Laura Woodward-Drake, chairman of Exmouth Chamber of Commerce, writes for the Journal.
As we head toward the light at the end of the tunnel, many have commented, myself included, how this 3rd lockdown has been particularly tough. The country has been in constant debate about the effects this pandemic will have on mental health, worrying that we will see the knock-on effects for many years to come.
When I met with Tina Ketteridge-Allen, one of our newest members and co-founder of Bee@One Coaching, I was glad to hear of her journey. I realised that Exmouth is lucky to have an array of support systems made up of fantastic professionals like Tina and Ray.
Having lost her job due to the pandemic, Tina decided that she wanted to step up and develop her own company that could support others, especially in this unique environment.
Start-ups are challenging at the best of times. Still, I was thrilled to hear of Tina and Ray's success in starting a company in lockdown last year, especially with social distancing in place. Their use of virtual and remote meetings has enabled them to continue providing support.
Tina told me how she fell in love with coaching people over 20 years ago, helping people achieve happiness in their work and home lives. She has an impressive business experience background, is a Master NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) Practitioner and transformational life coach. Bee@one Coaching covers a wide range of skills from emotional freedom technique (EFT), work-life balance, phobia solutions, hypnotherapy, mindfulness, aromatherapy, health and wellbeing. She commented
"Often, when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else. Many of our clients come to us for one thing and find we can help them with many other issues in their life."
Ray, Tina's husband and business partner, is a qualified life coach, anger and conflict management specialist. Together they navigated this new terrain and created forums and safe spaces for people who needed their support.
"We tried a group mental toughness session, specifically aimed at men. However, we realised they really didn't feel comfortable to speak openly in this format, so we now offer additional one to one sessions to allow them to open up in a safe space."
Tina and Ray have been running several sessions and webinars throughout the year already - 'Mental Toughness programmes', 'Managing Chronic Pain' and 'Resilience for Cricket Officials' free webinars are the most recent additions to their services.
Tina is an absolute pleasure to talk to and clearly has a wealth of knowledge and empathy that radiated as she spoke about their future plans. I, for one, am glad we have this type of service in our town and look forward to hearing of their further successes.
To find out more about what they do to help, go to https://www.beeatone.net
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