An Angus businesswoman who has used her personal life experiences and her police career to set up a flourishing business has had her work recognised with a top national award.
Lindsey-Anne Knox of the Wishing Well Emotional Wellbeing Centre in Forfar won the sole trader category at an awards ceremony hosted by Women’s Enterprise Scotland and Business Women Scotland.
18 months after starting, Lindsey-Anne, 39, still juggles running a home with three children and four step-children while travelling the country with her training programmes.
Her change of career started as a small business when she ran counselling and animal-assisted therapy session from her office at Murton Nature Reserve, near Forfar.
She has now grown the business and offers personal and corporate programmes for people looking to improve their emotional wellbeing.
She was overwhelmed to hear she had been nominated for one of the top business awards at the glittering ceremony at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow, which celebrated the entrepreneurial talents of women across Scotland.
As well as acknowledging the women’s work, the awards help create more business role models to inspire the next generation of leading women.
Lindsey-Anne said: “It was fantastic, I am still overwhelmed as I had no idea I had been nominated.
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“I look back on the times where I struggled to put one foot in front of the other ”
She set up her emotional wellbeing centre in an attempt to remove clinical barriers and change attitudes towards the importance of maintaining positive emotional health and to be able to offer all support in one place.
Lindsey-Anne set up her business when she found herself at a crossroads in life – she had walked away from a 15-year career with Police Scotland and was a single parent to three children, although she has since remarried.
She said: “I went back to study for a Masters in counselling and psychology through the Open University at Edinburgh Napier University and graduated in 2014.
“When I started in business I provided counselling and animal assisted therapy sessions at Murton using some of their animals –horses, dogs, goats, pigs and guinea pigs.”
During her career Lindsey-Anne worked closely with those who have been sexually abused, suffered domestic abuse, dealt with relationship break-ups or post-traumatic stress.
Although still providing individual sessions, she is now a strong arm in the business world, providing emotional wellbeing courses and workshops to companies all over the UK.
She said: “I design bespoke emotional courses, where I use the lessons I learned in my career, in the police and in my personal life, to promote wellbeing at work. After all we spend more time at work than anywhere else.
“The business has taken off beyond my wildest dreams, it has been mind-blowing. Mental health and emotional wellbeing have now got a place in society. I found the system failed me and want to make sure nobody else is failed.”
