Janet Wise – WiserHealth
As one of Outset Plymouth’s more experienced clients, Janet Wise first dipped her toes into the world of self-employment over 8 years ago in Milton Keynes where she set up a home-based business called Feetwise. “Because I am managing my recovery from ME on a daily basis, natural health has always been very important to me and my family.”
Born in Essex and trained as a secondary school teacher teaching English, Humanities and Drama, Janet was also a volunteer schoolteacher in Southern Africa for 2 years in the 1990’s where her classes were mixed age ranges from juniors to mature students.
Janet moved to Plymouth with her husband and two children in 2004 after graduating as a Reflexologist. “At first, I worked with clients locally from a spare room. I then decided I wanted to set up my own business again! WiserHealth is a natural health care programme bringing together the expertise and professionalism of local complementary therapists.”
“I was referred to Outset Plymouth by Business Link where I attended a series of workshops with the women’s only group, which I found very inspiring. I wanted to be self-employed because of needing flexibility around having a young family, and crucially, I felt running my own business would utilise all of my skills.”
Although Janet had run her own business before, she recognised the areas where she still needed some support. “I needed help with structure and planning, and my confidence levels needed buffering. I found the support I needed by working with Outset and other like-minded female entrepreneurs, especially enjoying the diverse nature of the other businesses, and the team spirit of the workshops.”
WiserHealth recently launched ‘Talk ASD with WiserHealth’ an online discussion website aimed at parents and carers of children on the autistic spectrum, as well as organising monthly ‘Time to Relax’ events at Virginia House Settlement on Plymouth’s historic Barbican. The workshops help parents and carers via informative and relaxing meetings.
“My son has Aspergers Syndrome so I understand the parents who come to my workshops. It is very important that people feel at ease and can share some of their difficulties as well as tips found to make life that bit calmer.”
“It is great to see people deep breathing and relaxing. Carers are often under tremendous stress with an incredible number of parents and carers of autistic children facing mental health problems. Practising relaxation doesn’t seem like much but together with greater knowledge about the condition, believe me it works!”
Outset Plymouth has been funded by the ERDF Competitiveness and Employment programme, which invests in activities that will have a long-term impact on the growth and develop of the local economy.
For more information on Janet Wise please contact Outset Plymouth Tel 0800 028 5699