In times of ongoing uncertainty, mental health has never been more critical to organizational success. CMHA’s Mental Health Week, taking place May 4-10 in 2026, arrives with a powerful theme: Come Together, Canada: Stronger Connections. Better mental health.
This year’s focus recognizes a fundamental truth: connection is the foundation of mental well-being. Organizations navigating burnout, turnover, and disengagement need proactive strategies that prioritize employee mental health not as an afterthought, but as a driver of resilience, creativity, and high performance.
Bringing in a keynote speaker for Mental Health Week demonstrates leadership commitment to fostering cultures where people feel valued, supported, and connected. The right mental health speaker equips teams with evidence-based tools to strengthen mental health, build authentic relationships, and navigate challenges with confidence.
Meet some of our recommended speakers for Mental Health Week below and contact us to book your May event today.
Top Mental Health Speakers
These dynamic speakers combine compelling storytelling, actionable strategies, and real-world expertise to inspire meaningful change in your organization.
Peter Katz
Showing Up Wholeheartedly
How do you find strength and courage to show up wholeheartedly when facing constant new challenges? Part concert, part keynote, Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Peter Katz equips audiences with research-based tools to strengthen mental health and foster connection.
Through powerful songs and stories, attendees learn self-regulation techniques and gain practical strategies to drive intrinsic motivation, team morale, and meaningful connection to their overall impact.
Clara Hughes
Open Heart, Open Mind
Connection fuels Clara Hughes. Whether on the Olympic stage, hiking long-distance trails around the world, within the stillness on the healing path, or speaking in front of thousands of people, deep connection with place, space, self, and others is her ultimate focus.
Exploring the power of movement to change lives, Clara shares her mental health journey to inspire audiences to face their fears, find their voice, and become the champions they’re meant to be.
Riaz Meghji
Every Conversation Counts: Building Meaningful Connections
Loneliness is the crisis of our time. Human connection expert Riaz Meghji shows audiences how authentic conversation transforms disconnection into meaningful relationships.
Riaz shares strategies to spark genuine connections, build trust through empathetic listening, and create breakthrough moments that strengthen teams. Discover how meaningful conversation builds connected, inclusive cultures that drive success and real results.
Jessica Holmes
Connection Culture Workshop: The Power of Purpose and Positive Relationships
With many organizations navigating burnout, high turnover, and disengagement, positive psychology can help people feel connected, valued, and inspired to engage meaningfully.
Mental health advocate Jessica Holmes combines science-based positive psychology with humour and heart to transform team dynamics. Through interactive activities, teams will discover their core strengths, deepen connections, and reignite purpose in their work.
Anthony McLean
Fire Up Your Mental Health!
Anthony McLean delivers a dynamic, high-energy experience that reignites enthusiasm and recaptures joy in work and life. Blending humour, insight, and practical tools, he empowers audiences to recharge, refocus, and boost their mental wellness.
Attendees will gain strategies to create sustainable mental health routine that manage stress, build resilience, and help keep them energized and focused.
Jessica Janzen
Mental Health: From Struggle to Strength
From burnout to breakthrough, Jessica Janzen shares powerful strategies to transform life’s hardest seasons into fuel for resilience and growth.
Drawing from her own journey, Jessica shows audiences how to better navigate pressure and stress by turning pain into fuel, building supportive networks, and asking for help without shame. Audiences will discover “joy starters” and gain actionable tools to live and lead with clarity, resilience, and joy.
Mental Health and Leadership
Effective leadership is the cornerstone of workplace mental health. These speakers show leaders how to cultivate cultures of belonging, psychological safety, and well-being that drive both people and performance.
Dr. Susan Biali
The Resilient Life: How to Thrive Through Challenge and Change
Drawing from her bestselling book, Dr. Susan Biali helps audiences strengthen their mental health and build lasting resilience.
Blending personal stories with evidence-based tools, Susan outlines how to recognize burnout, reduce toxic stress, and set healthy boundaries, while equipping audiences with practical ways to boost energy and reconnect with meaning and purpose. She leaves them with a framework to cultivate sustainable well-being.
Stéphane Grenier
Unlocking the Potential of Your Greatest Mental Health Resource: Your People
Celebrated mental health leader and innovator Stéphane Grenier outlines the leadership blueprint for nurturing employee well-being.
Blending personal experience and professional insights, his message is clear: effective leadership is not about titles, but about fostering a culture that genuinely supports and values its people. Attendees gain practical strategies to create healthier, more productive workplaces where mental health thrives.
Dr. Samra Zafar
The Workplace of Belonging
High performance requires belonging and mental well-being. Resident psychiatrist Dr. Samra Zafar reveals how fostering empathy, psychological safety, and inclusion nurtures employee mental health, creativity, and resilience to drive results.
Drawing on neuroscience, she shows how feeling valued prevents burnout and unlocks potential, providing practical strategies to create cultures where mental health and performance flourish together.
Ready to Elevate Mental Health in Your Organization?
Our roster of leading mental health speakers empowers teams with proven tools to prioritize well-being, strengthen relationships, and unlock their full potential. From resilience-building strategies to fostering stronger connections and combating burnout and overwhelm, they deliver the insights your organization needs to thrive in today’s world of uncertainty.
Contact us today to book the perfect speaker for your Mental Health Week event.
