Mental health has moved increasingly into the spotlight in recent years, prompting broader discussions across society, and capital markets are no exception.
In financial services, highly pressurised environments and long work hours have infamously led to burnouts and breakdowns across the City and other global financial hubs, and while in the past this was perhaps kept in the dark, the industry is no longer willing for the importance of mental health to be buried.
Despite growing awareness, challenges still remain, and according to a Buy-side Trading Community (BTC) benchmarking survey in 2025, 40% of buy-side traders personally know industry participants who have left their trading roles due to mental health issues.
Moreover, the survey also found that ‘stress and pressure’ were the most common mental health triggers at work for the buy-side community, followed by ‘fear of losing employment’ and ‘lack of work/life balance’.
Evidently, hurdles remain to address the weight of mental health sitting on the financial markets industry.
Confronting this is Kevin Rideout, who during his three-decade long industry career has seen it all – working in senior roles at firms including the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Citi and Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEX).
Following his own personal battle with mental health and depression during his time in the industry, Rideout took matters into his own hands to address this market-wide problem, and has since set up Mental Health in Finance – a practical support platform and funding initiative which aims to support individuals looking for trusted care, clear guidance and realistic funding when mental health difficulties surface.
In honour of World Mental Health Day, which takes place annually on 10 October, The TRADE sat down with Rideout, to candidly discuss his experience and unpack what his initiative is aiming to achieve and how the future of mental health support in the industry may look going forward.
‘Throwing the kitchen sink at it’
For Rideout, the answer to supporting more across the industry with their mental health is not simply encouraging people to speak up. Drawing on personal experience, he reiterates that this is not always as simple as it may seem, and support needs to be accessible, practical and, crucially, independent from the immediate workplace.
He shares: “Like many people, I was carrying around with me the baggage of depression that I just didn’t show anybody.
“Looking back, I was probably managing that through nights out with my mates, drinking my way through it. I fell into this spiral of depression to the point of chronic depressive disorder. I was drinking two bottles of red wine and a bottle of whiskey every night. It was a very dark place.”
His recovery has ultimately shaped the approach behind Mental Health in Finance and has led to him down a path focused on psychology, where he is now halfway through a doctorate, to support not only himself, but also the wider industry.
“I’m throwing the kitchen sink at this. I’m going to take psychology very seriously, and I’m going to take my psychiatry very seriously. I took wellness very seriously, surrounding myself with good environments and good people, basically, and I came thriving out of it. I’ve never looked back. It was the psychology piece of my recovery that meant the most to me and it keeps me out of it.”
The GDP model
Building on this, Rideout’s personal experiences, as well as those across the entire trading industry have also revealed a more fundamental problem with mental health in financial services – the gap between the support people have access to, and the treatment they need.
Funding is often a particular problem, and as Rideout explains: “My own mental health cost me about £40,000 to £45,000 a year. My corporate insurance covered about £1,000.”
This disparity subsequently formed the basis of Mental Health in Finance’s core foundational pillars – what Rideout describes as the ‘GDP model’.
Specifically, this covers the ‘gap’, the ‘distribution’ and the ‘practicality’ elements of the initiative.
Rideout explains that the ‘gap’ section aims to address the difficulties in accessing support, and the disparity between what people can afford, and what appropriate mental health treatment actually costs.
According to a recent survey conducted by Rideout, approximately 90% of people working in the industry don’t want to tell their bosses when they are feeling unwell, due to market competition and fears that it will hinder career progression.
He adds: “People don’t want to tell their boss that they’re not feeling great because we’re all competitive or want to go up the ladder.”
To address this, Rideout has also established the Kevin Milne “Giving Back” Fund, named after Kevin Milne, former director of post-trade at LSEG.
The fund allows individuals to access financial support without their employer being informed, with the fund paying treatment bills rather than handing money directly to recipients.
It is structured as a social enterprise, allowing it to support both individuals and organisations, including mental health and wider social impact groups.
However, the funding gap is just one part of the equation for Rideout, and distribution also plays a vital role.
A key objective of Mental Health in Finance is to reach as many across the industry as possible, and when in conversation with The TRADE, Rideout expressed hopes that the initiative would reach around one to two million people across this network, taking inspiration from other organisations, such as mental health charity Mind.
So far, partnerships have already been established with major financial trade associations, including FIX, FIA, Asia Trader Forum, ASIFMA and the World Federation of Exchanges, and a network of ambassadors and influential figures are backing the launch, including Hong Kong-based private investor Nicholas Aguzin and John Buckley, former chief operating officer at Citadel.
Through this combination of different networks and pockets of influence, Rideout predicts the initiative will gain significant distribution potential, and, as he adds: “The response I’ve got from all the banks and funds has been wonderful. It’s been really heartening to see that people are finally starting to do something about mental health and not just talk about it.”
Rounding off Rideout’s GDP model is practicality – providing information to those in need, and ensuring they are able to protect themselves in periods of crisis.
Reflecting on his own experience, Rideout explains that when in the throes of a mental health situation, many are unable to think clearly, anticipate problems or secure the help they need – hence why the platform aims to support those in the industry struggling with this.
To do so, Mental Health in Finance aims to deliver this support by distributing practical information around sick leave and employment protections in the UK and Hong Kong, as well as the role of the Equal Opportunities Commission if an employer treats someone negatively because of their mental health.
Moreover, it will also help industry participants in finding a good psychologist or psychiatrist, as well as teach people how to circumvent the system to get the help they need in an emergency.
“This is for those out there that can’t say, ‘hey, I don’t want my boss to know about this, but I need some help,’” adds Rideout.
“When it’s happening, you don’t know what’s going on. You just feel sick all the time. You overthink, you’re paranoid, you think the problems are so big.”
The path forward
For an industry that has historically been reluctant to talk openly about mental health, the response to the initiative so far has offered some encouragement and will likely continue to grow.
Events and sponsorships remain in the pipeline for Mental Health in Finance, with the first planned for the end of November, to bring financial professionals together with leading psychologists, psychiatrists and lawyers, to provide practical guidance and open up further conversations around mental health.
But, as Rideout reiterates, the ultimate ambition extends beyond simply starting a conversation – it is about ensuring that when someone reaches a point where they need help, they can access it without fear of professional repercussions, financial barriers or not knowing where to turn.
“I’ve lost four people to suicide in the last couple of years, all in finance,” he says. “This is for all people that have been lost in this manner and all the people that need help.”
For Rideout, this is ultimately what Mental Health in Finance is about – turning a problem that has too often been hidden in the shadows into one the industry can confront openly.