What I offer.

I’m Darren Flanagan, a motivational speaker travelling across Australia. My emotional storytelling aims to reshape safety culture in organisations. If you need an authentic, inspiring speaker to transform your team, I’m here to help.

I focus on topics like risk management, teamwork, mental health, workplace safety, and perseverance, drawing from the mining disaster experience.

Empower your teams & foster resilience.

As a motivational speaker, I combine the principles of courageous leadership and mental health awareness to empower your team and cultivate resilience.

Courageous Leadership

My presentations reveal how ordinary people can exhibit unwavering determination and peak performance in exceptional circumstances. I support these insights with compelling anecdotes that reinforce risk management best practices. During my talks, I aim to:

Nurture open dialogues among your staff and team leaders.
Foster improved communication and heightened productivity.
Emphasise the value of approachable leadership.

Mental Health Awareness

My personal experiences underscore the paramount importance of mental health awareness. I share the poignant story of nine resilient minders who, despite their physical strength, grappled with mental health challenges following the harrowing rescue. During my talks, I advocate for:

The courage to speak up and seek assistance.
Shattering the stigma around mental health issues.
Open discussions that can benefit everyone.

Feedback from my audiences.

“Darren conveyed the unique challenges and pressures of his experience in a way that completely resonated with the audience. His presentation was voted the highlight of the conference with its multiple messages relating to safety, personal resilience, faith in your own abilities and the need to rise to a uniquely difficult challenge.”

“Met our expectations and exceeded them. Darren was very generous in sharing his personal experiences, which our staff found very moving and made a lasting impact. Exactly what our field-based staff needed to encourage them to seek support with mental health issues.”

“An intense, passionate, emotional delivery of his story, there were a lot of tears in the room. Darren tied it very nicely with how you work with your advisers, commitment, leadership, thought and quality with family etc. He was a huge hit.”

“Darren's presentation received a long, standing ovation - celebrating his passion for human life and the frailties of our existence.”

“Bloody amazing! The way Darren shares what he has been through is something that I feel anyone could draw strength from. I am so moved by Darren’s lived experience and his willingness to shed light on the importance of mental health.”

“It was an intense, fascinating, heartfelt, honest and emotional story of survival from an unimaginable situation. You could hear a pin drop for the entire 90 minutes – no one moved, no one spoke, every staff member was completely captivated from start to finish (not normally the case!).”

“Darren’s speech is gripping from start to finish. His raw emotion takes the audience to the scene of the accident, the efforts of the team involved in the rescue and the toll that it took on the mining community. It’s a great motivational tool for anyone involved with the industry.”

I’ve worked with businesses, organisations and groups of all kinds, across all industries.

“Every staff member was completely captivated from start to finish.”

“Exactly what our field-based staff needed to encourage them to seek support with mental health issues.”

“Darren’s presentation received a long, standing ovation - celebrating his passion for human life and the frailties of our existence.”

“An intense, passionate, emotional delivery of his story.”

“His presentation is extremely honest and authentic.”

“Darren made our audience laugh, cry, but most of all realise how amazing we all can be”

“Importantly the safety messages that Darren is able to convey in his presentation really hit the mark,”

“Inspiring, and emotionally gripping – what a dedicated team can achieve."