Founder | Chief Executive Officer | Keynote Speaker

Musician | Dog Dad | Traveler

Kris is the founder and owner of VĪV Mental Health, an initiative developed in 2020 as a platform to innovate how mental health training, advocacy, and engagement could be delivered to businesses, schools, and communities.

Kris is an inspiring speaker and facilitator whose captivating blend of lived experience, professional expertise, and passion for connection has resonated with virtual and live audiences around the world. He is a frequent keynote speaker on the topics of men’s mental health, workplace mental health, and survivors of suicide loss.His lived experiences and passion for helping others became the catalyst for the work he so proudly contributes to. Kris is a sexual assault survivor, a suicide survivor, and experienced houselessness at the age of 20. Kris graduated from NAIT and became a Red Seal journeyman machinist in 2010 and was employed in the trades for over a decade before embarking on a new career working in mental health. Kris was himself diagnosed with PTSD in 2014 and has since become a vocal advocate for men’s mental health, suicide survivors, and individuals experiencing houselessness.

Kris has been involved with music and the visual arts since the age of 12, singing and playing guitar for an original rock band from 2008 to 2015, touring as a guitarist with various Canadian country music artists, and performing his own original acoustic material. He often incorporates his love for arts and music into his work, offering accessible and entertaining ways to deliver important education and fostering connections with his audiences. He is the host and producer of the VĪV Mental Health Podcast and the producer of two podcasts for the Alberta Cancer Foundation – giving rise to VĪV Productions, the multimedia division of VĪV Mental Health that produces digital media, video content, and live events for community-based and corporate clients. Kris also performs stand-up comedy through the lens of mental health for both public and private events.

Kris Marks is a Certified Psychological Health & Safety Advisor through the Canadian Mental Health Association with training certificates in both Mental Health and Psychological First Aid. In his spare time, he loves to travel the world and enjoys an active lifestyle of hiking, biking, swimming, and hockey. He is an active harm-reduction and outreach volunteer and the proud human to a beautiful rescue dog named Carson.