Matt Ellison
Matt Ellison is a highly sought-after, entertaining and thought-provoking transgender speaker.
His life experience as a trans man has fascinated and inspired audiences of all kinds in both private and public sectors in the U.K. and internationally. His insights on change, as someone who has made such a huge and fundamental change himself, apply to everyone in all areas of professional and personal life.
Organisations who have invited Matt Ellison to speak include eBay, Mars, Lacoste, KFC, NHS, Lloyds of London, City of London Corporation, Fidelity International, HM Courts and Tribunals, South Wales Police and many more
Matt Ellison has been consulted and interviewed on many occasions. He was recently seen on TV in the high-profile Channel 4 documentary ‘Me and My Penis’, which broke many taboos, covering sex, psychology and men’s mental health issues.
With an increasing number of trans folk having the courage to transition, yet with so many still facing discrimination and ignorance, transgender issues and diversity & inclusion are currently more relevant than ever.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Matt Ellison speaks on a number of topics including –
- How diversity and inclusion can help your company thrive- from recruiting more highly skilled staff to increasing staff productivity and boosting staff retention
- Practical advice on how to be more inclusive, develop good practices and put together company policies and procedures.
- How to be more dynamic with your diversity and inclusion policies and procedures, creating a higher degree of engagement, including with your non-LGBT staff
- How to start difficult conversations when you think you don’t know enough so are worried you will say the wrong thing and upset people.
- The UK Gender Recognition Act and how to avoid inadvertently committing criminal offenses
- Change & Resilience – Matt shares deep insights into his experience as a trans man, and the incredible resilience and courage that was required to make life-altering decisions and to undergo this most profound of changes.
Mental Health Talks
As Co-Chair of support group FTM London, he gained deep insight into the extensive mental health challenges faced by this community, evident through the prevalence of self-harm scars, depression, anxiety and more. Through his work, he has successfully empowered individuals to overcome these struggles.
Matt was recently invited to speak to patients and staff at Rampton Hospital, one of just three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England (Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth).
The event was a great success and the client gave the following feedback:
“Just to let you know the afternoon went perfect. Staff and patients loved Matt’s honesty, sense of humour and passion. Patients really enjoyed Matt’s slides and had questions during the presentation which Matt was very relaxed to answer. Thank you for all your help and please pass my thanks again to Matt. We are very proud of the event today at Rampton Hospital.”
Learning summary:
- Understanding external influences and how much they can affect others’ mental health.
- Why ‘being yourself’ or ‘bringing your whole self to work’ is fundamentally important to good mental health.
- Inspirational story overcoming mental health challenges.
- Matt’s lived experience gives insight into some of his own profound mental health struggles and how he overcame them, and can be related to all walks of life.
- Key points on how to help others overcome mental health struggles or prevent them developing.
- Matt brings experience of having worked/delivered content within a high-security psychiatric setting.
Matt was recently invited to speak at the Lloyd’s Dive In Festival in Chatham. Matt shared his life story and how the decisions he made throughout have affected him. Matt was very engaging and his talk opened my eyes to the difficulties faced by Matt and others in similar situations. Matt is obviously very passionate about helping others and telling his story, so others are confident in taking the first step to changing their lives. Matt was able to share useful resources to the group and was keen to speak to members of the audience on a personal level after the talk. A thought provoking talk.
— Anne Cooper - Lloyds of London
Having never met someone transgender before, I was really looking forward to hearing Matt talk about his story. What I hadn't been prepared for was how much I wanted to learn about the transgender community after his talk. Since hearing Matt speak, I can't stop reading and learning about this topic. Matt has the most unique ability to pass wisdom - without being preachy - in such a way that left us all wanted to educate ourselves. Matt provides a sensitive yet influential argument to gender and diversity. I have no hesitation in recommending Matt.
— Deborah Mowbray, Senior HR Business Partner - Oct 2020
Matt had the audience captivated with his own incredible and courageous personal story. I have to say it was one of the best sessions I have ever seen delivered at a Pharmacy Conference and I have been to many in my 24 years as a pharmacist professional.
Matt has a natural ability to speak confidently and effortlessly to a large audience and has personality and speaker content to keep an audience hanging on his every word.
— Rachel Mackay - NHS Associate Director of Medicines Management
