Our Story & Values

Work that expresses our values and creativity has been a source of growth, and fulfilment for us.

We love helping others to find the untapped potential in their own work.

So we created Respia to support you as you turn your individual and business challenges into your greatest opportunities and sources of development.

Our greatest reward is knowing that we made all the difference to your projects and endeavours.

Growth

For us, growth is more than scaling operations and profits. It reflects our desire for creativity, development, and the fulfilment of aspiration. We also embrace anti-fragility - the understanding that uncertainty, difficulty, and challenge can strengthen and develop us.

Collaboration

Individuals working together is the single most effective strategy for growth. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Our commitment is to lead collaborative and supportive groups that offer you and your business what you need to move forward.

Quality

Quality makes a difference – the type of difference we care about. We bring competence, dependability, and professionalism to all our work with you. We are happiest when we know you have the best possible support to achieve your goals.

Our Story

The lockdowns changed everything for us. Life moved online, and hybrid working became a thing. Zoom become a verb! For us there were many advantages. At the same time, lockdown meant isolation, anxiety about an unknown future, new forms of complexity, and feeling cut-off from others.

We met in a Telegram Group for people wanting to understand the impact of these issues and what could be done to support those affected. Christian was led to the group by his interest in executive coaching; Neil by his interest in finding solutions to complex problems.

As we collaborated, we discovered a mutual interest in growth, entrepreneurship, and the emerging digital economy. The synergy of our different perspectives, experiences, and skills was powerful. We knew we wanted to help others benefit from what we were doing.

We created Respia to do just that. To help entrepreneurs overcome the inherent challenges of leading the way. To discover opportunity in complexity. To use the power of collaboration to succeed.

Neil Barnes

Neil is Co-Founder of Respia and an experienced organisational consultant. He brings insights and expertise from a successful career in project management, product development, and systems engineering across a wide range of industries, including finance, government, healthcare, and education.

After graduating from Warwick Business School with a degree in Financial Analysis, Neil worked with the Marketing and IT teams at major British retailer Tesco to develop the Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme. Later he was headhunted by JPMorgan Chase to create technology-based financial liquidity products for multinationals. This is where Neil nurtured his passion for integrating cross-functional and cross-cultural perspectives to engineer solutions for complex problems.

On a trip to Beijing, Neil saw an opportunity to create a cultural integration project to solve a gap in the professional education market. Working with the State Administration for Foreign Expert Affairs, he developed and implemented a country-wide cultural integration system to in-source foreign expertise. A lifelong practitioner of martial arts, he supplemented learning Mandarin Chinese and kung-fu with a Masters in International Sustainable Development.

Neil has invested the past 5 years in the education sector, pursuing his ongoing interest in creating training and professional development systems. Respia marks the latest milestone on the journey, with Neil harnessing the wealth of knowledge and creative ideas he has picked up along the way, together with his passion for creating bespoke solutions and discovering opportunity within complex challenges, for the benefit of the Respia community.

Christian Murphy

Co-Founder of Respia, Christian’s first career was in the legal profession, following a degree in business and finance law and a year at law school, where he specialised in commercial and tax law. Following a career change, Christian qualified as a counsellor and psychotherapist and has been running a private practice in south London since 1999.

As part of this work, Christian has managed a national network of counsellors providing support to employees on workplace and personal issues. In addition, he has worked in the NHS, managing the talking therapies service for a London Primary Care Trust. He is also the Chair of the Ethics Committee of a psychotherapy training institute.

Much of Christian’s work now focuses on organisational development and executive coaching. In that capacity, he has worked with a number of founders and managers in the tech and B2B services sector, as well as maintaining an active research profile in the areas of workplace dynamics, psychoanalysis, and group analysis. He particularly enjoys the aspects of his work that allow people to access their untapped potential, as well as supporting clients to make use of professional challenges as an opportunity for personal growth and development.

We’re on a mission to bring you the transformative power of collaboration. With an innovative methodology based on extensive research, we help you turn your individual and business challenges into your greatest opportunities and sources of development.Want to know more?

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