Her Story
About Lydia
Lydia Neely, PhD is a behavioral and mental health consultant, leadership and resilience coach, and speaker based in the New York City metropolitan area. With over 30 years of experience in healthcare and more recent specialization in behavioral health, she has built a career focused on helping individuals, schools, and organizations understand and address the root causes of behavior. Her work blends trauma-informed care, practical behavioral strategies, and leadership development to support lasting personal and organizational change.
She began her professional journey in healthcare data analytics before transitioning into mental health after serving as a Mental Health First Aid instructor. Over time, she expanded her practice into coaching and consulting, working directly with clients in home and community settings. Through her company, The Bounce Back Coaching and Consulting, she focuses on helping individuals process trauma, strengthen emotional resilience, and develop healthier patterns of thinking and behavior. She also provides training and workshops for educators, nonprofit teams, and organizational leaders.
Dr. Neely holds advanced degrees in psychology, including a master’s in industrial-organizational psychology and human resource management and a doctorate focused on trauma, crisis counseling, and organizational psychology. Her professional philosophy centers on the belief that “a healthy mind is a healthy you,” emphasizing accountability, self-awareness, and gradual growth. Across her consulting, speaking, and coaching work, she is committed to helping people reframe adversity, build resilience, and move toward purposeful, sustainable personal development.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lydia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say my parents and my son, my biggest cheerleader. They keep telling me to keep going, don't stop. Yes, you stumble, get up, let's keep going, and kind of running right beside me. That gives me the energy and fuel to say I'm doing this for a purpose and for a reason. The end result would be better than where I started. My latter would be greater than my past.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Someone told me once before, back in the 1990s when I worked for a pharmaceutical company, if you're sitting on a fence and you're kind of torn between things that you want to do, don't be afraid to jump, but be willing to deal with the consequences after you've jumped. You will never know unless you try it. That stuck with me because at that time, you kind of stay in what they call imposter syndrome. You don't want to move from where you are, you're afraid of the unknown. But you know that you can feel based on where you are, and you want to strive, and you want to try, but you kind of come back because you're being resistant, you're reserving yourself. But sometimes you have to put yourself out there, you never know until you try. And because you tried and failed doesn't mean that you're a failure. It's just that's where your success is built, because now you're learning from experience. So when you're starting over, you're not starting from scratch, you're starting from your experiences. That was something that was very valuable to me.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Go for it. Don't stop. Push through. Greater is coming. Setbacks are redirected as a setup for what's to come. It may not feel good in the moment, but when you're putting your foot to the pedal, don't stop, just keep going. Even though it doesn't feel good at the moment that you're going through, and it seems very hard and difficult, your breakthrough is coming. But it takes stamina and it takes grit to keep going, even in the odds. You have to ask yourself, who do you become when you're in the storm? And you have to keep that. Who am I in the storm?
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Myself, if I can be honest, it would be me. Sometimes we feel that we don't measure up in certain rooms we walk in, but one thing my mom always taught me, you belong in every room you step into. It's the transformation of your mindset. You have to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, how you think. What you think you become.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family, integrity, being successful not in the things that you achieve but in becoming, honesty, love, compassion, empathy for other people, grace and love. It's seeing things for what they are, but not judging them for where they are, and just seeing the best side of that, and looking for resolutions, and not dwelling on the problem.
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