line
"Nelly was the keynote speaker at our parent information night. She was very easy to work with in the planning stages and quickly tuned into the themes of the evening about body image and healthy eating. On the night Nelly was terrific, easily engaging all members of the audience. She had them all laughing and relaxed as she romped through the issues to consider.
Jenny Taaffe, School Nurse, Maribyrnong Secondary College
"Nelly Thomas took a difficult topic - male violence against women - and as conference MC helped people explore the issue in ways that, surprisingly, were informative and empowering as well as entertaining. Nelly is a skilled, smart facilitator, who makes people think as much as they laugh.
Kathleen Maltzahn, Executive Director, Women's Health In the North
"Nelly was gobsmackingly great! Her humour was topical, relevant, clever and damn funny. In a word, Nelly Thomas is brilliant!
Sally Browne, Board Member, Gawler Foundation (for cancer recovery)
"…a pleasure to work with throughout the entire process of contract negotiation, background research, preparation and final presentation… respectful of the sensitive issues surrounding [working with young people with a mental illness] and managed to convey a positive message without being heavy handed or overly emotive.”
Maree Sidey, ORYGEN Youth Health
"Nelly was a blast at our Christmas Function! [She performed] … a stand-up routine which gave people belly aches from the laughs! I would definitely recommend Nelly for comedic entertainment."
Anne Kingston, O’Connell Family Centre, Victoria
"What a fantastic finish to our practice forum. As always Nelly knows how to get the audience thinking and laughing at the same time! The feedback was really positive.
Meg Gulbin, Senior Policy Advisor, Diversity Unit, Department of Human Services
“On behalf of absolutely women’s health and CASA House at the Royal Women’s Hospital I want to express our heart-felt thanks for your very generous contribution of time, talent and expertise to our event… It was thoroughly hilarious and enjoyable and conveyed the key messages of the project with clarity, wit and accuracy – we couldn’t have hoped for more!”
Jane Bligh, Health Promotion Worker, RWH