Every October, Mental Illness Awareness Week reminds us that mental health is a shared responsibility. Taking place October 5–11, this national campaign gives organizations a powerful platform to normalize mental health conversations, reduce stigma, and equip their people with the tools to thrive.
Representing top mental health speakers and workplace wellness experts, we’ve rounded up some of our most requested speakers for October events below. Whether drawing from lived experience with mental illness or clinical and organizational expertise, these speakers deliver the stories, strategies, and tools that help audiences prioritize their well-being and build workplaces where mental health comes first. Contact us to book your event today!
Top Mental Health Speakers
Powerful storytellers who draw on lived experience, these speakers bring audiences into their personal mental health journeys and inspire them to take a more proactive approach to their own well-being.
Jessica Holmes
Mental Health: The Good, the Bad, and the Funny
Most workplaces are already talking about mental health. But as stress, disengagement, and burnout persist, those conversations become easy to tune out.
Drawing from her personal experience with depression, Bell Let’s Talk ambassador Jessica Holmes cuts through the noise with humour, heart, and hard-won insight. She equips teams with simple strategies grounded in positive psychology to build resilience and prioritize mental well-being.
Anthony McLean
Fire Up Your Mental Health!
When mental health struggles leave teams disengaged and running on empty, Anthony McLean brings the energy back.
A master storyteller trusted by PepsiCo, AT&T, Intel, TD Bank, Coca Cola, and more, he blends humour with research-backed strategies to help audiences manage stress, build resilience, and develop sustainable routines — leaving teams fired up and better equipped to prioritize their well-being at work and at home.
Clara Hughes
Open Heart, Open Mind
Behind Clara Hughes‘ celebrated Olympic career lies a raw, deeply personal story of struggle and healing. The only athlete in history to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games, and a founding Bell Let’s Talk spokesperson, she shares her experience with depression with honesty and heart.
Through humour, vulnerability, and the power of movement and connection, she helps audiences break the stigma around mental illness, face their fears, and find their own path forward.
Susan Stewart
A Bit More than a Rough Patch: What a Comedian Learned about Taking Mental Health Seriously
After experiencing a mental health crisis in 2023, comedian Susan Stewart turned her struggle into a powerful message.
With wit, wisdom, and refreshing honesty, she shares her personal experience with depression and anxiety to reduce stigma and normalize the conversation, helping audiences find courage, resilience, and even humour in the hard parts of life.
Jessica Janzen
Mental Health: From Struggle to Strength
Motivational speaker and bestselling author Jessica Janzen knows what it means to struggle — and what it takes to come out stronger.
Drawing from her personal mental health journey, she equips audiences with practical strategies to navigate burnout, shift their perspective, and unlock new levels of resilience. Her high-energy keynote leaves teams with actionable tools to live well, lead well, and find joy in the everyday.
Serena Ryder
Finding Strength Through the Struggle
Behind the platinum records and Juno Awards, Serena Ryder was quietly battling a deep depression that triggered an identity crisis and onstage panic attacks.
In this raw and powerful keynote, she shares the difficult path she took to regain her health — and how, through it, she found her voice as both an artist and a passionate advocate for those struggling with mental illness.
Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being
These speakers help organizations move beyond the conversation and take action — delivering evidence-based strategies to tackle burnout, disengagement, and the complex realities of mental health at work.
Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa
The Performance Paradox: Excelling Without Burning Out
A mentally healthy workplace is a high-performing one. Drawing on her expertise as a resident psychiatrist and leadership expert, Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa explores the neuroscience of high performance and what it truly means to operate at your peak without burning out.
She equips leaders and organizations with the tools to build cultures where high performance and wellness reinforce each other.
Stéphane Grenier
Workshop: Breaking Down Mental Health Strategy for Senior Leaders
Retired Lieutenant-Colonel Stéphane Grenier has spent 25 years transforming how organizations approach mental health in the workplace.
The founder of Mental Health Innovations and co-founder of Peer Support Canada, he draws on his professional and lived experience to help senior leaders cut through the complexity of mental health strategy and build cultures that are both strategic and genuinely impactful.
Dr. Bailey Parnell
#SafeSocial: Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health
Social media affects our mental health in ways most of us don’t fully understand. As founder of the Center for Digital Wellbeing, Dr. Bailey Parnell draws from her TED talk with over five million views to explore the real impact of social media and offer a practical roadmap for living well in a digital world.
Her research-backed #SafeSocial framework gives audiences actionable steps to protect their well-being online and off.
Neil Pasricha
The Resilience Equation
Workplace resilience isn’t built overnight but it can be built deliberately. New York Times bestselling author and Harvard MBA Neil Pasricha draws from the latest research to show audiences how to cultivate the habits and mindset needed to thrive through change.
His practical, science-backed approach gives teams actionable tools to build resilience, boost well-being, and create lasting momentum at work.
Dr. Susan Biali
Beyond Burnout: Renewing Ourselves, Our Work, and Our Lives
When burnout takes hold, the impact ripples across entire organizations. The bestselling author of The Resilient Life, Dr. Susan Biali is an award-winning physician and stress resilience expert.
She draws on cutting-edge science and her own journey through burnout and depression to equip leaders and teams with practical strategies to restore well-being and build the resilience needed to sustain healthy high performance at work and in life.
Jeremiah Brown
Mental Health for High Performers: Unlock Your Maximum Potential Without Burning Out
Olympic silver medalist and bestselling author Jeremiah Brown knows what it takes to perform under pressure — and what it costs when well-being is left behind.
Drawing on his experience leading the Canadian Olympic Committee’s athlete mental health strategy, he equips teams with the strategies and mindset to sustain high performance without sacrificing their health in the process.
The right speaker can transform Mental Illness Awareness Week from a moment into a movement. Contact us to get started.
