We are passionate about spreading messages to organisations, staff networks, senior management teams and community groups around topics relating to fatherhood, equal parenting, dad’s mental health and redefining masculinity.
Please see the overview of our work below. If you would like some more information please visit www.elliottrae.com.
Hello, Elliott here. Thanks for your interest in working with me. I am looking forward to talking to you further and seeing how I can help to support your goals and aspirations. I am hugely passionate about equality and I enjoy using my voice to connect with people, increase understanding of some important issues and inspire behaviour and culture change. I work frequently with staff parenting networks, gender networks, senior management teams and D&I teams. Before I go on to talk about the programmes, workshops, webinars and consultations that I offer, here is an overview on my expertise and experience.
About me
I am a husband, dad, speaker, author and founder of MusicFootballFatherhood.com (MFF), the parenting platform for men. MFF is all about open conversations around fatherhood and was described as the ‘Dad’s version of Mumsnet’ by the BBC. I started MFF in 2016 after being diagnosed with PTSD following the traumatic birth of my daughter.
MFF aims to provide a space for dads to share the ups and downs of parenting and promote a positive representation of diverse fatherhood. This is done through our popular blog which has 100s of articles written by dads, our Daddy Debates podcast where we host in-depth chats with dads about different fatherhood related topics, our monthly online peer sessions for new dads called The Lodge and event partnerships with football clubs called Extra Time.
I have previously held senior Diversity, Equity & Inclusion roles, recent positions include the head of race equality in Defra and the Head of D&I delivery at HM Treasury. I am one of the UK’s most prominent speakers and writers on topics around fatherhood, masculinity, mental health, equal parenting and gender equality. My work engaging men in conversations around gender equality has been recognised by the United Nations and I was awarded the UN Women UK’s #HeForShe ‘Changemaker of the Year’ award in 2019.
My first book, entitled ‘DAD: untold stories of fatherhood, love, mental health and masculinity’ is a deeply moving and inspiring collection of 20 stories that represent the diversity of modern fatherhood and seeks to start a conversation that challenges the traditions associated with masculinity.
DAD was published on Tuesday 1st June 2021. It is an Amazon Top 10 bestseller and a Top 20 bestseller on The Hive. DAD has had a profound impact on so many people and reached the hands of thousands of dads across the UK, I even managed to hand deliver a copy of DAD to Prince William!
I made my TV presenting debut on Wednesday 26th January 2022 with Becoming Dad, the first TV documentary of its kind to bring issues around dads’ mental health, equal parenting, work-life balance and masculinity to the mainstream. Becoming Dad was a primetime show, broadcast on BBC1 at 7.30pm and now available on the iPlayer.
I am a media commentator on issues around fatherhood, masculinity and mental health and regularly appear across national and local news, including Channel 4, ITV, BBC News, Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio London. I have written for many mainstream publications, including The Independent and The Telegraph and even had my work shared online by none other than ‘The Rock’! I featured on Loose Women in January 2022, talking about my personal story, MFF, the DAD book and the Becoming Dad documentary.
I am also the co-founder of the Working Dads Employer Awards which celebrates employers who are supporting working dads.
Standalone workshops, webinars and consultations
My work is all about presenting new ideas, creating inclusive environments for open conversations and being a catalyst for culture change. I love to challenge internalised beliefs and highlight how we are all capable and responsible for change. I specialise in supporting dads in the workplace, redefining masculinity, allyship, dad’s and men’s mental health, gender equality and creating family friendly workplaces and communities.
All my sessions are emotive, raw, and powerful. They are grounded in personal stories while incorporating the latest research, data and best practise. I use slido, Q&A and panel discussions to ensure my sessions are interactive and immersive. This is all packaged up in a friendly, personable and relaxed approach with a nice sprinkle of humour.
To help support you to see the culture change you desire, my sessions are supported with carefully crafted communications materials to set the tone for the events and encourage participation before the event. And post-event, I provide toolkits to support team-level conversations using content and outputs from the workshop to facilitate further conversations and embed culture change.
The session outlines below set out my standard approach and content but I am always keen to work with you to tailor any content to ensure it incorporates any existing initiatives, focuses on your priorities and supports your key messages.
Below is a brief summary of my sessions. However, this is just a guide and I am always keen to have a conversation with you so I can learn more about your objectives and aspirations and tailor the session to meet your needs and help solve your problems.
If you would like to find out more, please visit www.elliottrae.com email me on hello@elliottrae.com.
- #EngagingDads: Why it is important to support dads in the workplace and how you can go about doing it (Keynote & Panel – 1 hour 15 mins)
- The truth about dad’s and men’s mental health and what organisations can do to help (Keynote & Q&A – 1 hour)
- What it means to be a man in 2022: allyship, equality & masculinity (Keynote & Panel – 1 hour)
- How men and women can be allies to each other – (Keynote & Panel – 1 hour)
- Leadership, relationships and balance (Keynote & Workshop – 1 hour)
- Creating a family friendly organisation: best practise across policy and culture (consultancy session with staff network leads and HR practitioners – 1 hour)
- My story: how becoming a dad changed it all (Keynote & Q&A – 1 hour)
Time To Talk Day (3rd Feb), Mental Health Awareness Week (9th-15th May), Men’s Health Week (12th-19th June), Father’s Day (19th June), Inclusion Week (26th Sep-2nd Oct), World Mental Health Day (10th Oct), Men’s Health Month (November), International Men’s Day (19th November)
Fees and the full package
To ensure you receive a full service which helps to embed the desired change, in addition to the workshop, webinar or consultation, my fee includes:
- Pre-meetings so I can understand your event objectives and tailor the session(s) accordingly
- Carefully crafted & proven communications materials to help you promote the event
- My slides from the session and event recording (for 14 days) which you can circulate to participants, and other staff, after the event
- A copy of my book, DAD, which you can use as a giveaway before, during or after the event (or keep for yourself!). I will cover the cost of p&p and deliver to any UK address.
- A toolkit to support post-event team-level conversations using content and outputs from the workshop to facilitate further conversations and embed culture change.
Next steps
I look forward to discussing further with you. Please contact me with any questions or enquires on hello@musicfootballfatherhood.com.
Testimonials
I always do my best to provide an excellent service, to understand your unique challenges and objectives and tailor my service to achieve the best outcomes possible. Holding space for your colleagues is a big responsibility, it’s one that I don’t take lightly at all. Having been a network chair and a D&I lead, I understand that resources can be limited and the importance of maximising every opportunity to engage staff.
I’ve asked some of my previous and current clients to reflect on what it was like working with me and the impact I made in their organisation. Here’s what they said.
Elliott is an absolute joy to work with as he has an infectious enthusiasm and a genuine dedication to ensure equality for dads on their parenting journey.
The event hosted with Elliott and Andrew Murphy (the network sponsor and executive director, operations) was informative and thought provoking for our colleagues. It tackled some really tough subjects, such as post-natal depression and yet at the same time it was light-hearted which was down to Elliott being able to quickly develop a warm rapport with Andrew.
The honesty with which Elliott spoke about his personal parenthood experience and sharing some of the other stories from his book, DAD, made it relatable for the parents who attended the event and the feedback we received was that the session made a deep impact on them, with many of them thinking more about their own experiences and feelings. Others expressed the intention that they would reach out more to their male colleagues, friends and family to check-in on them on their parenthood journey.
Some words that frequently came out in the feedback we received from our partners to describe Elliott were ‘engaging’, ‘insightful’ and ‘inspiring’!
Becky, Working Parents Network Chair at John Lewis
We were absolutely delighted to be joined by Elliott for our International Men’s Day celebrations. Having heard him speak before I was keen to involve him, as his focus is so relevant to the work we are doing and the conversations taking place in society right now regarding gender roles, masculinity, mental health, allyship, and challenging stereotypes.
Working with Elliott was incredibly straightforward, he was open and engaging during all of our initial conversations and this carried through into his session. His style of delivery is warm and personable, but with an inherent sense of credibility and just the right amount of challenge. Although the session touched on some big topics, Elliott was able to tackle a number of different elements in the time we had, sharing facts and details alongside personal insights, examples and individual experiences. Just what we needed to get our colleagues thinking and kickstart conversations across our business.
It was fantastic to have such great engagement from the audience, with lots of interesting and challenging questions being tackled and discussed. Nothing seemed to phase Elliott. Since the session, we have continued to keep the conversation going in smaller groups and across our networks. We would definitely recommend working with Elliott, he’s very talented!
Catherine, Diversity & Inclusion Business Partner at Eversheds Sutherland
Working with Elliott has been a fantastic experience for us. Our team of Mental Health First Aiders wanted to shine a light on Men’s Mental health during the month of November. We were convinced that our colleagues would benefit from Elliott’s uplifting spirit as well as his first-hand-experiences which he presented in brutal yet very approachable ways. And we weren’t wrong: People loved him!
In his talk, Elliott took his listeners on his own Mental Health journey and which effects that journey had on him being male but also a father. Having a lot of male colleagues and fathers in the audience, Elliott ensured that everything he said stayed relatable despite him reporting personal experiences. Also, the session was very interactive as Elliott managed to involve the audience by posing interesting questions.
Here is some of the positive feedback we received from attendees:
- “I enjoyed the interactive questions about men’s mental health and some of the answers given from our colleagues were thought provoking and summed perfectly how we [men] typically respond to MH issues.”
- “As a father of 4 boys, I must say a lot of the things said by Elliot really resonated and looking back I can now see some of the things I experienced may have been mental health related. I now see that talking about my feelings may have helped deal with things a lot easier.”
- “Refreshingly honest, and the statistics provided were very helpful to help understand and gauge key messages”
Last but not least, I want to stress how easy the communication as well as the entire organisation of the virtual event has been. Elliott was prompt, quick and always prepared for our planning sessions which made our work very enjoyable and easy. I can only recommend working with him!
Andy, Mental Health Lead at Commerzbank
If you would like to find out more, please visit www.elliottrae.com email me on hello@elliottrae.com.