Building inclusive workplaces. Empowering people. Inspiring change.
The EDI Connect Vision. EDI Connect exists to help create lasting change across health and social care — from the workplace, to the people within it, to the communities they serve.
- For organisations. Build workplaces where inclusion is part of everyday culture — not simply written into policy.
- For people. Empower employees to feel valued, heard and able to thrive.
- For service users & communities. Create more equitable experiences, better access and better outcomes for the people organisations exist to serve.
Herbie Nyathi — former Staff Governor & Out of Hours Clinical Lead
25+ yrs
in health & social care and inclusion
100+
sessions delivered
NHS + Private
sector experience
Evidence-led
WRES & data-driven
A trusted voice in health and social care
With more than two decades of experience across the NHS and public sector, Herbie Nyathi has seen first-hand how workplace culture influences wellbeing, performance and retention. His own experiences of race, culture and belonging inspired a mission to help organisations create environments where Black, Asian and minority ethnic professionals feel supported, valued and able to reach their full potential.
Today, Herbie is the founder of a workforce intelligence and support platform designed to help organisations retain diverse talent and build healthier workplace cultures. Alongside a trusted team of professionals who understand both the system and the people within it, EDI Connect combines technology, lived experience and specialist support to help employees feel heard, supported and better equipped to move forward — while giving leaders the insight they need to strengthen inclusion, improve workforce wellbeing and retention, and address issues before they become costly workplace disputes.
EDI Connect helps organisations reduce the human and financial cost of workplace conflict, discrimination, suspension and staff turnover by identifying issues earlier and providing culturally informed support that helps people feel heard, understood and better supported towards resolution. The result is greater trust between staff and leaders, improved wellbeing and retention, fewer avoidable escalations and healthier workplace cultures. And because what happens to the workforce ultimately affects the people they care for, better staff experience creates the conditions for safer, fairer and more responsive care for patients, service users and communities.
- Inclusive leadership & psychological safety
- Culturally competent coaching & mediation
- WRES-aligned strategy and measurable outcomes
Meet Our Senior Advisors & Leadership Team
EDI Connect is strengthened by the experience and insight of senior professionals who have spent decades working across health, social care, mental health, inclusion and community engagement.
Raja Chelvachandran
Senior Advisor · Former Mental Health & Social Care Professional
Raja brings more than five decades of experience across mental health, health and social care, with a career spanning learning disabilities, psychiatry, rehabilitation, community services, talking therapies, relationship and family therapy, psychotherapy and clinical supervision.
His commitment to equality and inclusion has been equally long-standing. He joined the Community Equality Matters Team and BME Group in 2007, contributed to the Ethnic Minority Forum in Hitchin, and continues to engage with the local health community through the GP Patient Participation Group for South Stevenage.
Raja brings EDI Connect deep clinical experience, therapeutic insight and a lifelong commitment to inclusion.
Sachdev Seyan
Senior Advisor · Former Carer Development Lead & Business Coach, HPFT
Sachdev brings almost two decades of experience within the NHS, supporting carers, staff and communities through his work with Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
As a former Carer Development Lead and Business Coach, he brings expertise in mental health recovery, social inclusion, coaching and change management, alongside a Postgraduate Diploma in Mental Health Recovery and Social Inclusion and qualifications in management coaching and mentoring.
Sachdev brings EDI Connect a practical, people-centred perspective on inclusion, development and organisational change.
Dr Gabriel Ngalomba
EDI Adviser · Mental Health Nurse · Researcher
Dr Gabriel Ngalomba brings more than 25 years of NHS mental health experience to EDI Connect, alongside a particular interest in race, culture and inequality within health and social care.
A practising mental health nurse and perinatal mental health specialist, Gabriel has spent much of his career supporting women and families experiencing complex mental health challenges. His clinical experience led to a deeper interest in the experiences of migrant women from Sub-Saharan Africa and the ways race, culture and institutional practices can influence people's experiences of health and social care.
His research in this area has contributed to the wider conversation about racism in nursing and health and social care. He is a published contributor to Researching Racism in Nursing: Reflexive Accounts and Personal Stories, writing about the experiences of Sub-Saharan African migrant women within British perinatal mental health services.
Alongside his clinical and research work, Gabriel contributes to public conversations about mental health, including through The Mind and Us podcast.
As EDI Adviser to EDI Connect, Gabriel brings together frontline NHS experience, research and lived understanding of culture and inequality to help ensure the platform remains grounded in the realities experienced by both health and social care professionals and the communities they serve.
Rumyana Nyathi
CEO, Coach Write Speak · Business & Leadership Consultant · EDI Connect Strategy & Development
Rumyana Nyathi brings nearly two decades of experience across health and social care, entrepreneurship and business development. After immigrating to the UK, she built her career within the NHS, progressing through nursing and specialist roles while experiencing first-hand what it means to navigate culture, inclusion and opportunity within a new professional system.
Today, as CEO of Coach Write Speak, Rumyana works with professionals and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, helping them turn their expertise into opportunities, businesses and assets they can own.
At EDI Connect, she brings together her health and social care experience, lived perspective and commercial expertise, with a particular focus on personal and professional development, leadership, partnerships and creating fairer opportunities for people to progress and thrive.
Ways to work together
From the boardroom to the keynote stage — tailored to your organisation's inclusion journey.
Executive & 1:1 Coaching
Confidential coaching for leaders and professionals navigating identity, progression and workplace challenge — building confidence and clarity.
EnquireKeynote Speaking
Compelling, evidence-led keynotes on race equity, inclusive leadership and belonging that move audiences from awareness to action.
EnquireEDI Training & Workshops
Practical, culturally competent training on unconscious bias, inclusive management and psychological safety for teams and boards.
EnquireWriting & Thought Leadership
Articles, reports and ghostwriting that translate lived experience and data into ideas that shape policy and culture.
EnquirePrivate Consultancy
Strategic advisory for NHS and private health and social care organisations on WRES, culture change and measurable equity outcomes.
EnquireIndependent Workplace Disciplinary Investigations
Independent, impartial and unbiased investigations into workplace conduct and grievance matters — giving organisations fair, evidence-led findings they can trust.
EnquireEDI Connect — support built for BAME health and social care professionals
EDI Connect is a flagship digital platform, built by people who understand the realities of working in health and social care, for the people experiencing them. Bringing together a trusted team of professionals, EDI Connect gives Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff across NHS and private health and social care confidential support, early mediation and a fair route to resolution — while giving leaders the insight to act. Launching October — pre-register now as a member for a year and start accessing specialist mediation, disciplinary and professional support straight away.
28.6%
of the NHS trust workforce is from a Black & Minority Ethnic background (434,077 staff, 2024)
15.5% vs 6.7%
BME vs white staff reporting discrimination from colleagues
48.8% vs 59.4%
BME vs white staff who feel they have equal access to progression
51%
of trusts: BME staff over 1.25× more likely to enter formal disciplinary
Source: NHS England Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) 2024 data analysis report.
Change you can measure
Representative outcomes from coaching, training and advisory partnerships.
Disciplinary gap
Narrowed the BME vs white disciplinary likelihood gap through early mediation and manager training.
Board inclusion
Coached an executive team to embed inclusive leadership behaviours and psychological safety at board level.
Staff confidence
Rebuilt trust after a high-profile conflict, with staff-survey belonging scores rising markedly within a year.
Outcomes shown are illustrative of typical engagements. Named client case studies available on request.
Workplace Culture Pulse
An anonymous survey to understand lived experience and shape a fairer, more inclusive culture. Your individual answers are never linked to you.
1.I feel my voice is heard and respected at work.
2.I am treated fairly regardless of my ethnic background.
3.I have equal access to career development and promotion.
4.I feel safe to speak up about discrimination or bullying.
5.Leadership takes race equality seriously and acts on it.
6.In the last 12 months, have you experienced discrimination at work?
7.What one change would most improve inclusion in your team? (optional)
Keynotes that move rooms to action
- Building Inclusive Workplaces that actually change outcomes
- From WRES numbers to real culture change in the NHS
- The human & financial cost of workplace conflict
- Inclusive leadership: creating psychological safety
- Turning lived experience into organisational learning
"Herbie has a rare gift for making people feel challenged and safe at the same time. Our leaders left with practical actions, not guilt."
— Director of People, NHS Trust
"The most honest, evidence-based session on race equity we've run. It shifted the conversation across the whole organisation."
— Head of EDI, Health & Social Care Provider
"Herbie's coaching gave me the confidence to step into a senior role I'd talked myself out of for years."
— Senior Nurse, NHS Foundation Trust
Talks, podcasts & writing
Where to catch Herbie next — and where to read and listen.
Contribute your expertise. Multiply the impact.
We're building a trusted network of established leaders, coaches, mentors, clinicians and EDI specialists who want to give back. If you have the experience — and the lived understanding — to support BAME professionals and protected groups in health and social care, we'd love to hear from you.
- Coaches & mentors with a track record of developing people
- NHS / health and social care leaders and Executive Directors
- EDI specialists, mediators and workplace investigators
- Clinicians who understand the realities of the system
Why partner with EDI Connect?
Real impact. Directly support colleagues navigating conflict, discrimination and career barriers.
A trusted platform. Reach NHS and private health and social care organisations through a credible, evidence-led brand.
Flexible contribution. Turn expertise into opportunity. Contribute your skills, shape meaningful work and access paid opportunities through the EDI Connect network.
Let's start the conversation
Whether it's a keynote, a coaching programme or organisation-wide change — send a message or request a call.