By: Jordan L. Cross

Melbourne, Australia, August 15, 2025 — At Yale University’s Women’s Mental Health Conference earlier this year, Nikki Torres Langman did not begin her session with a slide deck. Instead, she poured LEGO® bricks onto a table and invited participants to build models of their stressors and supports. Within minutes, psychiatrists, students, and researchers were speaking about their inner lives with a candor that many found surprising.

The exercise was not a gimmick. It was the debut of UNBRICKABLE™, Langman’s innovative mental health framework that aims to transform emotional intelligence into something people can see, touch, and act upon.

A Scholar with Lived Experience

Langman is an award-winning author, internationally recognized speaker, and Emotional Intelligence Master Practitioner. She is also a certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator with more than two decades of leadership and organizational development experience in global corporate environments. Her scholarly foundation in emotional intelligence research and culture transformation allows her to design programs that resonate with academic institutions and workplaces alike.

What makes her work distinctive is the personal history that underpins it. For over thirty years, Langman navigated alcohol and substance misuse, perfectionism, and cycles of shame, even as she rose in corporate leadership. After five rehab stays, she realized that traditional methods were not always enough. Words alone were not sufficient. Metaphor and construction, however, could offer new doors.

“I could not always articulate what I was feeling,” she reflects. “But I could build it. Once I could see it in front of me, I could begin to understand it.”

The UNBRICKABLE™ Method

UNBRICKABLE™ is deliberately non-clinical and trauma-aware. It is not therapy or diagnosis, but a structured way to help people externalize complex experiences in a safe manner. In each lab, participants use LEGO® bricks to construct symbolic models of their emotions, values, and challenges. They then narrate their models, gaining psychological distance that helps reduce stigma and may lessen the fear of disclosure.

The framework teaches micro-skills in emotional regulation, perspective-taking, and peer empathy. It also fosters psychological safety at a swift pace, a quality that research shows is important for effective learning and team performance. Langman summarizes the approach in one guiding principle: “Talk to the model, not yourself.”

Evidence and Evaluation

Unlike many wellbeing programs that rely on anecdote, UNBRICKABLE™ is being evaluated with academic rigor. Current pilots are assessed through validated instruments, including PHQ-9 for depression, GAD-7 for anxiety, WHO-5 for well-being, CD-RISC-10 for resilience, and Edmondson’s Psychological Safety scale. Early results suggest a potential for higher self-efficacy, increased intent to seek help, and improved social connection.

Langman is careful not to overstate outcomes. UNBRICKABLE™ does not make clinical claims. Instead, it complements existing services and fills a gap by offering prevention and early-intervention strategies that are in alignment with evidence and designed to be highly engaging.

Recognition and Global Reach

The Yale debut was met with a standing ovation and immediate international interest. UNBRICKABLE™ is now being booked across universities, secondary schools, and workplaces in both the United States and Australia. The program is designed for scalability, offering campus activations, student leadership and athlete labs, faculty and staff development, and a Train-the-Trainer model known as REBUILD that enables institutions to sustain the work.

Langman herself has been featured in outlets including CEO Weekly, Yahoo Finance, and AccessWire. She was named Australia’s Most Innovative Mental Health & Wellness Expert of the Year in 2025, a recognition that acknowledges both her scholarly impact and her ability to translate research into practice.

Beyond Training: A Movement for Change

For Langman, UNBRICKABLE™ is more than a set of workshops. It is a movement to reimagine how resilience and recovery are taught. She believes that emotional intelligence cannot be cultivated through lectures alone, but through experiential practice that allows people to embody their insights.

“Nobody needs another lecture about resilience,” she says. “Serious play helps people reach parts of themselves that words might not touch. When they build their strategy, they take ownership of it.”

Langman’s work sits at the intersection of scholarship and humanity. She combines academic precision, professional achievement, and lived experience to create a model that is already influencing how institutions think about wellbeing. For the students, staff, and professionals who participate, the impact is both immediate and enduring: a new way to engage with emotion, build resilience, and turn insight into action.

For bookings, visit Ni’ Nava & Associates.

To learn more about the Lego Experience, visit UNBRICKABLE™.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions related to your health and well-being. Individual experiences and results may vary.