About Brian Tancock
I’ve sat on both sides of the table.
Thirty years in business, and a decade working as a business consultant for mental health practitioners. A breakdown I didn’t see coming. And a commitment to helping the people who help others build something that actually works.
The Background
Thirty years in business. A decade as a business consultant for mental health practitioners.
I’ve spent three decades in business. International banking, risk management, audit, project management and technology — working across London, Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong. I ran things, built things, fixed things, and made sure the things that could go wrong were identified before they did. It was a career built on structure, precision, regulation and commercial delivery.
What I didn’t realise, through most of those years, was that I was also managing undiagnosed neurodivergence and anxiety. I didn’t have the language for it. When the breakdown came, I genuinely didn’t know what was happening to me — and that gap in understanding made everything significantly harder to navigate.
Getting through it, and eventually understanding it, changed what I wanted to do next. I had forty years of skills and experience that could be genuinely useful — and a hard-won understanding of what it feels like when things fall apart. Finding the right place to put all of that is exactly what led me to create Informing Minds, and to the work I do now as a business consultant for mental health practitioners.
A career in numbers
"I wanted to help the people who help others. Not in spite of what I'd been through — but because of it."
Brian Tancock, Founder, Informing Minds
The Turning Point
Helping the people who help others.
After leaving banking, my psychiatrist — who had been instrumental in helping me see that the environment had become genuinely toxic, even when the golden handcuffs made it hard to walk away — suggested something I hadn’t expected. He ran the largest private psychiatric practice in Singapore, with a team of over 40 staff and influence that extended well beyond Asia. He asked me to come and work with him.
I helped him with the business side: succession planning, marketing, growth strategy. The challenges weren’t entirely unlike those I’d navigated in banking — just with a very different kind of organisation at the centre. He noticed something I hadn’t fully articulated myself: there was a real commonality between what he was doing and the skills I’d spent forty years building. With his encouragement, I started working with other psychologists and practitioners across Singapore and Australia. I’d found my vocation — and I have him to thank for it.
A few years later, I returned to the UK with my wife and youngest son — though Asia remains part of my life through my grown-up twin sons, who still live there. Back in England, I carried on and expanded my work across the UK and beyond. It was around this time that I began volunteering with Shout, the UK’s crisis text line. The training was rigorous and the experience profound. Sitting with people at their lowest point, in real time, gave me an insight into the mental health world that no amount of business experience could replicate — and it deepened my respect for the practitioners who do that work every day.
What I noticed, in conversations with psychologists, therapists, counsellors and coaches, was consistent. They were exceptional at the work. But the commercial side — building a sustainable business, reaching the right people, turning expertise into income that didn’t depend entirely on a full diary — had no equivalent support structure. Generic business advice doesn’t work in this space. The ethics are different. The language has to be right. The sensitivities are real.
I had spent decades developing exactly the skills they needed. I understood their world from the inside. And I genuinely wanted to help. So I did. Today I work as a business consultant for mental health practitioners, bringing four decades of business expertise to a sector that rarely gets the genuine strategic support it deserves.
“I live between three worlds — the clinical, the commercial, and a personal journey that fuels everything I do. Together, they are why I am so passionate about helping the experts in this field reach more people.”
Brian Tancock, Founder, Informing Minds
HOW I THINK ABOUT THIS WORK
Same approach. Different chair.
Practitioners spend their working lives asking the right questions of others — helping people find clarity, direction and a way forward when things feel stuck or overwhelming. The tools are different, but the approach is remarkably similar to what I do.
But here’s something that surprises most practitioners: the starting point is you, not your business. What do you actually want from your work and your life? What does success look and feel like on your own terms?
Psychologists often tell me they recognise their own approach in the way I work with them. There’s no point building a thriving business that leaves the person running it feeling empty. You can’t help others sustainably unless your own needs are met first.
That’s where my role comes in: asking the questions you haven’t thought to ask yet about your business, helping you see what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s possible. Structure replaces chaos, and big, daunting decisions become clearer and more manageable.
Think of it as business therapy. Except instead of helping you understand yourself, I’m helping you build something — and I stay around to see it through.
Asks the right questions. Listens carefully. Helps clients find clarity and a path forward.
Applied to the people who come to them for support.
Asks the right questions. Listens carefully. Starts with the person — not the business. Then helps them find clarity and build something that works for both.
Experience & Credentials
What I bring to the table.
40 Years of Business Experience
International banking, risk management, audit, project management and technology — across the UK, France, Singapore and Hong Kong. I’ve run, built and fixed things at senior level, working with people at every level of organisations — from frontline staff through to C-suite leadership.
A Decade in the Practitioner Sector
Ten years working specifically with psychologists, therapists, counsellors and coaches around the world. I understand the clinical world, the ethics, the sensitivities and the real barriers practitioners face when they try to think commercially. I understand what is important to my clients.
Crisis Text Volunteer, Shout
Volunteered with Shout, the UK’s crisis text line — supporting people in crisis in real time. It was an absolute privilege to be trusted by people in their darkest hour, and those conversations remind me every day of the real difference my clients make to people’s lives and those of their families.
Global Reach
Active clients across the UK, France, Singapore and Australia — with conversations and consultations spanning many more countries besides. Comfortable working across time zones, cultures and healthcare systems, and experienced in helping practitioners think beyond their immediate geography.
Risk, Audit and Project Management
I plan, manage, monitor and deliver — not just advise. My background means I think in processes, structures, milestones, risks and controls from the outset. When we agree a direction, I help you stay on course and adapt when things change.
Public and Private Sector Experience
Experienced across both sectors — including NHS engagement, GP networks, shared care frameworks and corporate organisations. I understand how decisions are made in each, and how to position a practitioner’s offer in language that lands.
How I Work
Direct. Structured.
Genuinely invested.
I’m not a coach who asks questions and leaves you to figure out the answers. I bring genuine expertise, form a view, and tell you what I think — while making sure the direction we choose is built around you specifically, not a template.
I plan properly, manage risk, and see things through. If we agree on something, I’ll hold you to it — not because I’m rigid, but because follow-through is where most good plans fall apart. That said, I know when to reflect and change direction. What you should expect is to be challenged — and to challenge me back. Any change of course should be a conscious decision, not drift.
I also understand this space from the inside. I won’t ask you to do anything that compromises your ethics, your professional standing or the trust your clients place in you. That’s not a constraint I work around — it’s a foundation I build on.
If your plan has a gap, I'll tell you. If your pricing is wrong, I'll say so. You're paying for a real opinion, not reassurance.
Every engagement starts with what you want from your work and your life. There's no point building a successful business that leaves the person running it feeling empty.
Strategy without execution is just a document. I stay involved, manage the moving parts, and help make things actually happen.
I understand the clinical world and the trust your clients place in you. Every recommendation I make is built with that in mind.
Lets Talk
If this sounds like what you've been looking for, a discovery call is the right place to start.
Thirty or sixty minutes. No pitch, no pressure. We’ll talk about where you are, what you want to build, and whether I’m the right person to help you get there.
No obligation. No hard sell. Most people leave with at least one useful idea — whatever they decide.