NSB Logo Candace Carnahan Candace Carnahan

Candace Carnahan

Speaker

Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada

Health & Safety Motivational Speaker

Lauded as one of the “Faces of the Future” by Maclean’s magazine, Candace Carnahan uses her unique life lessons to inspire us to dismantle the roadblocks that hinder efficiency, while celebrating the attitudes and behaviors that promote success – whether personal or professional.

Keynote Speeches

Virtual Keynotes & Webinars
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See Something. Say Something!

We all know the right things to do to keep safe, so why aren’t we doing them?

Candace has developed a plethora of mantras throughout her 17 years in the safety industry – but none are as powerful, effective, or as energizing as her call to action for her audience to ‘SEE SOMETHING. SAY SOMETHING!’

By referencing the many contributing factors that led to her workplace incident, she ignites a desire in her audience to answer this call.

Candace uses her own experiences, and encourages her audience to join her by ‘logging into life’ and actively seek out situations where speaking up changes a life for the better.

Perhaps this is reminding someone to buckle up, or simply asking someone how they are doing.

Candace believes that it’s the little things done on a day to day basis that facilitate huge changes. By reminding people that until we achieve ZERO injuries, we can each do ‘one thing safer’ – a challenge accepted by audiences around the world.

It takes ‘Courage to care!’ Speaking up isn’t easy, and peer pressure isn’t something we leave behind when we finish high school – it’s a reality in our workplaces and can cause us to remain silent when our voices need to be heard. Candace encourages her audience to tap in to their “courage to care,” and to act on it, with the realization that each and every day, we all have the capacity to change a life – or maybe even save one.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Reduction in recordable injuries, a safety-focused, empowered, cohesive and engaged student body/workforce.

It Could Happen to You

Candace uses her personal story of the loss of her left leg below the knee to address the details surrounding what went wrong in her situation…with the hope of making it right in yours. Holding strong in the belief that “no man is an island”, Candace explores how we as individuals can begin fostering positive attitudes and changing cultures within the realm of health and safety that can collectively contribute to injury reduction within our workplaces.

 

The First Step

Candace has learned what she believes to be an important life lesson the hard way; ‘the first step in not getting hurt is knowing that you could be’. Candace’s presentation explores the details surrounding the loss of her left leg below the knee, while at the same time offers education and awareness in preventing needless workplace injuries and fatalities to her audience.

Half-Price Pedicures

Half-price pedicures is a departure from the presentations is most-well known for. A humourous and uplifting discussion that focuses on the power of positivity and possibility, this inspirational account, recalls several pivotal moments throughout Candace’s recovery and beyond from a workplace incident that most certainly set the tone for the path she has been traveling on since losing a limb.

 

Tomorrow Isn't a Guarantee for Anyone

Candace is an injury prevention champion who lives her life with the knowledge that ‘tomorrow isn’t a guarantee for anyone’;  a fact of life that motivates her to live it up today… and she encourages others to do the same. Candace believes that a positive attitude, a passion for what you believe in, education and the confidence to speak out are the main ingredients to the recipe for change of any kind! She has been invited to share her personal story on stages throughout North America and Europe, in an effort to promote the power of positive action in changing cultures.

Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Connection Between Psychological and Physical Safety 

The relationship between our psychological and physical safety is being recognized, addressed, and appreciated now more than ever before.

Mental health challenges have always existed, however we are living and working in a world where discussions around these issues are being released from the shackles of stigma.

We have a clear understanding that tending to our state of mind to protect our state of being is no longer a “nice idea for some” — it’s imperative to all.

Consider this:

  • How will we find the courage to exercise our rights in the workplace if we arrive feeling mentally defeated? We won’t.
  • How can we be expected to speak up when something is happening that doesn’t feel right or safe, when we don’t feel respected or included in our workplace? We can’t.
  • How do we identify physical hazards in our workplace when our heads are swimming with thoughts that are distracting us from being present and maintaining the focus required to work safely? We don’t.

Through “Bridging the Gap”, we explore these questions, while shining a light on the non-physical elements that are essential to a safe and healthy workplace.

Topics include:

  • Mental health
  • Psychological safety
  • Respect
  • Invisible injury
  • Empowerment 

Audience reviews:

  • Candace has a powerful story and it resonated with our employees. She helped to raise awareness of unsafe behaviors, workplace hazards and safety expectations. Safety is always our top priority, and Candace’s experience demonstrates that accidents can happen, they change lives and they affect everyone.

    - Fleet Safety and Health Manager, Southern Nuclear
  • Candace engaged the membership with her presentation and all felt that she was an excellent choice. You could hear a pin drop as she spoke as all were so engulfed in her stories and the reality of it all. I would highly recommend her to any group both as inspirational and educational.

    - Provincial President, CUPE 2745
  • Candace delivers a message with such positive passion and enthusiasm that we could not help but be both affected and motivated. Candace was a definite factor in the success of the conference, and for that we are grateful.

    - Hydro One
  • Many speakers can educate audiences through a deep understanding of workplace health and safety, but few can strike the same emotional chord through retellings of personal tragedy and triumph as Candace can. Simply put, she is in a class of her own.

    - President & CEO, WorkSafeNB
  • Candace’s testimonial was touching and engaging for everyone in the organization. Her story was a reminder that accidents affect the entire community and not just the people at the plant.

    - r Communications Specialist, Petrochemicals, BASF
 

Speaker Biography

With irrepressible energy, she taps into her own experiences to inspire audiences to realize their full potential. Candace shares her belief that having the Courage to Care through standing up for others is a transformational concept – “If You See Something; Say Something”

The impetus behind Carnahan’s contagious enthusiasm was a devastating workplace incident in which she lost her lower left leg at the vulnerable age of 21.  It was an incident that might also have taken her life, but most important to Carnahan – it was preventable.  As she grew aware that “tomorrow” is a guarantee for no one, she adapted quickly – mentally and physically – to mobilize herself from a potentially paralyzing situation.

Within 10 months of learning to walk with an artificial leg, Carnahan began her new journey of experience and chronicled her life’s lessons as she backpacked and traveled the world. During that time, she immersed herself in a variety of cultures and gained perspective by doing so.  Candace began to appreciate firsthand that the potential for evoking positive change in our own lives and in the lives of others on a day to day basis was not only possible, but well within reach. Returning from her travels, Candace was transformed and felt compelled to share her story of triumph-over-tragedy, in an effort to eliminate preventable workplace injuries through her knowledge that the first step in not getting hurt is knowing that you can be. 

Over the years Carnahan has compiled what she considers to be some of life’s most simple but meaningful lessons, which are instrumental to her effectiveness as a speaker. Deemed the ‘Prophetess of Safety’, Carnahan has shared her message with over 350,000 people worldwide, and continues to expand her message to audiences across the globe on topics of taking the first step, finding humour for positivity, and attention to psychological safety.  Candace is featured in awareness campaigns across North America, Australia, and Europe.

Carnahan’s journey has given her a passionate voice that speaks to a wide variety of audiences and platforms.  Her contagious energy promises to awaken audiences to embrace their inner strengths and power.  Her personal story lends a wide range of philosophies, ideas, incentives – and humor – to audiences who are sure to be inspired to understand and achieve what they want out of life – all the while, gaining a better appreciation of the many gifts they already have.