SPEAKERS & COACHES

Shannon Kapp

Shannon has over 29 years of motivational speaking, leadership and coaching experience working with individuals, nonprofits, corporate America, schools and churches with a weekly attendance as high as 20,000. The majority of the past three decades of his life have been spent leading and motivating youth and young adults.

Raised in the home of a professional athletes (Dad, Uncle, Cousin, and Brother all played in the NFL). He attended USC on a full ride scholarship for track and field.

His experience and reach is diverse, he has had the honor of speaking in schools, universities, youth centers, conferences, board rooms, locker rooms, prisons, homeless shelters, public auditoriums, and churches in over twenty countries to all races and ages. From youth detention to death row, rural to inner city, advantaged to disatvanged, at his core lies a passion to help people believe in themselves, their potential, and the people around them. Shannon has stood in front of and encouraged over a million people in his life time.

He has done all of this with a mental illness (Complex PTSD).

An estimated 49.5% of adolescents (13-18) has mental disorder. While over 60% of them go uncared for (Therapy, education, medicine etc.). The second leading cause of  death among young people ages 10-24 is suicide and the number one cause of death among 14 and 15 year olds. Uncared for mental illness creates difficulties in a variety of settings including within their own families at home, in school, and in the community.

Youth with uncared for mental health disorders are more likely to be absent, fail or drop out of school. They tend to engage in high-risk behaviors including drug and alcohol use and/or suicide attempts, especially those youth who may be significantly depressed because they are shunned or marginalized.

Shannon’s life and message is simple yet life changing. Mental illness is not a roadblock to success. You can still thrive in every area of you life. Mental illness can be the fuel of your success. You are not your mental illness. You are who you decide you are. That you will either use your mental illness for sympathy, an excuse or the motivation to conquer every excuse.

“Mental illness does not make you “crazy” it makes you creative, unique, exceptional, extraordinary, uncommon, rare and valuable”

Shannon B. Kapp
Mental Illness Advocate, Champion and Motivator