We are passionate about spreading messages to organisations, staff networks 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 or to book a call, please email Elliott on hello@musicfootballfatherhood.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 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 the founder of MusicFootballFatherhood (MFF) which is the UK’s most exciting parenting & lifestyle platform for men. Called the ‘Dad’s version of Mumsnet’ by the BBC, MFF supports dads through blogs, podcasts, online meetups and partnerships with football clubs. I started MFF in 2016 after suffering from PTSD after the traumatic birth of my daughter. As well as running MFF, I am also an experienced D&I leader and I am one of the leading voices around fatherhood and masculinity in the UK. I have held senior D&I roles, most recently as Head of D&I delivery at HM Treasury. While working at the Department for Transport, I set up and chaired the organisations first ever working parents staff network which was used as a model of best practise across the Civil Service.
I have been involved in many research projects which look at the experiences of dads in the workplace, having assisted with the research and spoke at the launches of both the ‘Equal Lives’ report by Business In The Community and the ‘Fatherhood toolkit’ by University of Birmingham in Parliament. My work has been recognised by the United Nations when I was lucky enough to be awarded the #HeForShe ‘Change-maker of the Year’ UN Women UK award for my work on engaging men in conversations around gender equality.
I was the keynote speaker at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fatherhood meeting in July 2021. I am a media commentator on issues around parenting and fatherhood and regularly appear across national and local news, including Channel 4, BBC News, Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio London. I have written for many mainstream publications, including The Independent and The Telegraph and I have even had my work shared online by none other than The Rock!
My first book, DAD: untold stories of fatherhood, love, mental health and masculinity, is a deeply moving collection of 20 stories that represent the diversity of modern fatherhood and challenges the traditional ideas of masculinity. DAD was published on 1st June 2021 and is an Amazon Top 10 Best Seller.
Standalone workshops, webinars and consultations
My work is all about presenting new ideas, creating inclusive environments for open conversations and being a catalyst 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 talks are interactive (using slido and Q&A), immersive, emotive, grounded in personal stories and incorporate the latest research, data and best practise. I like to package this up in a friendly, personable and relaxed approach with a nice sprinkle of humour.
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 email me on hello@musicfootballfatherhood.com and we’ll send over a full overview.
- #EngagingDads: Why it is important to support dads in the workplace and how you can go about doing it (Workshop – 1 hour 15 mins)
- The truth about dad’s and men’s mental health and what organisations can do to help (Webinar – 1 hour)
- How men can be allies to women and how women can be allies to men – (Webinar – 1 hour)
- What it means to be a man in 2022: allyship, equality & masculinity (Webinar – 1 hour)
- Working Parents: creating balance while achieving career progression (Webinar – 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 (webinar – 1 hour)
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 email me on hello@musicfootballfatherhood.com.