Beyond the Laptop: A WISE Approach to Wellbeing
Joanne Seagrave, our Executive Operations Manager, recently stepped away from her desk to join the Women in Social Enterprise (WISE) Collective for a transformative wellbeing exchange in Stonehaven. What follows are her reflections on the experience and the lasting impact it’s had on her approach to leadership and wellbeing.
Joining the WISE Collective
WISE is a network of women change-makers. They are committed to providing a strong collective voice, using their connections and creativity to affect ‘radical’ change through social and community enterprise. As a new member to the group, I am truly honoured and appreciative to have been invited to join this group of 30+ incredible female leaders.
With the Social Enterprise in Scotland Census showing an increase in the number of social enterprises led by women (61% in 2017, 64% in 2019 and 71% in 2021) it seems like a good time for this network to be formally established and for their first task to be undertaking research to delve further into this stat from the census and understand what it means.
Planning for Wellbeing
In one of the group’s first meetings, they reflected on how busy life was and the need to look after yourself before looking after everyone else – including running a business – and decided that their next in-person meeting should have a focus on wellbeing.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and with great thanks to Aimee Spence at Social Enterprise Scotland (SES) for organising and Starkeeper Morton at The Haven for hosting, 10 of us found ourselves travelling to Stonehaven for a 2-day wellbeing Community Learning Exchange where we were blessed with glorious sunshine.
Expanding Comfort Zones
On arrival, we were treated to a fermentation workshop by Wellbeing Volunteer, Natalie Jurdecxka before participating in an open water swim in the North Sea at Stonehaven Harbour, a sauna and fish and chips round a campfire. This was the first ‘wild’ swimming experience for many of the group including myself. I was very dubious and hesitant about participating initially but have been won over by how invigorating this feels and am already planning my next ‘dip’ with girlfriends.
Day 2 began with a hike to Dunnottar Castle before heading back for a Yin Yoga class at The Haven hosted by Angela. As a Historic Scotland and National Trust member, this was a real highlight for me, and I can’t wait to return and get into the castle itself which sits atop the cliffs.
Over the course of the 2 days, a delicious, nutritious lunch was provided by volunteer, Barbie, an Ayurvedic cook from Hungary. Barbie was so gracious and generous with her time spent on us, and a true gem to the Haven. Ayurvedic cooking is also a new concept to me, which I’m keen to explore further.
While the trip had a wellbeing focus, this also allowed us the time to reflect and bond as women leaders. This time offered perfect opportunities to learn more about each other’s work, challenges and a space to reflect and collaborate.
Community and Acceptance
We learned about Starkeeper’s struggles with acceptance and misogyny as an “outsider” and a female trying to fulfil a need within the community she loved and called home. Her tenacity and resilience in building the Haven into the successful business it is today, against all odds, is inspiring.
The community’s acceptance of what Starkeeper and The Haven are trying to achieve was solidified for us when the barkeeper in our hotel introduced themself and their voluntary role at a local LGBTQIA+ charity. In overhearing our conversation, they thanked us for having such important, open conversations about the impact of the recent decision of the UK Supreme Court that transgender women should not be recognised as women for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, regardless of any gender reassignment or possession of a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising them as female.
On a final reflection before we left, what initially began for me as a guilt trip at leaving the laptop and family duties behind, had turned into affirmation of the huge benefits of wellbeing for ourselves, our families and our work. Also, the value in networking in-person, especially in this hybrid world we live in.
Taking Wellbeing Forward
From a work perspective, I have a renewed commitment to our staff health and wellbeing to ensure they are looked after to continue supporting our clients to thrive nationwide.
I look forward to the next WISE Collective gathering and continuing to learn and grow for the collective good.
About WISE
This is 1 of 4 networks created and launched by Social Enterprise Scotland in November ’24 in response to the Social Enterprise Action Plan commitment to ‘develop a third sector equalities baseline to ensure that all activity supported by the Third Sector Unit is calibrated to tackling the barriers faced by people with protected characteristics.’
The other 3 networks include the Global Majority network, the LGBTQIA+ network and the Disability Network. For further information on any of these networks and to find out how to get involved, contact aimee.spence@socialenterprise.scot.
