‘I’m a multi-million-pound business owner and I overcame my addiction to cortisol and struggle’
One of the keynote speakers at this year’s Female Founders Summit was the inspiring multi-million-pound business owner Caroline Strawson.
Caroline, who is the founder of the fastest growing franchise in the UK, hosted a sound healing workshop on day one and spoke on the addiction to cortisol and struggle among female founders on the final day.
If you have seen our tens of stories on the event over the past couple of months, you will know the esteemed Female Founders Summit returned for its fourth year last Thursday to Saturday (June 12 to 14).
The event welcomed business owners from as far as Australia, and epitomised the importance of women supporting women in the push towards equality in the business world.
Organised by master coach Lucienne Shakir, hundreds of women enjoyed a wide variety of masterclasses, workshops, networking opportunities and keynote speakers – and were taken aback by the knowledge, pearls of wisdom and sense of community they received.
One of those was Caroline, who had her home repossessed and was in £70,000 worth of debt from financial abuse more than a decade ago. She was left with nothing while juggling being a mother.
Now, after healing and learning from her experiences, she is an award-winning trauma therapist, coach, entrepreneur, author and podcaster with a rapidly growing social media presence.
Caroline founded a School of Trauma Informed Positive Psychology, with healing and education programmes and the world’s only trauma-informed coaching certification that is the equivalent to a masters degree.
It was only recently when she launched ‘The Mental Wellbeing Company’ – which provides the opportunity for people to train in trauma, mental health and wellbeing, and to ensure it is available in schools, workplaces and the public sector.
It is now the fastest growing franchise in the UK, giving individuals the chance to create a business as a certified trauma-informed coach.
All attendees were captivated by what Caroline had to say on the topic of addiction to adrenaline, cortisol and struggle among female founders, which she admits she struggled with for most of her life.
It resonated with many when she said that business owners do not necessarily think about the impact on the nervous system and their physiological side when starting ventures.
Caroline said that when she previously let her body relax, it did not feel safe – and that response can often be as a result of emotional trauma that people have faced throughout their lives.
She lived her life in a survival response, and the increased cortisol production presented itself as a variety of other challenging health conditions.
Caroline began to work on her nervous system regulation and tackle the trauma she had faced in earlier years. She shared the poignant message that without this hard work on the self, founders will never reach their full potential.
The talk was led by event organiser Lucienne, who asked what success means to Caroline now she has overcome her addiction to struggle as a business owner.
“I’m guided by my sensations and body, not my thoughts,” said Caroline. “Doing things you love for a start, and knowing what you’re doing right now is good enough. Success is being kind to myself and getting curious about what I know I should do.”
Another message that Caroline shared is that she realised the only person coming to rescue her was herself, which is why “ownership and responsibility” are two very important factors.
Caroline continues to work on building capacity in her nervous system, so that when she notices her emotions taking hold she is able to bring herself back to a state of regulation.
“It’s important to create a bigger space to hold the challenges of daily life without going into survival mode,” said Caroline, who enjoys cold water therapy, meditation and breathwork.
“We’re always caught up in the next thing and to heal, we need to feel. We can’t think our way out of it. Our body has a tremendous capacity to heal if we give it the space.”
Caroline concluded that many female business owners find themselves “stuck in functional freeze” – which means they are doing what they need to, but are disconnected from themselves in the process.
The business owner encouraged the Female Founders Summit community to do small things to mobilise or discharge that energy, no matter what that looks like to them.