Michael Herold is a confidence coach and social skills trainer. He’s helping his clients build their confidence through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and fun exposure exercises.

Since 2016, Michael has led over 100 confidence-building workshops, helping over 1000 people to get more confident in their lives. He has worked with 500+ clients in group and private coaching.

Michael is a co-host of the popular Psychologists off the Clock Podcast, one of the leading psychology podcasts in the world.

As a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), Michael is the current President of the ACT Coaching Special Interest Group with nearly 1,000 coaches worldwide, and the co-founder of the ACT in Austria Affiliate of ACBS, a nationwide meetup for ACT practitioners in Austria.

Michael has spoken about finding courage and chasing your dreams at TEDx, in front of members of parliament, universities, and once in a cinema full of 500 kids high on sugary popcorn. He is also presenting on psychological topics like social anxiety (ACBS World Conference), the imposter syndrome (Anxiety and Depression Association of America), values-based living (DGM), conversation techniques (Wise Minds Summit), and countless more.

He is a certified therapeutic game master, using the popular Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game to train communication, assertiveness, and teamwork with kids and (young) adults – or actually, anyone ready to roll some dice and battle goblins in a supportive group where players want to level up their social skills.

In a previous life, he was a character animator working on award-winning movies and TV shows such as The Penguins of Madagascar and
Kung Fu Panda.

That was before he realized that helping people live a meaningful life is much more rewarding than working in the film business – even though the long nights in the studio allowed him to brew his own beer in the office closet, an activity he highly recommends.

Michael grew up with five foster kids who were all taken out of abusive families. His foster siblings showed him how much positive change is possible in a person if they receive the love and support they deserve.