Mental Health in the Workplace

Why organisations work with Liz McConaghy A first-person account of operational PTSD from someone who survived a suicide attempt, not a clinical overview of mental health from a third-party expert. Seventeen years on the Chinook Fleet, including ten Afghanistan deployments and MERT casualty recovery under fire. The credibility on high-stakes teamwork is earned, not theoretical. 2023 Inspirational Woman in Defence Award, recognising her public advocacy on PTSD and recovery among veterans. A bestselling book (Chinook Crew ‘Chick’) that gives audiences a durable artefact to take back into the organisation after the talk. Direct relevance for organisations with armed-forces-connected workforces, high-stress operating teams, or active mental health and resilience programmes. Biography highlights Longest-serving female crewman on the RAF Chinook Fleet, with over 3,000 flying hours across a 17-year career. Two Iraq deployments and ten Afghanistan deployments under Operation Herrick, including service on the Medical Emergency Response Team. Author of Chinook Crew ‘Chick’ (Pen and Sword, 2022), Amazon Bestseller within three weeks of release. 2023 Inspirational Woman in Defence Award winner. Mental health and PTSD ambassador for veterans, drawing on her own near-fatal post-service crisis. Featured speaker for the Institute of Leadership and a regular contributor on military leadership and recovery. Biography The Medical Emergency Response Team flew casualty recovery under fire in Helmand. Soldiers died and were resuscitated on the cabin floor of the Chinook. Liz McConaghy spent ten deployments on that aircraft, and the operational cost of it caught up with her years later, not in service. She joined the RAF at 19, deployed to Iraq at 21, and stayed on the Chinook Fleet for 17 years. Three thousand flying hours, two Iraq tours, ten Afghanistan tours, and four years as the only female crewman on the wing. She left in 2019, and in August 2020 attempted suicide. What followed was the work she now brings into organisations. A bestselling autobiography, Chinook Crew ‘Chick’, published by Pen and Sword in 2022. The 2023 Inspirational Woman in Defence Award. An ambassadorship for veteran mental health, built on the argument that PTSD is a chapter of a life, not the definition of one. For organisations carrying the cost of psychological strain on their people, the value is the source. McConaghy speaks as someone who has been through the failure mode that mental health programmes are meant to prevent, and who is articulate about what brought her back. Key speaking topics Mental health and PTSD in high-pressure roles Resilience after operational and personal trauma Team leadership in extreme operating environments Self-leadership and recovery Women in male-dominated workplaces Veteran transition and post-service identity Ideal for CHROs, wellbeing leads, and ER teams running mental health and resilience programmes at scale Organisations with armed-forces-connected workforces, including defence primes, security contractors, and emergency services Leadership offsites where the agenda includes psychological safety, burnout, or sustained performance under load Employee network groups and ERGs focused on women, veterans, or mental health Audience outcomes A first-person reference point for what operational PTSD looks like, and what recovery from it actually involves Practical language for opening internal conversations about suicide risk and post-service mental health A clearer view of how high-functioning teams in extreme environments sustain themselves, and where they fail Renewed permission, particularly for senior leaders, to treat their own mental health as an operating variable

Why organisations work with Heather J. Crider Pairs neuroscience-based performance content with live percussion through her Everyday Rockstar collaboration with drummer Mark Schulman, a format conference programmers book specifically to reset audience energy in long event agendas. Uses the Impact Index, a proprietary assessment she co-created with Schulman, to give teams a measurable read on how they show up for colleagues and clients, so the keynote leaves a tool behind rather than only a feeling. Translates research on stress, attention, and recovery into short-form micro-practices that fit inside an executive day, designed for audiences who have already been through the standard wellness curriculum. Brings 15 years of conference keynoting and a working podcast platform, Go Reflect Yourself, to her sessions, so delivery quality is a known quantity for nervous programme leads. Wrote the 2024 book Believe In Yourself More Than Your Grandma, which gives audiences a take-home extension of the keynote material and a credible authorial anchor. Biography highlights Author, Believe In Yourself More Than Your Grandma: Unleash Your Superpower Through Simple Neuroscience, 2024. Co-founder of Everyday Rockstar with Mark Schulman, drummer for P!nk and Billy Idol. Co-creator of the Impact Index, a validated assessment of how individuals show up for others. Host of the Go Reflect Yourself Podcast. Headline keynote at Anthology Together 2024 and the 2025 CPI Certified Instructors’ Conference. Featured in Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Brainz Magazine, and Thrive Global. Biography The standard playbook for workforce wellbeing has run its course. Steps challenges, mindfulness apps, and resilience workshops have not stopped the climb in burnout and disengagement. Heather J. Crider’s work begins from that observation. She designs brain-based protocols for leaders and teams who already know they are tired and want a method, not another inspirational reset. The signature format pairs her neuroperformance keynote with Mark Schulman, the drummer behind P!nk and Billy Idol. Together they co-founded Everyday Rockstar and co-created the Impact Index, an assessment that gives audiences a measurable read on how they affect the people around them. The combination, live percussion and applied neuroscience, is the reason conference programmers book the duo to reset energy across full agendas. Crider’s individual practice sits inside this broader system. She published Believe In Yourself More Than Your Grandma: Unleash Your Superpower Through Simple Neuroscience in 2024, hosts the Go Reflect Yourself Podcast, and works through coaching programmes informed by neuroscience research. She has been featured in Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Brainz Magazine, and Thrive Global, and headlined Anthology Together 2024 alongside Schulman to address EdTech leadership audiences on bold action under pressure. The argument she makes to senior buyers is straightforward. If workforces are tired, the intervention has to change the underlying inputs to attention, recovery, and emotional regulation, not the surface activity. Her keynotes give executive audiences a small set of brain-aware practices, paired with an assessment that lets a team see, in numbers, whether anything has shifted afterwards. Key speaking topics Neuroperformance and burnout prevention Resilience and stress management for senior teams Emotional intelligence and self-regulation under pressure Confidence and team engagement Music and neuroscience as a performance pairing Peak performance habits Ideal for CHROs and heads of learning addressing burnout and engagement in fatigued teams Conference programmers seeking a high-energy keynote that delivers an applied tool, not only a mood lift Executive leadership offsites focused on resilience, focus, and recovery Sales and customer-facing teams under sustained performance pressure Audience outcomes Specific brain-based micro-practices audiences can apply the next working day A measurable read on personal and team impact through the Impact Index Language for talking about burnout and recovery with credibility inside their organisation Renewed energy in the room, anchored in a method rather than novelty

Why organisations work with Rob Halford A first-person account of addiction and 40 years of sobriety from a public figure who chose to speak about it rather than manage it privately. Lived experience of coming out in 1998 in an industry built on machismo, which gives weight to inclusion conversations that policy slides cannot. A memoir, Confess, named a Best Music Book of 2020 by Rolling Stone and Kirkus Reviews, that anchors his talks in a published account audiences can read alongside. A Grammy-winning career across five decades, which earns him the attention of a room before he has said a word about the harder material. Biography highlights Lead vocalist of Judas Priest, Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band. Author of Confess: The Autobiography, Headline Publishing Group, 2020, co-written with Ian Gittins. Named one of the Best Music Books of 2020 by Rolling Stone and Kirkus Reviews. First openly gay heavy metal musician of his stature, coming out publicly in 1998. Marked 40 years of sobriety in January 2026, having spoken openly about addiction and recovery in NME, Rolling Stone, Louder Sound and Fox News. Side projects across his career include Fight, 2wo and the solo project Halford. Biography The metal world in the 1980s did not invite confession. Rob Halford had built one of its biggest voices, fronting Judas Priest through the band’s commercial peak, while privately working through alcoholism and a sexuality he could not name in public. The break came in early 1986. Halford got sober and has now marked four decades without a drink. He has spoken about that decision in interviews with NME, Louder Sound and Fox News, framing it in plain language about humility, honesty and living one day at a time. In 1998 he came out, the first heavy metal singer of his stature to do so. Confess, his 2020 memoir written with Ian Gittins and published by Headline, set the full account on record. Rolling Stone and Kirkus Reviews named it a Best Music Book of the year. For corporate audiences, the value is the voice behind the story. Mental health, addiction and inclusion conversations land differently when the person at the front has lived all three and is willing to talk about them without softening the edges. Key speaking topics Addiction and recovery Mental health and resilience LGBTQ+ inclusion in hostile environments Life and career lessons from five decades in music Coming out and identity at work Sustained sobriety as a daily practice Ideal for Employee resource group events and Pride programming Wellbeing, mental health and recovery awareness days Leadership offsites where a human story is the anchor of the day After-dinner and conference keynote slots for large mixed audiences Audience outcomes A first-person reference point on addiction and long-term recovery that policy material rarely provides. A more honest baseline for internal conversations about mental health and what disclosure costs. A grounded account of what inclusion looks like from the inside of a hostile industry. A memorable session that signals the organisation takes these topics seriously enough to put a public figure in front of staff.

Why organisations work with Andrea McLean Thirteen years anchoring Loose Women gives her a craft of audience handling that few corporate keynote speakers can match, useful for events that need a host who can hold a room as well as deliver content. She speaks publicly about her own surgical menopause, breakdown and career exit, which lets internal audiences raise menopause and midlife anxiety as workplace issues without the conversation feeling clinical or performative. As co-founder and CEO of This Girl Is On Fire, she brings the perspective of someone who has built a women’s personal growth business from scratch, not just a presenter reading a script on the topic. Confessions of a Menopausal Woman and This Girl Is on Fire gave her a defined, recognisable position in the UK menopause and midlife conversation, useful for employer events targeting women in their forties and fifties. She can move between keynote, panel chair, awards host and after-dinner storyteller in the same engagement, which suits women’s networks, internal D&I events and customer-facing brand evenings. Biography highlights Longest-serving anchor of ITV’s Loose Women, on the panel from 2007 to 2020. Began her television career as a GMTV weather presenter in 1997, building a 24-year run across UK daytime broadcasting. Author of four books published with Hodder & Stoughton and others, including Confessions of a Menopausal Woman (2018) and the Sunday Times bestseller This Girl Is on Fire (2020). Co-founder and CEO of This Girl Is On Fire, a women’s personal growth platform launched in 2018 with masterclasses, podcast, app and live events. Has interviewed Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé, Drew Barrymore and Michael Bublé across her broadcasting career. Runs a CPD-accredited media coaching course used by founders, authors and executives preparing for high-stakes broadcast appearances. Biography Most organisations still treat menopause, anxiety and midlife reinvention as private events that happen to women alongside their work, rather than as workplace issues. The result is a steady, quiet loss of senior women at exactly the point they should be moving into their most influential roles. Andrea McLean has spent the past decade turning that private territory into public conversation. For thirteen years she anchored ITV’s Loose Women, the longest-serving lead on a panel show built around women talking honestly about their lives. The role gave her a particular kind of authority: the craft of holding a room of strangers, and the experience of doing it while navigating a surgical menopause, anxiety, two divorces and, in 2019, a public breakdown that became the trigger for leaving television. In 2018 she co-founded This Girl Is On Fire with her husband Nick Feeney, a personal growth platform for women that now runs masterclasses, a podcast, an app and live events. Confessions of a Menopausal Woman and This Girl Is on Fire established her as a recognisable UK voice on midlife women’s health and reinvention, with the second book reaching the Sunday Times bestseller list. She is most useful to organisations that need someone who can host an event, deliver a keynote and answer questions about midlife transition without flinching. The audience is usually a women’s network, a D&I forum, or a customer event aimed at women in their forties and fifties. The substance is personal, the room is her craft, and the topic is one she has built a company around. Key speaking topics Menopause in the workplace Midlife reinvention for senior women Anxiety and personal recovery Women’s networks and inclusion events Storytelling for high-stakes communication Confidence and career pivots Building a business in midlife Ideal for Women’s networks and ERGs at large employers D&I and wellbeing events focused on women aged 40 to 55 Customer-facing brand evenings and awards nights needing a host with on-air craft Internal leadership events seeking a candid voice on midlife transition and resilience Audience outcomes A frank, named account of menopause, anxiety and recovery delivered without clinical distance. Permission for senior women in the room to raise midlife and health issues as workplace topics. A story of leaving a high-profile career and building a business in midlife, useful for audiences considering their own pivot. A room held with the pace and warmth of a broadcaster, not the rhythm of a corporate presenter.

Why organisations work with Myrto Legaki She translates clinical mindfulness research, trained at the University of Massachusetts and Brown University programmes, into language and practice that corporate leaders accept and apply She speaks to senior audiences as a former MBA-trained consultant who spent 15 years in marketing and consulting roles across New York, London and Athens, not as an external wellness coach Her programmes have been deployed inside Microsoft, Google, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Roche, Novartis, AbbVie, Bayer and Coca-Cola HBC, giving her a working view of what corporate wellbeing actually requires at scale She treats psychological safety as a leadership behaviour problem, with specific practices, rather than a culture-survey output Biography highlights Founder and director, One Breath Mindfulness Center, Athens Certified MBSR instructor, trained at the University of Massachusetts (OASIS Mindfulness Center) and the Brown University Mindfulness Center Trained directly by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli, the clinical founders of the MBSR field TEDx speaker, TEDxUniversityofMacedonia, on the role of silence and mindfulness in leadership MBA, Boston University; BSc Corporate Finance, University of Piraeus Member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council Implemented leadership and wellbeing programmes inside Microsoft, Google, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Roche, Novartis, AbbVie, Bayer, MSD, Philip Morris and Coca-Cola HBC Biography Most corporate wellbeing programmes do not change leadership behaviour. They sit alongside it. Yoga sessions, app subscriptions and resilience workshops run in parallel with the same executive operating norms that produce the stress in the first place. The gap between wellbeing spend and wellbeing outcome is, in practice, a gap in what leaders model and reward. Myrto Legaki works in that gap. After 15 years in management consulting and marketing across New York, London and Athens, including senior roles at multinationals, she trained as a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor at the University of Massachusetts and the Brown University Mindfulness Center, under Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli. She founded One Breath Mindfulness Center in Athens to bring that clinical training into corporate leadership programmes. Her work integrates neuroscience, applied psychology and contemplative practice into formats senior leaders accept: programmes on self-leadership, psychological safety, stress regulation, communication under pressure and team culture. Inside organisations such as Microsoft, Google, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Roche, AbbVie and Bayer, she has worked with leaders and teams on the specific behaviours that determine whether a culture supports performance or quietly erodes it. She is a TEDx speaker, a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, and holds an MBA from Boston University and a finance degree from the University of Piraeus. The combination matters: corporate audiences engage with her because she has held the operating roles they hold now, and applies clinical wellbeing science with the precision a senior buyer expects. Key speaking topics Mental health in the workplace Psychological safety and trust Self-leadership and executive composure Resilience and stress regulation Mindful leadership Inclusive leadership and unconscious bias Women’s leadership Ideal for CHROs and heads of people designing leadership and wellbeing programmes with measurable behavioural outcomes C-suite and senior leadership teams under sustained delivery pressure Heads of culture, DEI and learning embedding psychological safety into management practice Audience outcomes A clear distinction between wellbeing as a perk and wellbeing as a leadership operating capability Specific, evidence-based practices for stress regulation and composure under pressure A working vocabulary for psychological safety that connects daily leadership behaviour to mental health outcomes Confidence to address mental health and burnout in their organisation without defaulting to programme-speak

Why organisations work with Aquayemi-Claude G. Akinsanya He brings first-hand experience of being denied SEN provision in the UK system and has translated that into a named legislative campaign, The Claudes SEN Law, that gives inclusion conversations real political and personal weight. His advocacy is documented through founder roles, not commentary alone: Garnetts Clothing Brand & Range on sustainable fashion and The Claudes SEN Law Campaign on disability rights and inclusive education. He sits inside the awards and rankings ecosystem that boards recognise: Forbes Under 30 nominee, ForbesBLK contributor, and Effie Awards Europe 2026 jury member, giving him credibility with marketing and brand-led audiences. He speaks credibly across young-leader and SDG platforms, including YOUNITE 2024 on SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), making him relevant to organisations that have signed up to global goals and need authentic voices to back the commitment. Biography highlights Founder and CEO, Garnetts Clothing Brand & Range, a sustainability-focused fashion venture Founder, The Claudes SEN Law Campaign, an advocacy initiative calling on UK Parliament to reform Special Educational Needs legislation Forbes Under 30 (2024) nominee and ForbesBLK member Jury member, Effie Awards Europe 2026 Speaker at YOUNITE 2024 on UN Sustainable Development Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities) Author of The Truth Behind Self Isolation and this Crazy Climate of Lockdown Biography Inclusion is one of the most contested terms in corporate language. Boards have signed off on statements, training cycles and reporting frameworks. Many still struggle to explain what changes in everyday practice for a neurodivergent or disabled employee. Aquayemi-Claude G. Akinsanya works in exactly that gap. He was denied Special Educational Needs provision as a young person in the UK system, and built The Claudes SEN Law Campaign in response, pushing UK Parliament for a statutory framework that recognises neurodiversity and extends support beyond age 25 for those with Education, Health and Care Plans. The campaign has been documented through Change.org, his own publishing platform, and bureau profiles. He also founded Garnetts Clothing Brand & Range, a sustainability-led fashion venture, and contributes to the marketing and brand world through ForbesBLK and an Effie Awards Europe 2026 jury seat. That second track matters: it places him in front of senior commercial audiences and gives him a vocabulary that connects sustainability and inclusion to brand and consumer strategy, not just to compliance. For organisations under real scrutiny on whether their DEI claims have substance, his value is specific. He carries the experience of the people DEI policy is meant to serve, the founder discipline of running ventures with social objectives, and the platforms (Forbes, YOUNITE, Effie) that make boards take the conversation seriously. Key speaking topics Neurodiversity and Special Educational Needs in education and work Disability inclusion and advocacy Sustainability and social impact in brand strategy Social entrepreneurship and purpose-led ventures Mental health and resilience in young leaders Campaign building and movement leadership Ideal for CHROs and heads of DEI seeking authentic voice rather than process-led inclusion narratives Brand and marketing leaders integrating sustainability and inclusion into commercial strategy Social impact and ESG teams working against SDG-aligned reporting commitments Youth, education and graduate audiences exploring purpose-led careers Audience outcomes A sharper view of how invisible disability and neurodivergence are experienced in education and employment, and why current policy frameworks fail Direct exposure to a founder building inclusion and sustainability into commercial ventures rather than describing them in policy terms A framework for connecting brand, social impact and SDG commitments without falling into surface-level signalling Renewed energy in younger audiences considering social entrepreneurship as a route to both commercial and civic contribution

Why organisations work with Mark Wilkinson Pairs an operational safety credential, Chartered Member of the Institute of Safety and Health, with personality diversity practice through Equilibria’s E-Colours framework. That combination is unusual on the speaker circuit, where wellbeing voices rarely carry frontline safety standing. Translates personality difference into safety behaviour. The argument that an extroverted risk-taker and a cautious analyst will hear the same toolbox talk in opposite ways gives leaders a concrete way to redesign briefings, supervision and incident review. Lived recovery from collapse, addiction, bankruptcy and depression gives the resilience material first-hand authority. The story is supported by a published book, Life Remixed, endorsed by Bob Proctor and Marci Shimoff. Works comfortably across heavy industry, energy and corporate audiences, including engagements such as Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival, and adapts the same material for a leadership offsite or a frontline safety stand-down. Brings the production craft of a former Ministry of Sound resident DJ into the room. Music, video and live elements are part of the delivery, which lands with audiences who switch off during conventional keynotes. Biography highlights Chartered Member of the Institute of Safety and Health (CMIOSH) and Fellow of the Institute of Leadership (FIoL). Certified E-Colours personality diversity practitioner through Equilibria, working with leadership teams across energy, sport and corporate sectors. Author of Life Remixed: Looking Beyond The Dance To Face The Music, published 2021, with foreword endorsements from Bob Proctor and Marci Shimoff. Host of the Life Remixed podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Former international house music DJ with a Ministry of Sound residency, performances in 65 countries and a UK Top 10 chart entry as part of Dab Hands with the remix of Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love”. Speaker at Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival and across health, safety and leadership programmes for industrial and corporate clients. Biography Behavioural safety has a translation problem. Two people on the same site, given the same briefing, will walk away with different versions of what was said and different views of the risk in front of them. Wilkinson’s working argument is that personality difference is a structural variable in safety and engagement, not a soft factor to be managed around. He works that argument through Equilibria’s E-Colours framework, where he is a certified practitioner, and through his Chartered standing with the Institute of Safety and Health. The combination matters: the diagnostic of human difference is paired with operational health and safety credibility, which is what gives the work purchase in heavy industry and energy clients rather than only in leadership development settings. The personal story sits behind the professional one. A former Ministry of Sound resident DJ with a UK Top 10 chart credit, Wilkinson collapsed at 33 and lost income, home and relationship across an 18-month recovery. He rebuilt through health and safety work and personal development study, and wrote Life Remixed, endorsed by Bob Proctor and Marci Shimoff, as the account of that rebuild. For organisations, that biography is useful because it lets him hold a room of frontline operators and a room of senior leaders with the same material. The safety and personality work gives the talk its operational edge. The recovery narrative gives it the emotional weight that makes the safety message actually stick. Key speaking topics Behavioural safety and human factors Personality diversity in the workplace Resilience and personal recovery Mental wellbeing and mindset Leadership communication across personality types Engagement in high-risk operational environments Ideal for Heads of HSE, safety leadership teams and operational directors in energy, construction, aviation and manufacturing HR and culture leads designing engagement, wellbeing or behavioural change programmes Leadership and learning teams running offsites that need a credible voice on personal resilience Frontline conferences and toolbox events where a conventional academic keynote will lose the room Audience outcomes A working model for why the same safety message lands differently across a workforce and what to change about briefings as a result A vocabulary for personality difference that supervisors and team leads can use without specialist training A first-hand account of recovery from collapse and addiction that opens room for honest conversation about wellbeing A reframe of behavioural safety as a leadership and communication problem, not only a compliance one

Why organisations work with Marc Convey A first-hand account of post-traumatic growth that gives audiences permission to discuss adversity, fear, and visible difference without sliding into clinical or HR-policy register. Years as a campaigner for Changing Faces, the UK charity for people with visible difference, which informs how he handles inclusion and self-image conversations inside organisations. A working life that crossed live poker broadcasting, video production, and non-profit leadership, which gives him commercial fluency when speaking to corporate audiences. A track record on charged platforms, including a suicide prevention evening at Brighton Dome for Baton of Hope, where he has delivered a keynote that holds an audience through difficult material. Biography highlights Two-year voluntary campaigner with Changing Faces, the UK charity for people with visible difference. Keynote speaker at the Baton of Hope suicide prevention event at Brighton Dome. Client testimonial from Cristina Proietti, Head of Commercial Operations at WHSmith Travel. Former globally-travelled poker commentator across the live tournament circuit. Founder of his own video production business and operator of a non-profit focused on “working with purpose.” Writes the Substack “Making a Marc” and appears regularly on podcasts including “Man Up / Man Down.” Biography A fire at 14 left Marc Convey with burns that he carries today. The decision that followed shaped the rest of his life: refuse to be defined by the injury, and build the inner resources to face what came next. That choice now sits at the centre of his speaking work. Before turning to the stage, he spent years commentating on live poker tournaments around the world. He then ran a video production company and built a non-profit focused on what he calls “working with purpose.” Each of those careers fed the next, and gave him the commercial language to address corporate audiences without losing the personal core. His signature keynote, The Gift of Adversity, draws on that long road back. Audiences hear a specific story, not a generic message, and leave with a more grounded vocabulary for fear, recovery, and the meaning of difference. The work has reached charged platforms, including a Baton of Hope suicide prevention evening at Brighton Dome, and corporate floors at WHSmith Travel. Beyond the stage he writes the “Making a Marc” Substack and serves a two-year campaigner role with Changing Faces, the UK charity for people living with visible difference. That campaigning work is what separates his content from the wider motivational category: he is in active service to a population whose lived experience he shares. Key speaking topics Resilience and post-traumatic growth Adversity and recovery from setback Mental health and wellbeing at work Visible difference and self-image Fear, change, and personal transformation Authentic leadership and inner resources Team culture grounded in values Ideal for CHROs and HR leaders programming mental health, wellbeing, or culture events Internal communications and culture leads commissioning all-hands or away-day keynotes Charities, healthcare bodies, and public service audiences working on suicide prevention or visible difference Audience outcomes A direct first-hand account of trauma and recovery that gives audiences permission to talk honestly about adversity at work A more concrete vocabulary for fear, setback, and visible difference than wellbeing programmes typically offer Language and reference points that internal communicators can carry into culture and engagement conversations after the talk A confident sense that post-traumatic growth is achievable, anchored in a specific lived example rather than abstract claim

Why organisations work with Chris Baréz-Brown Twenty-five years working the commercial creativity brief as an operator, first agency-side and then running his own firm. The view is from inside the work, not from a research perch. Five Penguin titles set out a coherent published thesis on creativity as a learnable behaviour, so buyers can read the argument before booking the room. His Unilever programme was written up in Harvard Business Review, a rare credential in this territory. He ships a behaviour-change tool with the keynote. TiO and the Elvis Energy Lab let the room run the method the next morning, not just remember the speech. A repeat-booking record on the brand side that other creativity speakers don’t match. Biography highlights Founder of Upping Your Elvis, a creativity and energy consultancy working with global brands. Former director at innovation consultancy ?What If!, leading offices in London, New York and Sydney. Author of five Penguin books: Shine, Wake Up!, Free!, How to Have Kick-Ass Ideas, and Upping Your Elvis. Penguin’s bestselling author in 2014. Creator of TiO, a workplace mental wellbeing app with research from the University of Bristol. Featured in Harvard Business Review for the impact of his work with Unilever. Media appearances include the BBC, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Fast Company and Calm. Biography Most creativity programmes inside large organisations fail at the same point. The room leaves energised, the workstreams revert, and within a quarter the operating model has absorbed the change. The problem is rarely a shortage of ideas. It is the absence of a daily practice that lets ordinary employees produce original work under commercial pressure. This is the territory Chris Baréz-Brown has worked in for twenty-five years. He spent over a decade as a director at ?What If!, the innovation consultancy, running the business across London, New York and Sydney before founding Upping Your Elvis in 2010. The premise of the firm is that human energy, not strategy decks, is the variable that determines whether a creative culture survives contact with the operating model. His five Penguin titles, including the bestseller Upping Your Elvis, set out a body of practice that treats creativity as a learnable behaviour rather than a personality trait. The work has run inside Nike, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Unilever, Roche, Microsoft and the WPP agency network on the brand side, with Harvard Business Review featuring the impact of the Unilever programme. What sets the offer apart from a standard creativity keynote is the post-event mechanism. Through TiO, an app developed with research from the University of Bristol, and the Elvis Energy Lab, audiences leave with a method they can run themselves. The thesis underneath all of it is commercial: brave thinking is a function of human state, and human state can be designed for. Key speaking topics Commercial creativity and innovation practice Energy management and human performance at work Mental and emotional wellbeing in high-pressure roles Leadership of creative teams Behaviour change and habit design inside organisations Brand-side innovation case studies Ideal for CMOs and brand leaders looking to lift creative output across marketing organisations Heads of innovation and R&D in consumer-facing businesses Senior HR and people leaders responsible for engagement and wellbeing strategy Leadership offsites where the brief is renewal of energy and creative confidence, not a strategy refresh Audience outcomes A working definition of creativity as daily practice, not occasional inspiration Specific behavioural tools, including TiO, that audiences can use the next morning A sharper read on how their own energy state is shaping the quality of their commercial decisions Case material on what holds up when a creative culture meets the operating model

Why organisations work with David Patton His research with Professor David Best, published in the Journal of Drug Issues, makes a clean argument that pull factors and turning points, not pain or crisis, drive sustained behavioural change. That reframes how leaders think about wellbeing, resilience and post-crisis recovery. He runs New Central Media, the platform behind Recovery Capital: Pathways Through Prison, a book with a foreword by Dame Carol Black that was accepted as national evidence for a Parliamentary review. That is a working track record of turning research into policy traction. His material is built with people who have rebuilt their lives after addiction and incarceration, which gives audiences a level of human authenticity that conventional behaviour-change keynotes cannot match. He has presented at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs and works internationally with the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities, so he speaks with the authority of someone whose research is taken seriously by policymakers, not only by academics. His framework on connection, collaboration, community and creativity as antidotes to isolation and burnout is directly transferable to corporate culture, employee wellbeing and engagement work. Biography highlights Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Derby, Centre for Applied Social Sciences, Policy, Practice and Research PhD, University of Sheffield; Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Founder and Director of New Central Media; lead of Recovery Atlas, a global participatory photovoice archive Co-author with Professor David Best of peer-reviewed work on pull factors and turning points in addiction recovery, published in the Journal of Drug Issues Editor and contributor to Recovery Capital: Pathways Through Prison, Women’s Recovery Capital Pathways and Lived Experience Recovery Organisations Has presented at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, including a 2023 manifesto on stigma in addiction recovery Former Senior Researcher at the University of Cambridge; principal investigator on Home Office, ESRC, NIHR and Big Lottery Fund projects Biography The dominant assumption in behaviour-change psychology is that people change when the pain gets bad enough. Research published in the Journal of Drug Issues by David Patton and David Best argues the opposite. Across the life narratives of people in long-term addiction recovery, the consistent driver is not crisis but a pull toward something better: meaning, hope, community, a turning point. That finding moves the conversation about recovery, resilience and wellbeing onto a different footing. Patton is Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Derby, based in the Centre for Applied Social Sciences, Policy, Practice and Research. His work is built directly with people who have rebuilt their lives after addiction and incarceration, using participatory methods including photovoice and digital storytelling. The international expression of that approach is Recovery Atlas, a global archive linked to recovery communities worldwide. He also runs New Central Media, the publishing platform behind Recovery Capital: Pathways Through Prison, Women’s Recovery Capital Pathways and Lived Experience Recovery Organisations. The prison volume, with a foreword by Dame Carol Black, was accepted as national evidence for a Parliamentary review of prison-based recovery. He has presented at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs and works with the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities on projects across Latin America and Africa. For organisations rethinking employee wellbeing, post-crisis resilience or behavioural change at scale, Patton brings something specific: an evidence base on what actually sustains change in the hardest cases, drawn from people whose lives depended on getting it right. The transfer into corporate culture, talent and engagement strategy is direct. Key speaking topics Pull factors and turning points in behavioural change Addiction recovery and the science of human flourishing Connection, community and creativity as antidotes to isolation Lived experience and participatory research Stigma, marginalisation and inclusion Drug policy reform and the role of recovery communities Wellbeing and resilience after crisis Ideal for CHROs and wellbeing leads designing mental health, recovery and resilience strategy Leadership teams in healthcare, criminal justice, social care and the third sector Conferences on the future of work, wellbeing, inclusion and human flourishing Policy and public sector audiences working on drug policy, prisons and rehabilitation Audience outcomes A research-grounded reframing of what sustains behavioural change, drawn from peer-reviewed work Specific language for talking about pull factors, turning points and recovery capital inside an organisation Direct insight into how lived experience can be built into research, policy and programme design A clearer view of how connection, community and meaning operate as antidotes to burnout and disengagement Reference material from Recovery Capital: Pathways Through Prison and related publications for follow-up

Why organisations work with Bella Smith Clinical authority that holds up in the room. Twenty years as an NHS GP partner means the advice survives challenge from medical, HR and legal stakeholders alike. Operator credentials, not only commentary. Through The Well HQ she has built women’s health frameworks for clients including the FA and corporate employers, translating physiology into policy. A Sunday Times bestselling co-author of The Female Body Bible, the most cited recent reference book on female-specific health and performance in the UK market. Ambassador status with The Eve Appeal gives her standing on gynaecological health that goes beyond menopause, the topic most women’s health speakers default to. Direct, plain-language register. Audiences leave with vocabulary they can use the next day, in policy drafting, line-management conversations and personal decisions. Biography highlights NHS GP partner with over 20 years of clinical experience, specialising in women’s health Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of The Well HQ, a women’s health consultancy Co-author of The Female Body Bible (Penguin, 2023), a Sunday Times bestseller Ambassador for The Eve Appeal, the UK gynaecological cancer charity Media spokesperson as The Digital GP, with appearances on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio Suffolk and Sky News Co-led the design of an integrated female health framework across the Women’s Super League, the National Leagues and grassroots football Biography Women’s health has spent a decade being talked about and rarely being built into how organisations actually operate. Policies on menopause sit in handbooks no manager reads. Wellness budgets fund webinars that leave behavioural change untouched. The work of moving from sentiment to system is technical, and it is what Bella Smith does. She has been an NHS GP partner in Suffolk for over twenty years, with a clinical specialism in women’s health. That practice is the source of the directness audiences notice first. The advice is what she would give in a consultation, stripped of corporate hedging. In 2021 she co-founded The Well HQ with sports scientist Dr Emma Ross and coach Baz Moffat. The consultancy works with employers and sports bodies to translate female physiology into policy, manager training and culture. Their work with the FA produced an integrated female health framework spanning the Women’s Super League, National Leagues and grassroots football, the first of its kind. The Female Body Bible, co-authored with Ross and Moffat and published by Penguin in 2023, became a Sunday Times bestseller. It is now the reference text many HR teams use when they begin to take this seriously. As an ambassador for The Eve Appeal and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and Sky News, she has spent years closing the gap between clinical knowledge and public conversation. Inside organisations, that gap is where most policy fails. Key speaking topics Women’s health in the workplace Menopause policy and management Reproductive and gynaecological health Female physiology and performance Stress and lifestyle medicine Health communication and taboo Ideal for CHROs, heads of D&I and reward leads building or auditing women’s health policy Line manager and leadership audiences who need clinical fluency, not slogans Sports, performance and athlete-welfare organisations Employee resource groups and women’s networks running serious internal programming Audience outcomes A clinical baseline on menopause, reproductive health and female physiology that survives scrutiny Vocabulary and questions managers can use in their next one-to-one A clear view of where current workplace policy falls short, and what good looks like Practical reference points for HR teams designing or revising women’s health provision

Why organisations work with Baz Moffat She runs the consultancy that adidas, The Gym Group and England Netball use to redesign female-health training and policy. Buyers get an operator with live commercial programmes, not a speaker reading the literature. Co-author of The Female Body Bible, the Sunday Times bestseller now published in five languages, written with an NHS GP and a former Head of Physiology at the UK Sports Institute. The credentialled trio is what gives her positions weight inside HR, medical and performance functions. Translates female physiology into manager behaviour, line manager conversations, training plans and return-to-work protocols. Audiences leave with language and decisions, not slogans. Speaks from inside the system she is critiquing. Former GB rower, 20 years in coaching and high performance, World Championship medallist, mother of two. The lived ground makes the policy argument harder to dismiss. Biography highlights Co-founder and CEO of The Well HQ, female-health consultancy to brands, governing bodies and corporates including adidas, The Gym Group, England Netball and The Fitness Group. Co-author, The Female Body Bible (Yellow Kite, Hachette, 2023), Sunday Times bestseller, published in five languages. GB Rowing Team member 2005 to 2008; raced in the women’s eight at the 2007 World Rowing Championships, Munich. BSc Sports Science, First Class, University of Birmingham; MSc Health Related Behaviour Change, University of Bristol. Spoke at the Council of Europe International Women’s Day roundtable on female health in sport. Twenty years’ experience as a coach, personal trainer and Holistic Core Restore practitioner. Biography Most workplace wellbeing programmes are still calibrated to a male default. Female-specific health sits inside a thin band of policy and a generic resilience strand, with little connection to performance, retention or management practice. The Well HQ, the consultancy Baz Moffat co-founded in 2021 with Dr Emma Ross and Dr Bella Smith, exists to close that gap by treating female health as part of the operating system, not the wellness budget. The consultancy now works with adidas on the Breaking Barriers Academy, with The Gym Group and The Fitness Group on training personal trainers in female-health literacy, and with national governing bodies including England Netball and English Football on changing how the sport supports women from grassroots through to elite. The same logic applies to corporates. Policy, manager training and protocols for menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, return to work and menopause are rebuilt on the science rather than on assumption. Baz brings the operator side of that argument. She rowed for Great Britain from 2005 to 2008, raced in the women’s eight at the 2007 World Rowing Championships, and spent two decades coaching women through pelvic, core and perinatal health. Her academic credentials sit in behaviour change, an MSc from Bristol on top of a First in Sports Science from Birmingham, which is why her work translates into adoption rather than slide decks. Her co-authored book, The Female Body Bible, written with an NHS GP and a former Head of Physiology at the UK Sports Institute, became an instant Sunday Times bestseller and now appears in five languages. It functions as the public version of the consultancy’s argument: that the failure to design for half the workforce is no longer defensible on cost, evidence or talent grounds. Key speaking topics Female health as an operating system inside organisations Menopause, perimenopause and the workplace Pelvic, core and perinatal health Return to work after pregnancy and postnatal recovery Female-specific high performance in sport and corporate environments Designing wellbeing policy beyond the male default Building and scaling a mission-led consultancy Ideal for CHROs, heads of DEI and wellbeing leads rebuilding female-health policy beyond a generic wellness offer. Boards and executive teams of sports governing bodies, federations and clubs reviewing female participation and performance pathways. Senior leaders in health, fitness and consumer brands targeting the female market. Founders and operators seeking a live case study in building a mission-led commercial business. Audience outcomes A working model for treating female health as a workforce capability, not a benefits line item. Clear language for line managers and HR on menstruation, pregnancy, postnatal return and menopause. A grounded picture of what changes when policy, manager training and protocols are redesigned on female physiology. A first-hand account of the cultural and commercial barriers to female health in sport and corporate life, and what shifts them.