Portsmouth, UK · Speaker · Mentor · Hybrid Athlete
I rebuilt my life because I wanted to.
I help others because I can.
Prison. CPTSD. Fatherhood. Recovery. Education. Endurance. I use the truth of what I have lived, and what I have learned, to help people change what happens next.
Not a guru. Not a clinician. Lived experience, qualifications and real work.
New Volunteer Award winner.
On 6 October 2026, I won the New Volunteer Award. Seven months into this chapter of Sidekick, my kids got to see me win. I was shocked and overwhelmed.
This is another part of the journey: rebuilding my life and putting what I have learned into work that helps other people.
4x4x96
"He knows the score and really understands. That makes a big difference."
Six ways to work with me.
Keynotes and speaking
Serious, honest talks that move a room. Mental health, resilience, recovery and behaviour change.
Enquire →Schools and colleges
Sessions on identity, knife risk, choices and beliefs. Direct enough for teenagers to actually listen.
Enquire →Prisons, probation and recovery
Peer-mentor grounded delivery for wings, groups and recovery services. Done the work inside and out.
Enquire →One-to-one mentoring
Structured support for people rebuilding after prison, mental health struggles, recovery challenges or losing direction.
Enquire →Corporate wellbeing and resilience
Wellbeing sessions that respect the audience. No filler. Real tools for real pressure.
Enquire →Media, campaigns and brand collaborations
Interviews, podcasts, documentaries, campaign work and considered brand collaborations.
Enquire →
I was the black sheep of my family. Now I'm the GOAT.
Left school with nothing. Violence at home and school. Expulsion, homelessness, and a father young.
Built a tattoo career, ran Creative Ink for around eleven years, became the youngest Chairman of the British Tattoo Artists Federation, and appeared on BBC One's The One Show.
Diagnosed with CPTSD in 2010. Founded Sidekick Initiative in 2019. Prison from 2023 to 2025. Inside, worked as an education, neurodiversity and recovery mentor with a real caseload. Released on 31 July 2025, rebuilt, and now running the next chapter in public.
Not testimonials. Turning points.
Rob says what other people are scared to say.
Rob doesn't talk at people. He reaches them.
Rob has a way of making people feel seen, even when they've spent years feeling ignored.
He makes mental health feel human.
Challenges create attention.
Conversations create change.
Completed
- DoneGoggins 4×4×48March 2026
- DoneNational Three Peaks6 June 2026
- DoneSidekick 4×4×7218–21 June 2026
- DoneSix Peaks11 to 13 September 2026
- DoneRobPriorUK 4x4x96Completed
Three tests. One month. One reason.
The September campaign for suicide awareness. The point is to hold attention on suicide awareness and give people a reason to talk, to listen and to act.
- Stage 1 · 11 to 13 September 2026Six PeaksComplete
A six-peak endurance challenge that opened the September campaign.
- Stage 2 · CompletedRobPriorUK 4x4x96Complete
Four miles every four hours for ninety-six hours. Four full days on the clock.
Rob is not fundraising through the challenges. The point is attention, so people talk, listen and act.
Full challenge log →Follow the campaign
Add your email and you will get updates as each challenge happens through September. Nothing else.
Cell to Summit is not a slogan.
It is the life I had to rebuild.
Keynotes, workshops and sessions for schools, colleges, prisons, probation, recovery services, businesses and community organisations across the UK.
Book Rob to Speak- Cell to Summit→
- Mental health and recovery→
- Identity, beliefs and behaviour change→
- Discipline over motivation→
- Structure, action and follow-through→
- Fatherhood, accountability and rebuilding→
- Community leadership and lived experience→
- Schools: knife risk, choices and identity→
- Prisons and recovery: peer mentoring and realistic change→
real support real conversations
Rob founded Sidekick Initiative in 2019 as a lived-experience mental health and recovery movement, and restarted it in 2026 with more clarity and more action. Sidekick is its own organisation with its own home online.
Speaking, workshops and mentoring are Rob's paid professional work, booked through this site. Sidekick Initiative is a separate community organisation Rob founded, with its own website and its own free community support.
Visit sidekickinitiative.org →Lived experience,
backed by the work.
- New Volunteer Award, Portsmouth Inspiring Volunteer Awards 2026
- TQUK Level 3 Award in Education and Training
- NVQ Level 3 Personal Trainer
- English Level 2
- Maths Level 2
- Mentoring Level 1 and Level 2
- CGL Peer Mentor Passport
- Prison Peer Mentor Passport
- Speaker Bootcamp Level 1
- Asset-Based Community Development
- Drug Awareness (accredited)
- Safeguarding training
- Access to Higher Education Level 3 subjects
If it matters, let's talk.
Speaking, schools, prisons and probation, corporate wellbeing, mentoring, media and brand collaborations. One form, one honest reply.