Meet The Veteran Connecting People With The Restorative Powers Of Nature

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison served eight years in the British Army, retiring in 2012. He began suffering from PTSD in 2017.

His wife Lizzie worked as a head of brand and marketing for a number of large companies in London. She suffered with burnout in 2015 and post natal anxiety after the birth of their first daughter.

They discovered that getting outside and being in nature was a life-changing part of their journey. Not knowing the questions to ask or people who could help, they just did what felt natural, which was spending as much time outside as they possibly could, walking in a local park or often taking the for hours to get a 24 hour 'hit of green.'

The couple decided to restore Merlin's childhood home of Cabilla in Cornwall and in the process realised that they didn’t just want Cabilla to be a place of ecological balance. They wanted other people to visit and find balance in their minds and bodies too, sharing their guardianship of the once private land with as many others as they could.

So, they applied for planning permission and took out a loan against their home to build a retreat space. This was risky, and many people advised them not to do it, but the couple believed in it so much that they took the largest leap of faith of their lives

Over the last few years, Merlin and Lizzie have been reminded that mental health is a constant journey, one to embrace and lean into with pride and not shame.

They believe that everyone, no matter how together they may seem, can struggle with mental health. It isn’t a weakness, it is a strength to have the self-awareness and compassion for your mind to want to make it as healthy as possible.

The pair are privileged to work with some of the UK’s leading yoga and breathwork practitioners, somatic therapists, sound healers and chefs. They believe they have some of the most talented individuals on the planet to facilitate incredible experiences, and connect everyone with the restorative power of nature.

Cabilla Cornwall’s focus is to bring veterans and other public servants who are suffering from burnout or PTSD into the heart of their temperate rainforest where the real restoration of our connection with the natural world can begin.

More than 100 industry leaders joined together at the Strive Female Entrepreneurship Event to come up with solutions to support female entrepreneurs

Discussions at the Strive event generated powerful recommendations to boost growth and unlock productivity. These were put to the Chancellor via an open letter signed by Kelly Devine, UK & Ireland President at Mastercard along with leaders from startup incubators Enterprise Nation, Digital Boost and Be The Business, sent ahead of the Budget.

While policymakers have an important role to play, there’s also so much we can do, if we all work together.

Female founders need more access to investment and lending. But not all businesses want to raise investment, so we also need to help businesses with information on how to create wealth and grow their balance sheet.

While broad mentoring schemes are great, entrepreneurs need hands-on support to help them succeed – like legal and financial advice, and very specific guidance such as how to put together pitch decks.

Late and slow payments cause cashflow issues for small businesses, which take time to chase, so larger businesses need to pay faster and reduce administrative processes that cause delays.

The gathering also heard solutions. Which ones can you can take forward?

1.) Give female founders more funding and help them create wealth.

If you invest in businesses, make sure investing decisions are made by a diverse group, or include the opinions of a diverse group. Look at how many female founders are in your investing and lending portfolios And if you don’t already measure that data, start If you are an investor, consider signing the Investing in Women code and reporting progress each year.

2.) When developing small business support programmes, create specific help targeted at specific needs.

Identify the areas where small businesses need help and where you can support. Be as specific as possible and pinpoint the areas where you can help solve problems. If you are creating a support programme, be clear about exactly what you are providing. Aim to complement existing support and collaborate with other organisations.

3.) Reduce payment terms and adjust procurement processes for small businesses.

Review your organisation’s payment terms for small businesses. Look at your procurement processes, or ask your procurement team questions like: Can our payment terms be shortened for small companies? Can we sign up small suppliers quicker and reduce the admin involved? Can we commit to procuring a percentage of our services from female or ethnic minority-led businesses?

Holding Ourselves Accountable

Let’s hold ourselves accountable to these actions and wider commitments by tracking and reporting on progress regularly. We encourage you to publish your commitment to female entrepreneurs and the actions you’re taking on your website.

If you want to get involved and continue to find ways to support entrepreneurs, join the Strive Learning Network and be a part of the solution.

LIFTING THE LID ON: BUSINESS CONTINUITY

As a business owner, you never when an unforseen challenge will arise...after all, you cannot control external factors. This is where business continuity planning comes in.

Business continuity planning is a way for a business to increase its ability to survive and recover from disruptive events...

Business continuity planning involves identifying the types of event that potentially threaten the business and developing stepby-step procedures and checklists for dealing with these events, so that the business can continue to operate as effectively as possible.

The first step in making a business continuity plan is to carry out a comprehensive assessment aimed at identifying possible events that may threaten the continuity of the business. The assessment also involves working out what impacts these events are likely to have on key business operations and determining the steps that need to be taken to reduce these impacts.

To carry out the assessment, it can be useful to list all of the key areas in which the day-today running of the business could be vulnerable to disruption. Examples of this include: premises, employees, customers, supplier, finances, IT equipment, and communication networks.

The contents of a business continuity plan will vary widely, depending on the particular threats that each business faces, and on the size and complexity of the business as well as its areas of operation.

However, the best plans typically include the following information:

▪A checklist of all the actions that need to be taken.

▪The roles of key staff members in carrying out these actions.

▪The timescales that need to be followed

• Contact details of anyone that needs to be notified, such as insurance companies, customers, suppliers, the local council and utilities providers.

• Service providers that can help in the event of an emergency, for example plumbers, electricians, IT support services and solicitors.

• A logbook to record actions taken and expenses incurred. This will be helpful if an insurance claim needs to be made, and will provide useful information for reviewing and improving the plan in future.

Testing The Plan

Business continuity plans should be tested and reviewed regularly. This could involve a simple paper exercise, for example checking and updating contact details included in the plan.

Alternatively, it could involve a runthrough of the main actions required in the plan, involving all employees who have responsibilities for these actions.

If the plan is ever used to deal with a real incident it is important to learn as much as possible from the experience and use it to improve the plan where necessary

If the circumstances of the business change, for example moving into new premises, it is important to review the plan and ensure that it still covers the correct steps.

The X-Forces Enterprise Military in Business® Knowledge Exchange Hub is an incredible source of information and expert advice on a huge range of topics relating to small business ownership. Sign up to the Hub for free today and access this amazing content at https://xfehub.com