Johnny Crowder
- Suicide/Abuse Survivor
- Mental Health and Sobriety Advocate
Johnny Crowder Speaker Biography
Johnny Crowder is a 29-year-old suicide/abuse survivor, TEDx speaker, touring musician, mental health and sobriety advocate, and the Founder & CEO of Cope Notes, a text-based mental health platform that provides daily support to users in nearly 100 countries around the world.
But in the years leading up to these incredible leaps in advocacy, every day was a battle against schizophrenic hallucinations and suicidal ideation. After a lifetime of resisting professional care and shying away from sharing his story, Johnny’s curiosity flowered, and the healing slowly began.
Armed with 10 years of clinical treatment, a psychology degree from the University of Central Florida, and a decade of peer support and public advocacy through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Johnny’s youthful vigor for mental health has impacted millions of lives across the globe.
Since his first keynote in 2011, Johnny’s refreshingly vulnerable and candid perspective has attracted praise from hundreds of outlets, including Upworthy, CNN, and Forbes.
Even when commanding a virtual stage or touring with his metal band, Prison, his infectious positivity and firsthand experience with multiple mental illnesses (ranging from bipolar disorder and PTSD to OCD and beyond) uniquely equip him to provide realistic, yet hopeful insight into the pains of hardship with authenticity, levity, and unconventional wit.
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Speech Topics
Beyond Coping: An Unconventional Conversation About Improving Mental Health
For too long, conversations about mental health have been treated as taboo. But with more than 50% of Americans experiencing mental illness in their lifetime, the topic is becoming impossible to ignore. And as the pandemic has highlighted, even those living without a diagnosis can be greatly impacted by stress and hardship.
As Founder & CEO of Cope Notes, the global mental health company, and front-man of the Billboard-charting heavy metal band Prison, Johnny Crowder knows how it feels to bury his mental health challenges for the sake of maintaining a “professional” image. His battles with anxiety, depression, OCD, eating disorders, and even thoughts of suicide led him to pursue a psychology degree and spend more than a decade in clinical treatment. To his surprise, hiding his challenges didn’t help or protect him at all; his recovery required radical vulnerability to dismantle the stigma, self-judgment, and shame that kept him from healing. By sharing his story — and breaking down complex psychological principles into plain English through his work with Cope Notes — he helps everyday people change their lives with the power of positive psychology, self-care, and healthy habits.
In presentations that are as wise and entertaining as they are inspiring, Johnny Crowder provides actionable strategies and tools to employees, corporate leaders, healthcare professionals, educators, and youth alike. Using his signature blend of humor and impact, your audience will learn how to:
– Challenge common mental health misconceptions and stigmas
– Think differently about their individual mental health struggles
– Build cultures that proudly prioritize and support mental health for all
A Love Letter From Your “Problem Client”
*For Care-giving professionals including clinicians, social workers and counselors
Do your efforts really make a difference? Are the long days and hard nights really worth it? And more importantly, why does your “problem client” seem to be dead-set on making your job as difficult as possible? Invisible factors like trauma, bias, and self-stigma can stump even the most well-meaning caregivers, leading to frustration and compassion fatigue. Speaking from his own lived experience with mental illness and resistance to treatment, Johnny Crowder offers a sneak peek inside the head of your most challenging clients. With disarming authenticity and wit, he’ll help you understand where they’re coming from, why they behave the way they do, and what you can do to set them up for success without burning yourself out in the process.
