Covid-19 and Why I Joined BMR
Here is my journey covering Covid-19, my online spinning community and how I joined BMR Health and Wellbeing.
I truly believe the pandemic has changed my life: some bad and a lot of good. Most people have been through a journey in the last 2 years, and I am no different. Back in January 2019, I worked as a Divisional Operations manager for a health club chain.
I taught 7 spin classes a week and I lived with my partner, my daughter, and my three dogs. I earned good money and to the outside world, I had it together or at least to my social media friends.
One of my franchisees Darren asked me if I would meet Sheila and Ann. Darren had attended an MHFA England 2 day First Aid course with Ann.
Sadly Darren’s friend had died by suicide and he wanted more skills to prevent something like that from happening again and to understand how to have a difficult conversation and signpost to help and support.
I had my own views on Mental Health as my father had a breakdown when I was 19. On reflection, I now realise that my opinion of mental health was not great due to the personal impact his ill health had on me in my formative years. In addition, my generation is the “plus the pull yourself together” and “don’t cry in public”.
Sheila, Ann, and I hit it off immediately, and the plan was to roll out MHFA training across the fitness network.
Then covid hit. My classes disappeared. My partner and my daughter Lorna were furloughed and all the gyms I oversaw were closed and the owners were in crisis.
It was a big stressful mess; my stress container was filling and the relief I used to get from my classes wasn’t there.
Luckily, I received a lifeline when I had the opportunity to teach online. From this, I earned the nickname Spinderella.
The work with BMR was put on hold, however, Sheila, Ann, and I kept in touch and the ladies gave us tools to support our team plus some free Mental Health awareness training to support the network.
As lockdown continued, I was put on furlough, though only for 3 weeks, and like many others this was one of the first times I had stopped and taken stock for 25 years and I decided I would use this time productively rather than spending it watching Netflix.
Taking that first step: Let’s do some training; My daughter Lorna and I decided to do the mental health awareness together and this was when the penny really dropped.
I realised how badly I had dealt with people in my life who had struggled with mental illness. Brené Brown’s video on Empathy vs Sympathy was a huge eye-opener for me. I knew I had to make some changes and help people in a different way.
I returned to work with a fresh perspective on how I was going to approach things moving forward.
Then, in July of 2020, two previous employees from our fitness community died by suicide. The impact of lockdown and isolation has been terrible for many.
Could I have done more to prevent these very sad events? Should I have reached out?
If I did, would I have helped or made the situation worse? I knew then I needed to do more for the teams at work.
With the support from my employer and BMR, we implemented a well-being programme across the entire énergie network.
However, on a personal level, I knew I wanted to make a change.
I was helping people improve their physical health but what was I doing to help them mentally?
My daughter suggested I looked into becoming a counsellor.
I did some research and applied for a 3-year course to become a hypnotherapist and counsellor and at 47, I’m a student again.
I then realised how much I had taken on and couldn’t give 100% to work and my studies.
I decided to go part-time in my role and reached out to Sheila for some support.
She immediately spoke to Ann and I was able to come up with a plan where I could achieve the right work/life and study balance,
So here I am. Our aim is to be the provider of all solutions for workplace wellbeing. Creating healthy working environments.
So, the moral of the story. Not all bad situations result in bad outcomes and from tough times come even tougher people.