Gaynor Connor promotes the importance of self-care with reconn3ct

At age 63, Gaynor Connor could be getting ready to retire; but after a varied career, Gaynor’s life was changed by a Cancer diagnosis, which she turned into a unique opportunity to help others.

Gaynor Connor

Gaynor explained: “To be faced with your own mortality is a dreadful thing, but I certainly wasn’t going to sink, so while undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, I wrote a booklet called: ‘You Are Not Alone’ which encompassed my own and other Cancer sufferers stories; this aimed to inspire others to continue on their cancer journey with hope.

“During this time I realised the impact self-care was having on my recovery. I was doing weekly yoga and meditation sessions which I found really helped me through my treatment – so this ultimately lead me to set up reconn3ct.”

Seeing the effect that these forms of self-care had on her own recovery, Gaynor wanted to pass this knowledge onto others who were in need of help with problems; both physical and emotional.

Gaynor commented: “When you find ways of helping yourself, you want to pass this onto others. So I wanted to set up reconn3ct to allow me to help others in this way; to start a new business that gives you an income but in the process helps others is very rewarding.”

While she was starting out, Gaynor worked closely with St Helens Chamber’s Business Start Up team who supported her with one to one meetings and introduced her to the training courses available at the Chamber.

Gaynor commented: “My start up adviser Steve is fantastic, he’s given me a lot of support and is there to talk through any ideas I might have. To help me gain a new perspective, he questions any ideas I put to him which gives me new insights; it’s great to have someone to share and develop ideas with.

“I didn’t have much experience with Digital Marketing, so I’ve done an introductory course which has given me much more confidence in my digital skills. The support has been fantastic, I’ve now even joined the Chamber as a Member so I can network and raise my business’ profile.”

Steve Mather, Business Start Up Adviser at St Helens Chamber added:

“Working with Gaynor has been a pleasure, it’s fantastic to see her business grow and continue to help more and more people who are suffering with mental or physical health issues.

“Gaynor’s business is unique and it is fantastic how she has turned a negative life event into something really positive.”

reconn3ct is a bespoke business, the aim of which is to promote an opportunity for self-care through yoga, meditation, workshops and guided walks in peaceful surroundings.

“reconn3ct provides people with an opportunity to find out how stress affects their emotional and physical wellbeing and teaches people the importance of identifying and managing stress. It also encourages people to explore what they currently do to self-care and what they could be doing more of to promote their wellbeing.

“Attendees will have the opportunity to develop a self-care plan with the help of an experienced healthcare professional, so the self-care can continue after the retreat and hopefully become a part of the attendee’s day to day life.”

St Helens Chamber is part of Enterprise Hub, the enterprise gateway for business start-up support in Merseyside.  Offering expert advice and support to anyone thinking about starting a business, including help to:

Understand the process of starting a business
• Research a business idea
• Build a comprehensive business plan
• Develop a marketing plan
• Create financial forecasts to understand the costs of running your business and potential income
• Identify sources of finance to get started

Enterprise Hub is funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

If you’d like to find out more about reconn3ct visit www.reconn3ct.co.uk or to find out more about Business Start Up Support visit https://www.sthelenschamber.com/startup