Our Social Mum of the week is mum of four, Sarah who is a member of our Social Mums West Kent Facebook Group. She talks us through what inspired her to start her incredible business as well as sharing a useful tip for showing the person behind the brand.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

I’m Sarah Weller, Mum of 4 children now all in their 20’s and Founder of The Weller Way, a Parenting and Family Relationship Coaching practice. I’ve been married to Paul for nearly 30 years and have 2 sons and 2 daughters. We’ve lived in Tunbridge Wells since 1991, moving down from London to find lots more green spaces for the children to roam. My children are all working now. They have had their fair share of challenges and this really help me be empathetic from a parent’s not just a professional perspective.

What is your business?

There are 4 elements of the business:

1. Coaching Parents, single and couples in Parenting skills, using NLP , the Circle of Security and Positive Parenting techniques and psychology.
2. Coaching Teenagers who are struggling with Self- esteem, confidence, anxiety , identity etc using Mentoring skills, NLP and Growth Mindset
3. Bank shifts at a local homeless hostel, assisting with the running of the hostel , coaching vulnerable youth and training staff in Safeguarding and Mentoring
4. Public Speaking about the benefits of Positive Parenting on Mental Health for the Whole Family.

What inspired you to start your business?

Primarily to

1. reduce the statistics of youth homelessness and suicide
2. increase positivity within families
3. help parents, parent cohesively

I always worked part time while the children were small doing various jobs including working at Glazy Daisy. When they were all settled at Primary School, I started  to re-build my career, working for the Mental Health Charity Crossways Community, where I helped clients with Mental Health difficulties gain independent living skills and the confidence to be able to settle back into the community from Secure Unit and Prison. I then transitioned into the Homelessness Sector, working with vulnerable youth, in particular teenage single Mums and it was during the course of this work that I became inspired to start my journey to specialising in supporting Parents, particularly those who haven’t got the support of a family network to draw encouragement and advice from or who are looking to break out from an style of parenting that didn’t serve them well.

The Weller Ways draws on all my experience of working with people with Mental Health diagnoses  such as Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar and Psychosis  and young Mums coming from an abusive background, gangland culture,  involved with addiction or domestic violence. These Mums were so determined to break the cycle of abuse or addiction, but because of finding themselves homeless, and struggling with depression and anxiety, it proves challenging. I was determined to find an answer that would break the cycle of emotional abuse present in families and  prevent cycles of repeated attachment disorders in children, which often is one of the reasons behind homelessness and suicide.  I was drawn to train in an American intervention called The Circle of Security together with NLP and thus the business was born in 2017 to take this knowledge out into the world, as the difference that can make the difference!

What social media platforms do you use and why?

I’m on most Social Media platforms, as I’m still un-decided as to which one serves me the best. I enjoy using Instagram the most, as I have a visually led brain, and probably get the most engagement from it, but I have a lot of loyal followers on Facebook, where it’s much easier to share relevant articles and other people’s work. Potential clients will look me up through Facebook often. I find Instagram a really positive platform, so Positive Parenting sits well on there. Twitter is good for me to connect with other charities and Mental Health professionals so I can keep up-to date with all the relevant crisis lines and new initiatives that are available for people who find it difficult to engage with services such as the GP and CAMHS.

What do you find most challenging about marketing your business on social media?

Time!…I spend a lot of time creating content and themes but am committed this year to start scheduling, to try and reduce the amount of time daily….to avoid the inevitable scrolling the time away!

I find the changing algorithms are a continuing bug bear, the inconsistency of post reach, as I’m sure everyone does. I had thought that my reach would be better within my closed group, but for some reason, I’m finding post reach and growing the group hard.

What is the best social media tip you have picked up for your business?

The most useful tip I’ve picked up this year from Gemma, is to use Stories more, to show the person behind the business. I’ve now learnt that this is an important part of a building trust with my audience that may contain potential clients. I have become rather addicted to using the gif feature though, as a bit of fun.

What have you found most useful about being part of a Social Mums Facebook Group?

I love the daily connection and supportive sense of community that the Social Mums Facebook group provides. It can be lonely working as a one man band and that sense of community is very comforting. I’ve benefited from learning from Gemma’s advice within the group greatly and I’ve discovered other wonderful enterprises that support families too. It’s good to share other people’s posts that compliment my own business which I’ve seen on the platform too, without having to go and search for them. It’s a great group to foster collaborations.

Where can we find you on social media?

You can find me on Instagram here.

You can find me on Facebook here.

You can find me on Twitter here.

Find out more about our local Facebook Support Groups here.