Meet Anna, whose business hapPEA was born from recognising the impact the pandemic has had on mental health for many. Providing a toolkit for life, hapPEA supports children, young people and adults to learn the tools they need to grow and thrive.
Central to the business is mindfulness, and the encouragement to “create space within busy days, to pause and be aware of how we are feeling and our thoughts, so we can respond with greater care in any moment.”
Turning inwards
A parent of three, Anna’s own experience with the impact of a mental health condition fuelled her passion to both practise mindfulness herself, and learn more about how to support others - particularly children and young people.
Working in primary school education for the last ten years, Anna has created a bespoke wellbeing curriculum that supports children with their cognitive, emotional, social and behavioural needs. Today, she runs mindfulness workshops for children and parents alike, a job she considers a privilege.
“What an opportunity for me, being able to support children with skills that they will have for life, even from the earliest age…"
I love that I am doing something that I passionately believe in and that I’m able to share such important skills with others.
A qualified mindfulness teacher, trained in working with children using counselling skills and a mental health first aider, Anna personalises her programmes around each individual. She looks to address many important areas of life such as stress, anxiety and depression, focus and concentration, self-esteem and confidence, resilience, sleep, work-life balance and self-compassion.
Thinking outside (no box required) is also of great importance to the hapPEA founder, who offers ‘Time to Talk & Walk’ sessions for clients that have a shared love for the outdoors and may prefer to meet in a more open space.
Mind over matter
On building her business, she chose the name ‘hapPEA’ to highlight that happiness comes from within, explaining “it is a continual active process of bringing awareness to both the positive moments in our day and the activities that are challenging, meaning in any moment we can respond in a way that nurtures our wellbeing.”
Anna is no stranger to self-reflection, and tells us the most valuable lesson she’s learnt in life is self-belief. She would encourage others to ignore the voice of self-doubt, take chances, seize opportunities and have fun along the way.
We all have our own unique ‘voice’ that can make a difference to the world, however quiet it may sometimes seem.
“One of my biggest obstacles has been my self-belief that I could turn my passion into a viable business. We are our harshest critic, we can feel afraid and doubt ourselves but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it. Believing in myself is everything.”
For her, success is not defined by what you do, but how you feel. Living in the present, being kind and enjoying the simple things in life are a few key elements of this.
I think for me success is more about how you feel in life rather than what you may have achieved.
“I feel successful in my day being fully aware of it rather than being stuck in automatic mode and not paying attention. Being aware of living by my values, noticing the little things, people or places that make me smile, responding kindly when I recognise my buttons have been pressed, and not giving up when it gets tough.”
This mindfulness teacher understands that life rarely follows straight lines, but it’s important to find what you love and follow your passion.
“My biggest passion is ‘learning and teaching’. I love expanding my knowledge, putting more pieces of the giant puzzle together which I can then share with others where it may be helpful.”
If you have a passion that you want to make a reality then just go for it. Everything starts from just one tiny idea and we never know how that little seed may grow.
“We never know until we try. I wouldn’t have imagined a year ago I would be doing what I am doing today. It is scary but exhilarating, full of creative opportunities and possibility.”
Online empowerment
Anna turned her passion into potential when she realised she could reach a wider community by building her own website and creating a “central online voice.” With the intention to support, nurture and evolve her business as well as her clients, the hapPEA founder was a self-confessed novice, but knew the importance of online growth and creating a digital space.
Making my passion a reality had always been a matter of ‘one day’. Then, when I realised that I could make a website, one day became day one...
“A large part of overcoming my self-doubt has been because of my website. I am not an expert and so realising that I could achieve my vision myself without needing to learn loads or make a huge financial investment meant I was able to get started and take that first step. This gave me a huge confidence boost.”
With GoDaddy, Anna discovered with ease the ability to build a website, and believes that although her business is in its infancy, GoDaddy has allowed her to shape and scale this.
In finding GoDaddy and being able to create the website that I was aspiring to… that was the game changer!
“I quickly realised how easy it was to use and that made me feel like an expert. As a very visual person, I appreciate being able to use all my photography, plus the wide choice of templates allowed me to communicate my brand without any compromise.”
“It’s still very early days for my business so, what I love about GoDaddy, is that my website is growing with my business. I can tweak my site, I can add things, I can move things around. The flexibility is fantastic. I would recommend GoDaddy to anybody who is just at the very cusp of thinking whether or not to go for it.”
You can find hapPEA on Facebook, Instagram or check out the website here.
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