Healios offers innovative solutions to the growing demands in autism and ADHD care and as we look to reach as many people as possible who may benefit from what we do, we have recently welcomed two new Business Development Directors to our Growth team.
Matt Daniel (pictured above left), from Exeter, Devon, joined the team in February, while Ryan Parkinson (pictured above right), from Sale in Greater Manchester joined earlier in March.
Here they talk about their backgrounds and career experiences which have led them to Healios and their excitement at establishing relationships with partners old and new.
Matt Daniel
Matt brings a wealth of experience to Healios with a rich and diverse career spanning two decades.
His career journey is rooted firmly in mental health support, service development and his belief in the transformative potential of digital innovation.
“For the last 15 years, in one shape or another, I’ve been working at the interface of technology and human support, so I’m really interested in it,” he says.
After a couple of years teaching, Matt shifted his focus towards providing personalised support to young people, driven by a desire to help them overcome the barriers to education.
Looking for a deeper understanding of those barriers Matt took a psychology degree with the Open University which opened the opportunity to join YoungMinds; where he played a pivotal role in coproduction/CAMH service development, eventually leading their training and consultancy arm.
Matt switched to commercially focused mental-health tech roles about 10 years ago, serving as the Chief Operations Officer at Brain in Hand before joining AutonoMe, another start-up dedicated to supporting neurodivergent people using a blended approach.
“I like the fact that Healios sees that while the technology is important, the people are just as important,” he says. “I’ve always liked the interplay between those two things and those two things bringing the best out of each other.
“In terms of my role, it’s such a big opportunity as there’s such a huge need out there and there’s an opportunity for us to work with so many more organisations than we’re working with already. We’ve only really scratched the surface.
“We’ve worked with 60% of Trusts but there’s 40% of Trusts we’ve never worked with and I’m excited to try and develop those new relationships and potentially reignite old ones.”
Matt says he is looking forward to speaking to potential NHS partners in the coming weeks and seeing where there could be a good match between their needs and what Healios provides.
He adds: “My role is about making sure that people know who we are, what we do and how we can support their challenges. I’m really hoping to bring some fantastic new customers on board and help bring a positive solution to some of those challenges they face.”
Ryan Parkinson
Ryan is the most recent recruit to the Growth team at Healios and is looking forward to developing new partnerships to help NHS trusts, health boards and insurance providers support more people of all ages access our innovative mental health and ND assessment services.
He brings with him experience in both private healthcare and the NHS. This includes hands-on experience, with roles delivering health assessments as a Health Advisor at Bupa, working within orthopaedics and neuromodulation (chronic pain) within the NHS and latterly within cardiovascular services and screening.
He’s also worked within the insurance sector, and the opportunity with Healios represented a great chance to combine this experience in an area where he has personal and professional interest.
He says: “Working in digital healthcare was a big attraction as for me this is where we can add real value and support our partners in the current climate, particularly in neurodevelopmental services.
“Digital healthcare is a massive passion of mine. I believe we need to embrace it, and to be on the frontline of that is exciting. I’m a huge supporter of the NHS and the in-person care delivered, however I do think there is a role within a partnership model for digital solutions like ours to deliver the best possible care for patients.
“Personally I didn’t really know much about neurodiversity until my nephew went through an assessment, from then on I became more aware of this area and started doing research.”
“When Healios approached me about this role it felt like it was the perfect fit. Especially when, with my own personal experience, you see the impact of what an assessment and diagnosis can do for a patient and their family, and I want to bring that to more people through this role.”
Ryan says he is looking forward to getting out into the field and forging new contacts, as well as seeing the impact of what we do for patients and families.
He says: “I’ve always liked the side of my job of going out and developing new relationships, learning about how our product can support our partners and seeing the results of what we do. That’s always been a big driver for me and I want to stay close to that. I’m not clinical but I like to see the impact of what we’re putting out into the market.
“My role ultimately is to bring Healios’ fantastic proposition of innovative technology and skilled clinical team to our partners to support more patients and families, and in turn help the organisation grow. It seems like a great time to join to help do that and I’m looking forward to growing with the organisation.”
Do you need to increase support for neurodevelopmental care or are you just interested in finding out more about how working with Healios could help support your service? Visit https://healios.org.uk/healthcare-organisations/ to find out more.
You can also contact Matt and Ryan directly to arrange a chat by email.