On Stage
Watch Patti speak.
Patti brings audiences into honest conversations that make them stop, think, laugh, and see things differently.
Lived Experience Speaker • Interactive Facilitator
When life changes and you don't know who you are anymore
A real conversation about identity after diagnosis, major life change, and finding your way forward when the life you expected is no longer the life you are living.
Start a Conversation →I'm not there to impress the room. I'm there to connect with it.
Featured In
- CBC Radio
- The Washington Times
- HealthCentral
- Authority Magazine
- AwareNow Media
Recognition
- TEDx Hawkesbury Speaker
- Speaker Slam Finalist
- Rise to Greater Heights Overall Award
About
Meet Patti Bevilacqua, PhD
I was diagnosed with MS at 23, five months into my first year as a high school Physical Education teacher. I thought the biggest thing I lost was my career. It wasn't. The biggest loss was not knowing who I was anymore.
Today, I share the lived experience of diagnosis, identity loss, major life change, and discovering that a different life can still be meaningful, purposeful, and yours.
A TEDx speaker, educator, two-time bestselling contributing author, and PhD, I bring lived experience, honesty, humor, and interactive facilitation to help audiences explore identity, change, and what it means to find your way forward when life doesn't go as planned.
My sessions are interactive and conversational. I use personal stories, reflection, think-pair-share, live polling, humour, and real conversation to engage the room rather than simply talk at it.
MS does not define ME. I do.
Two Signature Sessions
Signature Sessions
For healthcare, patient-experience, chronic illness, caregiver, and community audiences ready for an honest conversation.
01
When Life Changes and You Don't Know Who You Are Anymore
A conversation about identity after diagnosis and major life change.
A conversation about diagnosis, identity loss, major life change, and what happens when the old version of you no longer fits. Participants explore how identity can be reclaimed, why the process is personal and messy, and how meaning and purpose can still be found in a life that looks different from the one originally planned.
02
NO Is Not the End of the Road
What happens when life says no — and where it can lead.
We've all heard the word NO. Sometimes it's disappointing. Sometimes it's devastating. And sometimes it changes our lives completely. But who decided that NO means we've failed or reached the end of the road? Patti challenges that thinking through honest conversation about rejection, unexpected change and discovering that the road we never wanted to travel might take us somewhere we never imagined.
Why Patti
Why organizations bring Patti in.
- 01
A fresh perspective on identity, change, and moving forward after diagnosis
- 02
Real, lived experience — not theory
- 03
Honest reflection without corporate jargon
- 04
Interactive facilitation: think-pair-share, live polling, humour, real conversation
- 05
Creates space for real conversation and reflection
- 06
A message that resonates across healthcare, patient-experience, chronic illness, caregiver, and education audiences
- 07
Audiences leave seeing identity, change, and possibility differently
Recognition
A few things I'm proud of.
Contributing Author
Two-Time Bestselling Contributing Author
Absolute Will and Absolute Vision.
Recognition
Rise to Greater Heights Overall Award
"Change Maker • Trailblazer • Visionary • Leader"
Stages & Audiences
Where I've shared my work
- 01TEDx Hawkesbury
- 02Rise to Greater Heights Conference
- 03Speaker Slam
- 04CBC Radio
- 05AwareNow Media
What Event Organizers Say
Patti offers a lived example of resilience that is authentic, credible, and deeply inspiring. Her message stays with people long after the event ends.
Booking
Start a conversation at your next event.
Available for healthcare events, patient-experience gatherings, chronic illness and disability communities, caregiver and patient groups, education and Pro-D sessions, and community organizations supporting people through major life transitions.
Patti speaks on identity, diagnosis, major life change, and finding your way forward when life doesn't go as planned.
Who I Work With
- Healthcare professionals
- Patient-experience and patient-partner organizations
- Chronic illness and disability communities
- Caregiver and patient groups
- Healthcare and patient-care teams
- Educators and Pro-D audiences
- Community and nonprofit organizations
- Groups supporting people through major life transitions
Direct Contact
Patti Bevilacqua, PhD
Lived Experience Speaker & Interactive Facilitator
[email protected]Start a Conversation →