“BORN HUMAN is a holistic mental health consultancy working across a diverse range of organisations to improve parental mental health in the workplace”
Who are we?
We are a group of like minded individuals who through our own experiences are passionate about improving parental mental health at work.
Why born human?
Well, the universe has its way of bringing talented people together and certainly when our founder and co founder started out as an investment banker and a chemist this wasn't how either of them expected things to turn out.
But what they both found through their own journeys of self discovery was a common passion for a change in the way the workplace sees paternal mental health and the many silent ways in which it can affect us.
Fast forward a decade or so and that common passion became the foundation of BORN HUMAN. We recognised that mental health is about prevention not cure and so we created BORN HUMAN to get ahead of the problem. To prepare and empower people to face the challenges of parenthood with the support and confidence they need to overcome them.
What do we bring to your organisation?
20 years of clinical expertise in counselling and psychotherapy
Lived experience of Perinatal Mental Health
Leading academic thinking on workplace wellbeing
14 years lived experience of high performance corporate environment
2 years peer support for new fathers
18 years running support groups for new mothers with post natal depression
10 years of NCT facilitation
20 years of emotional and behavioural therapy in schools
An intimate understanding of the NHS and its support networks
Meet our Humans
Andy Chambers
FOUNDER
Andy is our founder and you might say didn’t arrive here conventionally. After achieving an honours Degree in Finance he continued with a successful career in London in corporate risk management and FX derivatives.
After 14 years of corporate life and relocating to Bath in 2013 he is now a dynamic entrepreneur who chooses to dedicates his time to things he loves and work he feels passionate about.
He is proud husband to wife Lucy and dad to his two little miracles, who inadvertently became the spark for BORN HUMAN. Having personally experienced the impact of Post Natal Depression and with an intimate understanding of the corporate environment, he realised there was more that needed to be done to support parents and their mental health at work.
Andy has dedicated time to helping countless other families find that all important balance through his work with Dads in Mind, Talk Club and other charitable and CIC initiatives. He believes it is crucial for parents to be prepared and keep mentally fit to remain productive both at home and at work. He created BORN HUMAN to proactively tackle these issues before they become a reality, seeking prevention not a cure.
Dr. James Costello
CO-FOUNDER
James is our resident academic. He started his career in the natural sciences, doing his PhD with the 2016 Nobel Prize winner and is currently a senior lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at UWE, a registered accredited member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy and a BACP Senior Accredited Supervisor.
James recently published his latest book “Workplace Wellbeing: A Relational Approach” which examines how we can create an emotionally healthy workplace for all of us. Created for the benefit of professionals and non specialists alike, it offers an insight into the transformative skills, values and attributes we can apply in the workplace to help people thrive in organisations.
James joined BORN HUMAN because he doesn’t believe the messages from his work should be left as words on a page. BORN HUMAN is a platform to be able to transform those words into real life change for people and organisations alike. To witness that change is to realise the true purpose of his work.
James is proud husband to wife Sonia and dad to his twin girls.
Louisa MacPhail
CHILDBIRTH EDUCATOR
Following a career in Fashion in London, Louisa and her husband first moved to Bristol to raise their 3 young children and that’s when she started her birth education journey by training with National Childbirth Trust (NCT) to become an Antenatal Educator. It was three years of study and reflection but it was the best decision she made!
Fast forward 10 years and she’s moved back ‘home’ to Bath where she continues to facilitate NCT antenatal courses and support new families in their transition to parenthood. She is also a Baby Massage Therapist, active volunteer at NHS Maternity Voices Partnership and has close links with healthcare and birth workers across B&NES.
Louisa joins Born Human as our antenatal expert and believes in preparing new parents for the challenges parenthood can present. She strongly believes in individual balance of work and home to bring harmony in to your life as a whole.
Domini Hooper
ARTS PSYCHOTHERAPIST
Domini boasts somewhat of a personal connection to BORN HUMAN in that she was instrumental in helping Andy’s wife recover from post natal depression and so we know first hand how valuable her work can be.
She trained in Arts Psychotherapy at the University of Hertfordshire and has been working as a therapist for over 20 years. She works in schools, with parents and children with emotional and behavioural problems, both one-to-one and in small groups.
She is particularly interested in perinatal mental health and as well as her own private practice she runs arts-based psychotherapy groups for mothers with postnatal depression. Domini is part of the B&NES NHS Perinatal Emotional Wellbeing Partnership, is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and is a full member of the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth).
Domini loves working with families and believes that when the parents are supported that new-found balance and happiness filters down through the rest of the family, and everything starts to slot into place. Relationships are central to our lives, and when our key relationships work well, it’s easier for us to manage life’s uncertainties.
Our Values
It starts with human connection.
Taking an experience led approach from the hundreds of families we have helped, we are able to build connections that encourage trust on a HUMAN level, producing honest and genuine feedback for employees to explore and your business to take away.
Vulnerability is a super power.
We pride ourselves in a process that encourages individuals to trust that vulnerability is not something to be afraid of but a strength to be proud of and the most powerful tool in our armoury when taking care of our emotional wellbeing.
Mental fitness takes commitment.
We are not born with all the tools we need, we all have to learn. Just like going to the gym for physical fitness, mental fitness is a life long process that constantly challenges all of us. Performing at our best for ourselves, our families and at work requires time, energy and commitment, but most importantly the courage to seek the right support at the right time.
No substitute for experience.
Having battled Post Natal Depression, understanding the corporate environment and helping countless families manage their own perinatal mental health journeys, we know how complicated parenthood can be. It is that experience and expertise that enables us to appreciate individual circumstances unique to each of us and respond with empathy, authenticity and acceptance, to find the right way forward to a healthier work life balance.
Creating safe spaces.
Confidential and non judgemental spaces provide individuals with the safety and security to be able to be vulnerable and take emotional risks. As an employer you can be assured that your employees wellbeing is at the forefront of our minds ensuring everyone who participates in our programmes is able to walk away feeling comfortable with the topics they are brave enough to explore.
Trust is essential.
Trust is an integral part of our relationship with both participants and employers alike. To maximise the output for both parties, we expect employees to feel free to explore their experiences without consequence and similarly we ask employers to trust us with their wellbeing policies, allowing us to bridge the gap and build a better working relationship. With trust we are able to better inform businesses with our feedback and achieve genuine trust between employers and employees.