Healthline Media
Invited speaker and content adviser for the Advocate Speaker Series on Major Depressive Disorder.
Shelly-Ann Shaw Speaks
Stories I Carry Into Rooms
Mental health becomes easier to talk about when we stop speaking only in definitions and start talking about how life actually feels.
Mental Health Advocate, Educator, Speaker & Founder
Shelly-Ann Shaw
Shelly-Ann Shaw is a Jamaican mental-health advocate, educator, writer and speaker whose work focuses on depression awareness, emotional wellbeing, mental-health literacy and the practical challenges faced by people living with mental-health conditions.
As founder of The Depression Chronicles, she has developed educational content, awareness initiatives and community resources that reach audiences locally and internationally. Her professional experience includes delivering mental-health presentations and workshops in Jamaica, contributing to international discussions on depression-related health content, and participating in digital-media and brand collaborations.
In October 2021, Shelly-Ann was an invited speaker and content adviser for Healthline Media’s Advocate Speaker Series on Major Depressive Disorder, sharing insights intended to inform more relevant and accessible depression resources. Her wider experience includes repeat mental-health awareness and sponsored-content collaborations with BetterHelp through InfluenceLogic, alongside educational-platform engagement and collaboration invitations from Graphy by Unacademy.
Her speaking interests include workplace mental health, depression awareness, stress and anxiety management, emotional wellbeing, mental-health stigma and practical approaches to supporting vulnerable communities.
Professional experience
Selected Speaking Engagements & Professional Collaborations
East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Guest presenter for a mental-health seminar in Jamaica.
BetterHelp / InfluenceLogic
Digital mental-health awareness and sponsored-content collaborations, including repeat engagements.
Graphy by Unacademy
Educational-platform engagement and collaboration invitations. No unverified project is presented as completed.
Featured speaking topics
Conversations That Make Room for What People Actually Carry
I Was Laughing. I Was Also Depressed.
What depression can look like when someone is still working, smiling, parenting, creating, socialising and showing up.
A conversation about why outward functioning should never become our only measure of emotional wellbeing.
When “I’m Fine” Becomes a Full-Time Job
The emotional cost of appearing okay while struggling privately.
Explores masking, emotional exhaustion, shame, expectation and the pressure to remain the person everybody believes is coping.
Depression Doesn’t Always Look Like Sadness
Moving beyond the stereotypes that cause us to miss people who are struggling.
A practical and human conversation about the many ways depression can show up in everyday life.
The Strong One Is Tired Too
What happens when the person everybody relies on becomes the person who needs somewhere to fall.
A conversation about strength, caregiving, emotional responsibility and the cost of becoming everybody else’s safe place while having nowhere to put your own pain.
So… What Does Depression Actually Feel Like?
Beyond definitions, symptoms and diagnostic language.
A storytelling conversation about the ordinary, strange, inconvenient and often invisible ways depression can enter daily life.
Functioning Is Not the Same as Being Well
For workplaces, leaders and communities that need to recognise distress before somebody reaches breaking point.
Explores high-functioning distress, emotional exhaustion, burnout, presenteeism and the difference between performance and wellbeing.
Explore All Speaking Topics
Your Job Shouldn’t Cost You Your Mind
Workplace stress, burnout, emotional overload and healthier organisational cultures.
Designed particularly for workplace wellness, leadership conversations and employee-development settings.
Men, Masculinity and the Cost of “I’m Good”
Why expectations around strength and silence can make it harder for men to say when they are struggling.
A conversation about emotional language, stigma, relationships, fatherhood, loneliness and help-seeking.
Grief After Everybody Goes Home
What loss can feel like after the funeral, the calls and the first wave of support have ended.
Explores the quieter life of grief and what meaningful support can look like after everybody else has returned to normal.
Faith, Depression and the Things We Are Afraid to Say in Church
An honest conversation about belief, emotional pain, treatment, shame and spiritual expectations.
Faith, prayer and professional treatment do not have to compete.
When Church Hurts
Church hurt, belonging, emotional safety and what compassionate faith communities can do differently.
A nuanced, respectful and emotionally honest conversation about faith and belonging.
Children Have Mental Health Too
Understanding the emotional needs adults sometimes overlook in children.
Designed for schools, parents, educators, churches and child-focused organisations.
When Behaviour Is Trying to Tell Us Something
Looking beneath difficult behaviour before deciding that a child is simply difficult.
Explores emotional communication, stress, safety, connection and adult curiosity without excusing harmful behaviour.
Hope Without Pretending Everything Is Fine
How to offer hope without minimising pain.
A conversation about toxic positivity, meaningful encouragement, emotional presence and the kind of hope that can sit beside difficult reality.
The Stories We Carry in Silence
How shame, family, culture, fear and expectation shape the things people learn not to say.
A storytelling-led conversation suitable for mental-health, community, faith and social-impact audiences.
Why Storytelling Belongs in Mental Health Advocacy
What changes when lived experience sits beside education, research and clinical language.
Explores the role of human stories in reducing stigma, building understanding and helping people recognise themselves in mental-health conversations.
Speaking formats
Different Rooms. Same Honest Conversation.
Depending on the audience and purpose, a conversation may be shaped for formats such as:
- Keynote-style talks
- Conference and panel conversations
- Workplace sessions
- School and youth engagements
- Church and faith-community conversations
- Workshops and facilitated discussions
- Community and NGO programmes
- Media interviews and conversations
Speaking enquiries
Bring Shelly-Ann Into the Conversation
Planning a conference, school programme, workplace session, church conversation, community event or panel? Tell us about the audience, the room and the conversation you want to create.
Invite Shelly-Ann to Speak