What You Don’t See
Lived Experience Speaking & Invisible Illness Awareness
I’m available for guest speaking, community conversations and awareness events about living with Crohn’s disease, IBD, chronic illness and invisible illness.
Through my own lived experience, I speak openly about the parts of illness people don’t always see — diagnosis, surgery, stomas, recovery, fatigue, adapting everyday life, rebuilding confidence and learning to keep moving forward when life doesn’t go to plan.
My aim isn’t to tell people how to manage their health.
It’s to help people understand what life with invisible illness can actually look like — and how greater awareness, inclusion and understanding can make a difference.
Real experiences. Real conversations. What people don’t always see.
Leah speaks from lived experience. Presentations are for awareness and education and do not provide medical advice.
What I Can Speak About
I’d keep this as four strong topic cards so it feels professional and easy for workplaces, community groups, schools, sporting clubs and organisations to scan.
What You Don’t See
The realities of living with Crohn’s disease, chronic illness and invisible illness — including the parts people often miss because someone may “look fine.”
Proud of My Scars
Surgery, stomas, body changes, recovery and learning to see scars as part of survival rather than something that needs to be hidden.
Life Between the Hospital Visits
What happens outside appointments and admissions — fatigue, unpredictability, adapting everyday life, relationships, work, confidence and simply trying to keep going.
Rebuilding Confidence & Finding Another Way
Returning to movement, community, hobbies and everyday life after setbacks — and why doing things differently doesn’t mean being less capable.
Every presentation can be adapted to the audience and setting.
For example, a workplace talk might focus more on invisible illness, assumptions and practical inclusion, while a community or sporting group may focus more on resilience, adapting and rebuilding confidence.
That gives us a strong professional base without making you sound like you’re offering clinical education.
Who I Speak To
My talks can be adapted for different audiences, including:
-
Workplaces and teams — understanding invisible illness, fatigue, flexibility, assumptions and practical inclusion.
-
Community groups and support organisations — lived experience, diagnosis, surgery, stomas, recovery and rebuilding confidence.
-
Sporting clubs and activity groups — returning to movement, adapting after setbacks and why different doesn’t mean less capable.
-
Schools, colleges and training groups — awareness, empathy, inclusion and understanding what people may be carrying that you cannot see.
-
Health and community events — adding lived experience to conversations about IBD, chronic illness and invisible illness.
Every audience is different.
I can tailor the conversation to suit the people in the room, the purpose of the event and the amount of time available.
Whether it’s a short awareness talk, a longer guest presentation, a panel discussion or a more informal conversation, the focus remains the same:
Helping people understand the things they don’t always see.
Why Lived Experience Matters
Facts and statistics are important.
But sometimes the thing that changes understanding is hearing what life actually feels like behind them.Lived experience can help people understand the parts of chronic and invisible illness that are difficult to see from the outside — the uncertainty, the adapting, the rebuilding and the everyday decisions that can sit behind a person simply showing up.My talks are based on real experiences, honest reflection and awareness.The goal is not to speak for everyone living with IBD or chronic illness.It is to share one lived experience openly enough that it helps create better conversations, greater understanding and more thoughtful inclusion.