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Mental health speaker Clive Branson spent three years serving in the Royal Air Force, followed by seventeen years in the Ministry of Defence within industrial relations, where Clive studied the human condition and the importance of effective communication.
Since 2017, Clive has experienced personal grief, the diagnosis of two life-limiting diseases, as well as a seven-week period in a psychiatric hospital.
Clive’s mission now is to actively demonstrate that we do have the ability to overcome adversity. Resilience, hope and positivity are crucial words in his vocabulary and the next chapter of his life will be met with stoicism and a smile.
Now a successful mental health speaker, Clive honestly shares his personal battles with his physical and mental health and how we should surrender to our vulnerabilities and learn to live with them in order to succeed, rather than feel ashamed of them.
Contact Great British Speakers today to book Motor Neuron Disease, Cancer and Mental Health speaker Clive Branson for your next event.
Mental Health Speaker, cancer patient and MND sufferer Clive Branson is happily married to his incredible wife Victoria and has four sons and three grandchildren. After leaving school, he worked for the Royal Air Force and the Ministry of Defence.
After leaving the forces industry, Clive’s next venture was to develop a successful health and safety consultancy. Unfortunately, during this time, his father John was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and dementia. A very proud man, his loved ones had to watch him painfully deteriorate until his passing at the start of 2017. On reflection, the grief and stress had penetrated Clive’s defences and began to manifest through his mood and behaviour. By the end of the year, he had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
The diagnosis did not fully resonate with him straight away, but slowly, severe anxiety took control of his body and his mind. He became terrified of the outside world and eventually convinced himself that his entire family would be better off without him. It was at this point he was admitted to two different psychiatric hospitals where he spent a total of seven weeks. Suicide is, of course, an uncomfortable topic to discuss, but a very real and powerful state of mind when the devil is knocking on your door.
Thankfully, Clive’s wife is a force of nature, and along with their sons and the wider family, he was showered with love, support and encouragement, and it was this support that saved him.
However, Clive Branson had lost his career, his income, confidence and identity, but things weren’t finished there. He would then go on to be diagnosed with stage two prostate cancer. The Motor Neurone Disease ruled our surgery, so he now has to have frequent blood tests and biopsies.
Not long after, his father-in-law – who he was very close to – passed away in 2019, followed by his own mother in 2021 due to COVID-19 complications.
See clips below of mental health speaker Clive Branson delivering recent talks:
Most would agree that the last few years have been rather eventful for Clive and his family, and you would forgive him for struggling. But his philosophy is now a simple one. He will not allow the daily challenges to define him. He has learned how to live life on life’s terms and relishes his roles as a loving and devoted, husband, father, grandfather and friend.
He now feels compelled to share his experiences and actively demonstrate that we do have the ability to overcome adversity. Firstly, by recognising that our mental health and wellbeing has been compromised, and secondly, accepting that. Finally, taking positive action towards restoring our own peace of mind. Rather than protect and hide our vulnerabilities, we should surrender to them. With honesty and good humour, we can liberate ourselves and move forward, one step at a time.
Clive Branson’s message is one of resilience, hope and positivity. Just as the old saying goes, “I didn’t get this far just to get this far”.
A Chat with mental health speaker Clive Branson
As part of our ‘Chat with…’ series at Great British Speakers, our director Jane Farnham sat down with Clive to discuss his MND and Cancer diagnoses as well as his ability to overcome adversity and make your vulnerabilities a positive. Watch the full interview HERE.
– Mental Health and Wellbeing
– Resilience
– Effective Communication
– Overcoming Adversity
– Motor Neurone Disease
– Living With Cancer
– Motivation
Clive will leave your audience enthralled, inspired and uplifted in equal measure.
’d be grateful if you could pass on a big “thank you” to Clive. He was excellent and his openness in talking about the issues he has faced was genuinely inspiring. We had an excellent turnout with 127 people on the call, and doubtless many more will view the recording when it’s released internally later. Thank you, too, for all your help in putting this event together behind the scenes.
Cameron – Internal Communications Executive
We were absolutely honoured to have Clive Branson speaking at our Wellness Festival at CarFest this year. Clive was incredibly inspirational and had the audience hanging on his every word. We are hoping he considers joining us again! – Alice Collins – Events Production Manager
I would like to recommend Clive Branson to you for potential Motivational/Inspirational Talks in the establishments in which you have links with.
Clive delivered his presentation on Friday 10th February and the response and engagement from prisoners was fantastic.
We are looking at Clive visiting every other month to enable a wider range of men and staff to hear Clive’s presentation, as I feel this will have a great impact on others lives with some being able to relate to some of the situations Clive has dealt with throughout his life.
HM Prison Service
Clive’s talk was really well received. We had some lovely messages from attendees towards the end and people have said how moving and inspirational his story is.
Great British Speakers Insurance Client
Clive was invited to join us at Tindall Riley to speak about Men’s Health. This is the first time we have organised an event to speak about this important subject. Clive was brilliant, his talk was incredibly moving and motivating for our staff. Clive’s message is very profound; it has made all of the attendees think about what they are going through and not to be scared to speak out if they need help. It was an absolute pleasure meeting Clive and we wish him all the best with his career in motivational speaking as he is a natural.
Grace Giddings – HR Advisor.