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.
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Recently he has worked as Peer Support Worker (Use of Force Peer Debriefer) for the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust; an Ambassador for the Make Life Kind Charity; a Peet Tutor at the East London NHS Foundation Trust; and a Public Speaking Judge for the Jack Petcher Foundation.
At the beginning of 2025, Shaun announced that he was releasing a book titled Breaking the Chain of Obssession. The book details his journey with OCD – from deep despair to becoming an advocate for inclusion and mental health.
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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.
As a passionate Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) and Lived Experience consultant, he specialises in crafting campaigns that resonate authentically with audiences. His lived experienced with OCD and ADHD fuels his mission to challenge stigma and foster a deeper understanding of mental health, showing that vulnerability and resilience are not opposing forces, but vital aspects of the human experience.
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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. His other TEDx talks are ‘The Revolution is Through the Mind, the Upcoming Psychedelic Revolution’, and ‘The Urgency of Early Intervention: Transforming Lives With OCD’. His TED talks have been watched over 50,000 times on YouTube.
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SHAUN FLORES CORPORATE WORK
Shaun provides heartfelt, engaging, and well-researched talks based on his own journey towards conquering mental health. He is able to connect with any audience and give them a memorable, enriching experience.
He also hosts resilience workshops, focussing on transitioning from mental health to mental fortitude, uncovering strategies used to overcome everything from day-to-day setbacks to severe trauma.
Shaun develops wellbeing programs, leadership consultations, mental health awareness campaigns, and DEI programs within corporations and schools, boosting morale, fostering productivity, and helping everyone perform at their best.
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SHAUN FLORES SPEAKING TOPICS
- Disability
- OCD
- Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
- Mental Wellbeing
- Resilience
- Grief
- Neurodiversity
- Society
- Overcoming Obstacles
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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.
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To check fees and availability for OCD and Male Mental Health Speaker Shaun Flores, contact Great Business Speakers on 0044 (0)1753 439289
