Adam May: Key Note Speaker and Author

What Audiences Can Expect

Adam May, MS, is a licensed behavioral health professional, author of A Fox in a Bear Trap: A Book on How to Ask for Help, and the creator of the A.D.V.I.C.E. Leadership Lab—a framework designed to rebuild identity, steadiness, and leadership capacity in real-world pressure.

With over 15 years in mental health and personal transformation work, Adam blends clinical expertise with lived experience, delivering a message that is both deeply human and immediately actionable.

Audiences don’t just hear a story of resilience—
they learn how to practice it.

Adam teaches a practical, structured process for rebuilding internal stability, emotional clarity, and leadership presence after difficult seasons. His sessions are grounded, honest, and relational, offering guidance that resonates with professionals, students, teams, and entire organizations.

Core Speaking Themes
Resilience After Adversity

How to return to yourself after survival seasons, trauma, or identity collapse—without shame or collapse.

The Courage to Ask for Help

Breaking the silence around vulnerability while strengthening dignity, worth, and a sense of belonging.

Leadership Through the A.D.V.I.C.E. Model

A clear, human-centered framework for leading yourself and others through uncertainty, pressure, and transition.

Mental Health & Self-Autonomy

Practical tools for emotional steadiness, boundary-setting, internal clarity, and advocating for your needs.

Transformation Through Discipline & Compassion

How to rebuild your life with structure, purpose, and a compassionate internal voice that supports growth.

Signature Talks
1. Return to Yourself: Resilience You Can Feel

A grounded, honest keynote on rebuilding identity, steadiness, and purpose after hardship.
Ideal for conferences, schools, leadership retreats, and community organizations.

2. The Courage to Ask: Learning to Reach Out Before You Break

Based on A Fox in a Bear Trap, this session teaches audiences how to ask for help with dignity, intelligence, and strength.
Perfect for teams, mental health programs, universities, and support communities.

3. The A.D.V.I.C.E. Leadership Lab: Leading with Humanity, Not Performance

A leadership framework for navigating stress, responsibility, communication, and human dynamics without losing yourself.
Designed for corporate teams, first responders, educators, and healthcare leaders.

Audience Takeaways

A clear, practical framework for leadership and resilience through the A.D.V.I.C.E. model

Tools to rebuild identity and emotional steadiness after adversity

Strategies for asking for help without shame or collapse

Increased confidence, clarity, and personal agency

An experience that is emotionally grounding, empowering, and real.

Adam May, MS — Clinical Strategist, Speaker, and Creator of the A.D.V.I.C.E. Leadership Lab

Adam May’s story is not about tragedy — it is about returning to yourself. Diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma at 17, he endured chemotherapy, amputation, and steroid-induced weight gain past 300 pounds. Years later, he confronted alcohol misuse and the slow collapse that happens when survival replaces identity. He knows what it means to lose yourself — and what it takes to rebuild.

Adam is the author of A Fox in a Bear Trap: A Book on How to Ask for Help, a deeply human exploration of vulnerability, identity, and healing written from lived experience. The book gives people a language for reaching out when they don’t know how and has become a touchstone for anyone learning to come back to themselves after hardship.

At the center of Adam’s work is the A.D.V.I.C.E. Leadership Lab —
a leadership framework designed to build internal steadiness and help people lead with clarity, presence, and humanity. The Lab teaches six core capacities:

Adaptability to respond to change without losing yourself
Discipline to follow through when conditions aren’t ideal
Vision to remember where you’re going and why it matters
Integrity to align your values with your decisions
Communication that creates trust and coordinated action
Empathy that sustains connection and culture under pressure

Adam speaks to organizations, schools, and communities about resilience, identity, and leadership that holds under real pressure. His message offers more than inspiration — it offers structure for growth and a path back to steadiness.

Adam does not present himself as a hero.
He stands as a mirror — reminding people that healing is possible, leadership is human, and there is always a way back to yourself.

He doesn’t just tell a story.
He teaches people how to rise.

Technical Requirements

Adam’s presentations are designed to be flexible and accessible. The following setup ensures the best audience experience:

Wireless lapel or headset microphone (preferred; handheld if necessary)

Standard audio amplification suitable for room size

Projector and screen for optional slide deck or visual materials

HDMI or USB-C connection to venue’s A/V system

Small table or podium for notes and display of books/materials

Stage or speaking area visible from all seating sections

Comfortable room lighting (no spotlight required)

Audience seating arranged to support engagement (theater, classroom, or round tables)

Optional (but ideal for interactive formats):

Whiteboard or flip chart with markers

Wireless handheld mic for audience Q&A

Adam adapts to in-person, virtual, or hybrid event environments.