From the packaging industry to Psychology Direct, how our co-founder Aaron Banham escaped the rat race for something more meaningful.
In the first episode of In The Pod, we are In Conversation With Aaron Banham to explore the story of how Psychology Direct came to life.
Aaron opens up about his decision to leave the corporate world behind, sharing the personal motivations and experiences that led him to create a company built on partnerships and transparent practice. You’ll discover the core values that drive our team, and the ethos that sets us apart in the world of psychological and psychiatric services.
But it’s not all serious business talk! We delve into Aaron’s lighter (or maybe his darker) side, finding out which Hogwarts House he would be sorted into and his uncanny resemblance to a certain Dr Strange actor.
This episode offers a genuine, behind-the-scenes look at the person and principles that shape Psychology Direct’s approach.
Dan: Welcome to the POD In Conversation With Psychology Direct, our very first episode. I will be your host, Dan. And with me today is founder and owner of Psychology Direct, Aaron Banham. Welcome Aaron.
Aaron: Good morning. Fantastic to meet you.
Dan: You too.
Aaron: We’ve been working together for a long time. We’ve hardly ever met because of COVID. So yeah, it’s great to be here in person.
Dan: Yeah, good stuff. Just to give you a bit of background, this is our, as I said at the start, the very first episode of the podcast and I think the first thing to do would just be to, to introduce you, give a bit of background, we’ll go through a few, a few questions.
Where did it all start Psychology Direct?
Aaron: Yeah, so as you said, I’m the owner and co-founder of Psychology Direct, and just probably give you some of my background first before I go into Psychology Direct and how it all started. So I started off working for large companies, multinationals, way too long ago for me to remember something like 30 years.
And I was working for international companies in the packaging industry, and started off in sales and moved into marketing and then became the MD of the UK operations for a couple of multinationals. So I basically learned how to run companies for other people through that, which was really helpful.
Having said that, towards the end of my, that part of my career I was increasingly away from home and I’m just give you a bit of background because you know, PD is very much, sorry, I’ll probably refer to us as PD and we all know ourselves as PD, Psychology Direct. So apologies if that doesn’t make sense to people. But yeah, PD was really started to get a much more work-life balance for me personally and for my ex-wife.
So at the end of my career in the packaging industry, I was away a lot and travelling all over the place, and it really wasn’t conducive to a family life. I had, you know, two kids at that point with another one on the way and we both, my ex wife and I basically sat down and had a think about what we wanted to do with our lives because we, you know, we’d worked hard and done reasonably well but it, you know, wasn’t necessarily going in the direction we wanted.
We were working too much, and I was away a lot and basically wasn’t around for the kids as much as I’d like or for her, quite frankly. So you know, we just gave it some thought and said what do we want to do? And we decided to jack in both of our careers, which she’s a clinical psychologist and working in the NHS and took a big risk.
We had a couple of ideas. I looked into teaching for a while because I’ve worked with children and young people in a variety of capacities voluntarily in the past. And teaching was definitely something I thought about on and off. Decided actually that wasn’t for me. I’d rather work with children and young people in a voluntary capacity rather than do it as a job.
So kind of ruled that one out. And then the next obvious step was to think about maybe doing something ourselves. So Psychology Direct was really born out of necessity and desire to have a work-life balance, which hopefully we’ve managed to carry through over the years, right through to today. Because I just think that, you know, we spend an awful lot of time at work and I want to try and make sure that my staff and myself and my family can, you know, get some sort of balance and enjoy both parts of our lives. So that’s where it all came from, really.
Dan: Great. Thank you very much for that. If you could let the listeners know
What is Psychology Direct all about? What does Psychology Direct do?
Aaron: Well, without giving a massive sales pitch, because that’s obviously not what this is about. And we have a good website for those that want to, look into the thorough details of what we do.
But, yeah, two main strands. We basically provide psychologists and psychiatrists into the education sector and into the legal sector. And our job is to really to manage that process from start to finish. So we’ve got a phenomenal team who manage all of the correspondence with clients, be it solicitors or schools or local authorities predominantly, and then liaise with our clinicians all over the country to make sure that they have everything they need to be able to prepare for an assessment, obviously undertake it successfully and then deliver a report on time.
So essentially, that’s what we do. So our job really is to coordinate that whole process from start to finish and really make sure that everybody knows what they have to do, where and when. Just moving on from that. What do you think sets Psychology Direct apart in the industry? So, yeah, I thought about this quite a bit because there’s really obvious things that you could say, you know, we’re the best, we’re, you know, quality.
And all those things are true. Well, I like to think they’re true and I certainly hope we all feel that’s true. But actually, I think it’s our ethics, which I think run through every vein of the company. And it’s never been about profit and money. And you know, endless search for growth. Although all those things are clearly important for any private company.
I’d be lying to say otherwise, but, you know, it’s not, at the expense of everything else. Quite the contrary. We won’t do anything unless we think we can make a difference and do it well, and ideally do it better than anybody else. And, you know, we’ve walked away from things. We have been very open and honest when we’ve made mistakes and dealt with them very effectively.
And I hope that’s something that, you know, the clients and our staff feel comfortable with. And so really it’s about just doing a damn good job, making a difference and doing as well as we possibly can and something we can be proud of. So I would say our ethics are what make us stand out from everybody else.
Dan: When you were talking earlier about where it started and your background, I was a little bit surprised that you didn’t say that you considered going into an acting career.
Aaron: Sure. Oh, here we go. Here we go.
Dan: Apparently, some people say that you’ve got quite a resemblance to Benedict Cumberbatch. Is there any truth in that?
Aaron: Well, assuming he’s the next James Bond, because as you know, I’m a massive Bond fan. Then I’ll take that. But yes, I have been likened to him on a few occasions. And, even this is going to sound ridiculous, but I’ve even had people refuse to believe that I’m not him. So I’ve had to pose for photos and even sign an autograph once because I was doing the whole no, no, no, it’s not me.
Yeah, so it’s a bit of a weird one. But no, if you’ve ever seen me try and act then, which doesn’t happen very often, then that certainly wasn’t a career I was going to pursue.
Dan: Okay. I mean, maybe in a future episode we’ll get some video recording and then we can make the listeners decide as well.
Aaron: Yeah, I think I’m a probably slightly older, less well-refined version of him at best.
Dan: So we’ve covered these points a little bit. But if we just go into when you first started
What were the hopes for the company from when you first started and then to where it is now?
Aaron: Yeah, to be honest, that’s a question that’s sort of moved a lot over time, as I think any good company does. You evolve and you change and you pivot and you adapt. So to be frank, to start off with, I just wanted a work-life balance and, you know, to spend more time with my family. Clearly wanted to try and grow something myself, or ourselves, and make a difference, do something that we felt we could be proud of.
And all those things are still true. So it was very focused on just, quite frankly, covering the mortgage, and we had a lot of responsibilities and trying to make sure we had time to spend with the family. Now that’s very much still the case. And I’m very fortunate that as the company’s grown, I’ve been able to maintain that ethos and hopefully reflect that with the staff as well, so that we can all achieve those things or whatever we want to achieve for ourselves.
But, yeah, it has changed as time’s gone on. The things we started off doing, we do none of them now. So we’ve changed and evolved and pivoted in lots of different areas. And we’ve kind of landed on two areas that I feel we excel at. We’re leaders in the field in both the education and the legal sector in which we operate, something I’m incredibly proud of.
We’ve got a phenomenal team who just deliver day in, day out, and, you know, I think all of us, hopefully, you’d have to ask them, frankly, but certainly the conversation I’ve had and the way they conduct themselves, you know, they take a lot of pride in what they do, feel part of the family and, you know, just want to do a damn good bloody job at the end of the day, which I, you know, which they do.
So, you know, in that respect, that hasn’t changed at all right from the start. And, you know, that’s down to them.
Dan: Okay, and the next one.
If you weren’t the owner of the company, is Psychology Direct a company you’d like to work for? And why?
Aaron: Again, my immediate answer to that question is I don’t think anybody would employ me anymore.
Because I don’t think I can see somebody nodding over in the corner of the studio there, because I don’t think I would work well under anybody else’s instruction, quite frankly. So I think I’d struggle in the job market. But very honest. Yeah. I mean, if I weren’t the owner, would I, you know, enough would I want to work for a company like Psychology Direct?
Absolutely. Again, of course, I would say that. But, you know, we put a lot of time and effort into nurturing and developing the culture and supporting our staff. You know, we’ve got a very diverse team, you know, across all ages and backgrounds, and I think that works phenomenally well.
You know, we have all kinds of things, functions and events that we do either online or otherwise. And I think that mix of, backgrounds and like I say, age groups and everything else works surprisingly well. And we know we have fun, we work hard, we support each other. I like to think we all, as I said, share that cultural identity that I think runs through the company in terms of just being open and honest with each other, you know, which isn’t always easy because we all have different experiences and different views.
But I think the conversations I’ve had with staff on a regular basis, I think we all feel able to be ourselves, and that’s okay, actually, we celebrate that. So, yeah, I think PD is a good place to work. I’d like to say I’ve really enjoyed the fun and frolics as well. I think it’s a great idea, and obviously relatively new to the company, and I’ve found that a great way to sort of get to know people on a more personal level.
Yeah, it’s amazing how that works. You know, we’re all remote now and don’t get together very often and as I said at the start, you know, we’ve some of the staff I’ve hardly ever met, but yeah, that online, you know, remote virtual office works incredibly well, you know, and the fact that we’ve, I’ve tried to explain it to people in the past, you know, we’ve played it online or we’ve, you know, done all kinds of weird wonder musical chairs and they just look at you blankly like, what the hell are you talking about?
But it works, you know, so, you know, that’s great.
Dan: So we’re going to get into some quick-fire questions.
Aaron: Oh God, here we go.
Dan:
So are you an early bird or a night owl?
Aaron: Oh, I think I’m a bit of both, actually. I can burn the candle at both ends. I don’t mind getting up early, but equally I like, no, if I had to be one or the other, I’d be an early bird. But, you know, my kids are a bit older now, so they do tend to lie in.
And I’m lucky enough that we do go out together and things like that. So when I’m with them, I have to be a night owl.
Dan: Okay.
What Hogwarts house would you belong to?
Aaron: Oh God, I don’t really follow Harry Potter.
Dan: Do you want me to name the four houses?
Aaron: Yeah. Well, are there characteristics to each one?
Dan: Kind of, yeah, I would say so, yeah. It depends on your level of knowledge of.
Aaron: Is there one for more of the sort of unconventional, you know, doesn’t go with the flow? You know, I’d probably. Is there sort of like a dark, you know, wizard camp where they’re a bit. Bit. Bit naughty and a bit.
Dan: Slytherin? Yeah, comes to mind.
Aaron: Does that make me sound really bad?
Speaker 3: Yes
Dan: Honest.
Aaron: Yeah. No, I don’t do anything, you know, unpleasant. But, you know, I like to. I like to have a laugh and I don’t always follow convention, and I’ve definitely got a bit of a naughty side.
Again, I’m getting looks from the corner of the room and nods. Yeah. So Slytherin it is, then.
Dan: Okay, we’ll take that.
What is your go-to karaoke song?
Aaron: It is Wonderwall. Every time. Every time, Every time. Mainly because I’m a horrendous singer. Again, don’t need the nods. And the beauty of Wonderwall is everybody else joins in, and if you’re that bad, they can mask your terrible singing.
It works every time. And actually, I’ve done it where random people from the crowd have got up and done it with me on stage. So, yeah, that’s an absolute go-to.
Dan: And the last quick-fire one we’ve got is
If your pet could speak so we know Buzz, obviously. What do you think they would say about you?
Aaron: I dread to think he would probably say, can I have more food? Because I try and keep him healthy and slim and not give him too much food. So he’s not. But he’s always on the hunt for snacks and treats under the table or in the bins or anywhere else. Yeah, I think that’s probably the main thing he’d say because he probably thinks I’m starving him.
But, I like to keep him healthy. So, yeah, food is definitely his focus.
Dan: Okay, so that brings us to the end of the quickfire questions and to the end of the episode. So I’d just like to say thank you very much to you, Aaron, for coming along and taking part in this episode. It’s been a pleasure learning about Psychology Direct and the background.
And, I’m sure we’ll hear from you again on future episodes.
Aaron: Great fun. Thanks, Dan. Thank you very much.
If you want to work with Psychology Direct you can Access Expert Psychologists using our contact form here: Contact Psychology Direct
If you’re looking for Psychiatric Services, you can use our contact form here: Contact Psychiatry Direct
