Tim Ladd

Tim Ladd is the managing director and founder of Red Umbrella and Carecoins . Tim started Red Umbrella in 2014 with the aim to provide an ethical and effective solution to some of the issues in the mental health and wellbeing industry.

Tim created Red Umbrella as a bespoke mental health training company, and since doing so it has trained thousands of employees across hundreds of companies and a breadth of industries, from businesses with 20 employees to others with over 90,000.

Red Umbrella now has a team of over 40 trainers and 200 qualified therapists and is continuously expanding.

Tim’s background is as an entrepreneur. Across three decades, Tim has run several businesses in industries including golf, furniture, children’s educational products and addiction rehab in three different countries. Tim also obtained his Commercial Pilot License for both land and sea planes and set about forming a seaplane business in the Bahamas.

Whilst being aware throughout most of his life that he was suffering with anxiety and panic attacks, Tim found a way to self-medicate with alcohol, which in turn became his main problem. Tim’s struggle with the vicious circle of panic, anxiety and self-medicating with alcohol continued for many years. After attending multiple addiction rehabs and receiving long-term counselling, Tim turned his attention and entrepreneurial skills into creating much easier pathways into support for mental health and addiction.

Noticing that many people at work would come to him and ask for mental health advice for themselves and others, Tim realised that if we can reduce stigma in the workplace, we will have gone a long way to creating healthier and safer environments everywhere.

Tim has always been driven by the conviction that no one chooses to have an addiction or a mental health condition, and that every person is unique, so there is no one-size-fits-all process that will work for everyone.

Backed by his passion for mental health, personal experiences and vision to change the way mental health is viewed, Tim sought to address the gaps he’d observed, such as inadequate support systems and stigma, which lead to the creation of Carecoins in 2022, which has proven to be a successful new way of looking at EAP’s and a massive success in providing a bespoke solution that takes each individual as they come, serves charities and social enterprises whilst providing corporate entities with a solution that doesn’t cost anything until used (no wastage) allows employees to get the full treatment required and allows for family and friends to benefit from unused carecoins.

After many successful pilots, Carecoins is launching with a new look, new platform and mew services in October 2024.