It’s not an exaggeration to say that Shaun Flores had a tough upbringing. When he was just six years old, his father died. Just eight years later, his stepfather moved into a nursing home due to a worsening of his vascular dementia. His aunt – who had been looking after him after his father’s death – was diagnosed with pancreatic and metastatic liver cancer. Shaun himself tore his anterior cruciate ligament, damaged his medial cruciate ligament in his knee, and fractured his leg. To make matters worse, he came down with severe pneumonia, which required hospitalisation.

But it didn’t stop there. He sadly learnt that his cousin had been murdered; in therapy, he was informed of his half-brother’s death, before being told that his mother’s sister had died. It’s hard to believe that one man could go through all of this, but it meant he has a deep understanding of grief, which may have influenced his developing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

SHAUN FLORES – OCD DIAGNOSIS & IDENTITY

Shaun actually has two types of OCD – Sexual Orientation OCD, and Harm OCD. Sexual Orientation OCD is obsessiveness about your own sexual orientation, whereas Harm OCD is about the intrusive thoughts one may have about hurting themselves or others. Shaun’s OCD diagnosis led him down a path of fear, anxiety and depression. With the help he needed, he came through this and started looking into how to support other sufferers, particularly looking into the dated and untrue beliefs about the condition. He was also very passionate about being a black person with OCD, as he felt the community was heavily saturated with white voices.

Thanks to this, Shaun has become a popular and highly-regard public speaker. He presented a piece on diversifying curriculums at Roehampton University’s 2017 BAME conference and provided insight during their Mental Health Day event later that year.

SHAUN FLORES TEDx SPEAKER

He is also a very popular TED speaker, first talking about the education system in 2018 in a piece titled ‘The Failures of Multiculturalism’  followed by ‘The Straitjacket of Masculinity’ in 2022 about masculinity and male mental health – you can watch both talks below. He is due to complete a third TED talk about psychedelics and a possible mental health revolution.

SHAUN FLORES SPEAKING TOPICS

– Disability

– OCD

– Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

– Mental Wellbeing

– Resilience

– Grief

– Neurodiversity

– Society

– Overcoming Obstacles

SHAUN FLORES IN THE MEDIA

Outside of his work on mental health, Shaun is a successful model who has worked with ASOS, John Lewis, Papa John, Peloton and UBER, has walked at London Fashion Week, and has been featured in magazines including Candid and Vogue Italia. He is a freelance journalist who has written for South West London, The Common Sense Network, The Metro, Inews, Disability Expo, and The Book of Man; he has appeared on several vlogs and podcasts – including The OCD Stories Podcast, The Panic Podcast, Happiful Magazine Podcast, and All Things Hard Podcast, being interviewed on things like fatherlessness, societal topics, and his OCD.

He is also the host of the Flower Hour podcast, where he aims to bridge societal gaps and produce a more inclusive society by discussing topics such as race, politics, music, social media, sexuality, religion, self-confidence, masculinity, inclusion, diversity, mental health, and rehabilitation. Guests include life coach Africa Brooke, founder of the Black Curriculum Lavinya Stenett, and Free Black University member Melz Owusu.

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers now to book OCD and Male Mental Health Speaker Shaun Flores for your corporate event.

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