Turning Shame Into Strength In Mental Health: Tools For Thriving
Shame is insidious. It shows up as the voice that says you're too much or not enough. The hesitation before you speak your truth. The belief that struggling means failing.
But shame isn't inherent to mental health challenges — it's learned. And what's learned can be unlearned.
This session is about naming shame, understanding where it comes from, reframing it, and taking back the power it has over us.
What we'll explore:
- How shame operates in mental health (and why it's so effective at silencing us)
- Cultural and systemic forces that weaponise shame (religion, family, workplace expectations)
- Practical tools for separating your worth from your struggles
- Practical tools for building strength in mental health
- How to build a support system that amplifies wellbeing
Who this is for:
Anyone tired of carrying shame for being human. Anyone ready to stop performing wellness and start building it. Anyone who wants community, honesty, and tools that actually work.
What this is NOT:
This is not toxic positivity. This is not "just think positive." This is not a cure. This is not an expert conversation.
This is an honest conversation between two humans who navigate mental health daily, talking about what it takes to thrive when the world tells you your mental health makes you less than.
Speakers
Chisom is an award-winning economist, leadership strategist, and founder of multiple companies working at the intersection of power, leadership, and systems change. For almost two decades, she has worked with senior leaders across Fortune 500 companies, scale-ups, philanthropies, and global nonprofits, helping them diagnose and solve the leadership dysfunction that keeps their organisations stuck. Chisom designs and advises on organisational structures where productivity is optimised and clarity and dignity are non-negotiable. Her Three Clarities framework focuses on how Identity, Context, and Power intersect in leadership. Her approach is diagnostic, not prescriptive. She helps leaders understand what's actually wrong before trying to fix it.
She is also the founder of Chiije, and lover of all things clean and sustainable for everyday living. She is intentional about protecting her mental health and wellbeing, and a mother of two remarkable children. You can read more about Chisom here, and how Chiije came to be here.
Chris is an experienced leadership-, team-, and culture developer, currently working as a Senior Manager at Azets Consulting. He also runs his own company A Regenerative Future, where he hosts a vodcast under the same name. He serves as Chairman of Future Leaders Global and Hagegata 31, and as a board member of HR Norge. Chris is currently writing a book exploring life as a neurodigifted, gay leader navigating our broken complex systems, and the solutions needed to build more humane businesses and societies.
His mission is to guide people and technology to co-create a better world, guided by authenticity, regeneration, and equality. Born with sandals on his feet, and living in an urban jungle, he travels towards the sun whenever he can. You’ll usually find him between boardrooms and beaches, between supporting leaders and walking around town with his frenchie Buddha. When he's not walking he is lifting heavy weights, taking a could plunge, sweating it out in a sauna or meditating for hours.