Within will offer programmes that aim to improve employee mental health by building connections at work.

Koch and Burgess have set up the business after working with Talk for Health on a mental health and connection programme for C Space employees.

Psychotherapist Nicky Forsythe set up Talk For Health in 2008. Its group-based programme teaches people a method for therapeutic talking and has been commissioned by the NHS across several London boroughs.

Burgess, co-founder and managing partner at Within, said: “As chief people officer, I was often frustrated by learning or wellbeing programmes which didn’t drive results and didn’t sustain impact. But this programme really did. Experiencing it personally, and seeing the significant impact it had on our people and culture, their wellbeing and their sense of belonging, are what inspired me to leave my role and focus on this full-time.”

Burgess and Koch previously led Omnicom-owned C Space’s London office as joint managing directors between 2015 and 2018, before Burgess took up the role of chief people officer at the company, based in Boston, returning to the UK in 2022. Koch was most recently regional chief executive of Emea and Apac until the end of last year.

Koch, co-founder and managing partner at Within, said: “Too many workplace mental health initiatives are reactive, too focused on ‘fixing the individual’ or just building awareness. We believe in taking a more proactive approach. By leveraging the power within the group we empower people to support themselves and each other through meaningful human interaction, not through apps or AI chatbots.”

The 2022 mental wellbeing in research survey, commissioned by MRS and Opinium, found that 83% of market researchers reported experiencing poor mental health in the past year.

In addition to co-founding Within, Forsythe will continue in her role as chief executive of Talk For Health. She said: “Talk For Health has positively impacted over 1,000 people in local communities across London over the past decade. I am thrilled to be partnering with Phil and Felix to expand the impact of this programme across workplaces at a time when meaningful support is so clearly needed.”

Pictured, left-right: Nicky Forsythe, Phil Burgess and Felix Koch