Richard Whitehead
I’m Richard Whitehead the founder of Man-Archy. Man-archy was founded in 2020 following the impact of the covid lockdowns on Men’s Mental Health. It was born from the understanding that Men’s mental health often has some unique challenges due to social values and gender norms and expectations.
My background is originally in retail, with roles from customer facing to regional manager over a 20-year career. During this time, I was able to experience many different working styles and management/ leadership strategies, experiencing how they impact on a team or individual. I developed my own style as I went along when able to experience how or why an individual or team was able to perform well or not, and where consistencies developed in moral, attendance and performance.
Following a redundancy in 2019 I experienced my own personal journey with poor mental health. When I began a new role, I hoped to use the skills and experience that I had built up previously. However, my line manager made my day-to-day life a chore and it got to the point where I not only couldn’t perform well, I had zero passion for what I was doing, no confidence and didn’t want to attend work, something I had never felt before. Thankfully, I had spotted the signs of this early. I began researching mental health and wellbeing strategies, and made the decision to resign, before it got unmanageable. I spent some time out taking care of my myself, whilst also pursuing research and qualifications around mental health. As 2020 unfolded, Men around me began to experience an increase in their own work-related struggles, and ultimately challenges with their wellbeing. Establishing Man-archy felt like a natural, organic, development.
Man-archy’s purpose is to be a preventative measure for businesses and individuals, and to enable each person to thrive in and out of their working environment. Our aim is to enable each person we connect with to fulfil their potential, operating in all areas of their lives as the best version of themselves. Our experience and work show that this leads to an increase in productivity, a reduction in sickness absence and staff turnover, and strengthens the working relationships of teams and their leaders, by enabling each person to understand, and openly converse with a line manager or colleague, about their wellbeing.
Changing perceptions of mental health struggles and improving strategies to prosper the business whilst supporting the employees, is an invaluable part of leadership and key to the success of any business. We can provide you with a flexible range of options to help you achieve this, including stand alone or more regular, one to one sessions and/or group workshops, with any number of leaders, or key team members.
Contact me, Richard, for a chat about how we can help you and your organisation to thrive.
My background is originally in retail, with roles from customer facing to regional manager over a 20-year career. During this time, I was able to experience many different working styles and management/ leadership strategies, experiencing how they impact on a team or individual. I developed my own style as I went along when able to experience how or why an individual or team was able to perform well or not, and where consistencies developed in moral, attendance and performance.
Following a redundancy in 2019 I experienced my own personal journey with poor mental health. When I began a new role, I hoped to use the skills and experience that I had built up previously. However, my line manager made my day-to-day life a chore and it got to the point where I not only couldn’t perform well, I had zero passion for what I was doing, no confidence and didn’t want to attend work, something I had never felt before. Thankfully, I had spotted the signs of this early. I began researching mental health and wellbeing strategies, and made the decision to resign, before it got unmanageable. I spent some time out taking care of my myself, whilst also pursuing research and qualifications around mental health. As 2020 unfolded, Men around me began to experience an increase in their own work-related struggles, and ultimately challenges with their wellbeing. Establishing Man-archy felt like a natural, organic, development.
Man-archy’s purpose is to be a preventative measure for businesses and individuals, and to enable each person to thrive in and out of their working environment. Our aim is to enable each person we connect with to fulfil their potential, operating in all areas of their lives as the best version of themselves. Our experience and work show that this leads to an increase in productivity, a reduction in sickness absence and staff turnover, and strengthens the working relationships of teams and their leaders, by enabling each person to understand, and openly converse with a line manager or colleague, about their wellbeing.
Changing perceptions of mental health struggles and improving strategies to prosper the business whilst supporting the employees, is an invaluable part of leadership and key to the success of any business. We can provide you with a flexible range of options to help you achieve this, including stand alone or more regular, one to one sessions and/or group workshops, with any number of leaders, or key team members.
Contact me, Richard, for a chat about how we can help you and your organisation to thrive.