Patrick Alexander — PA Speaker 24 — is a Portland speaker, trainer, and facilitator who has spent nine years helping people rebuild their lives after homelessness and incarceration, and helping the staff and organizations who serve them communicate better. His talks are practical, trauma-informed, and built for real rooms: audiences leave with tools they can use the same day, not just a good feeling. Past Chair of the Portland Police Bureau Training Advisory Council. Peer Wellness Specialist. Restorative Justice Facilitator. There for people in their time of need.
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Write a reviewPrice range: Starts at $1,500
Gig length: 65 - 90 minutes
Understanding Me — Keynote or Session (45–90 min)
Patrick's signature talk from his 4-part series: the conversation we have with ourselves first — identity, self-talk, choices, and change. Includes "NOT RIGHT NOW," his three-word tool for the moment everything hits at once. For conferences, recovery and reentry events, staff days, and community gatherings.
The Trauma Funnel — Why Small Things Land Big (45–60 min)
A plain-language explanation of how past experiences narrow today's reactions — and how to widen the way forward. The session audiences share most; ideal for nonprofits, behavioral health teams, educators, and service providers.
Understanding My Language — Communication That Helps Instead of Harms (60–90 min workshop)
The words we use, the Language of Help, and the Language Swap: practical swaps staff and families can use in the first five minutes of a hard conversation. Interactive, with pair practice and a take-home worksheet. For teams, agencies, schools, and employers.
The Long Conversation — Staying in Honest, Nonviolent Conversation (60 min)
How to stay in the room — at home, at work, and in community — when a conversation gets hard. Built for leadership teams, faith communities, and organizations working across difference.
Ready To Work — Workforce & Wellness Training (half-day or series)
From Patrick's Workforce & Wellness Training offered through PA Speaker 24: the 20-year career conversation and goal setting, the 5-step job seeker guide, interview mastery (the STAR method, dos and don'ts), and generational peer work — resilience and balance. For workforce programs, reentry programs, employers, and schools. Book one session or the full 4-week / 8-session series.
Restorative Justice Facilitation (by arrangement)
Trained, experienced facilitation for organizations and communities working through conflict, harm, and repair — the work recognized by Washington County's Peace Grant.
'Starting Over' — Facilitated Community Conversation (90 min)
A facilitated conversation about reentry and starting over after incarceration or a hard season, built around a poem from the point of view of someone living with a felony — hosted through Oregon Humanities. For libraries, colleges, congregations, and community groups.
Starting at $1,500 for a local keynote/session, Portland metro. All other workshops/trainings: custom quote per event.
Real rooms. Real change.
For over nine years, Patrick Alexander has helped people re-entering society after homelessness and incarceration rebuild their lives — and helped the staff, agencies, schools, and communities who serve them talk to each other better. He founded PA Speaker 24 in Portland, Oregon in 2024 to bring that work to more rooms: consulting, coaching, training, workshops, and facilitation for public and private events.
Patrick's work starts from lived experience and is taught every week in real classrooms — including recurring trainings at Bybee Lakes Hope Center. His approach is practical and trauma-informed: how people talk to themselves, how they talk to each other, and how that language shapes what happens next. He was a featured voice at the grand opening of The Starlight (Central City Concern, 2022), speaking about the moment a person gets their keys and asks, 'What is my next step?' — the question his work helps people answer.
Credentials & leadership
- Peer Wellness Specialist — Adult Addictions
- ASIST — Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
- Trauma-Informed Certificate for Coaches — The Centre for Healing
- Restorative Justice Facilitator — Tri-County
- Past Chair — Portland Police Bureau Training Advisory Council (four years on the Council, two as chair)
- Board Member — WeShine PDX
- Awarded the Peace Grant — Center for Mediation and Dialogue, Washington County
- Facilitator — 'Starting Over,' an Oregon Humanities hosted conversation on returning to society
- Guest Speaker — Power Hour (Brown Hope); radio interviewer; featured in Street Roots and Central City Concern coverage
Community partners include Central City Concern (Imani Center, Karibu Program, Employment Access Center, Flip the Script), Bybee Lakes Hope Center / Helping Hands Reentry, Bridges to Change, Union Gospel Mission, and Light My Way Church.
Book Patrick when you need a speaker who has lived the work, teaches it every week, and leaves your audience with tools — not just talk.
What types of events do you do?
Conferences, nonprofit and agency staff trainings, school assemblies and staff PD, church and community events, reentry and recovery programs, employer trainings, panels, and facilitated conversations.
What do you need at the venue?
A microphone and a screen/projector for slides when the session uses them. That's it — Patrick brings the rest.
Can you tailor the talk to our audience?
Yes. Every booking starts with a short call so the session fits your room — the series sessions each stand alone or run as a full series.
How far in advance should we book?
As early as you can; 4–8 weeks is comfortable. Ask anyway if your date is sooner.
Do you travel?
Yes — Portland-based, available to travel for conferences and trainings; travel expenses are arranged at booking.
Will travel. Events within 100 miles included in quoted fee; conferences and trainings nationwide by arrangement, travel expenses billed separately / arranged at booking. Willing to travel out of town — reach out for details.
Motivational Speaker