I started my business after realising that I was languishing (feeling ‘meh’) in my career as a psychologist. Although I’d worked hard to become a specialist practitioner for mental health and emotional wellbeing, held a management post as the Senior Psychologist in the service I worked and had helped build a fantastic team of psychologists, the spark for the day to day work had gone.

I felt frustrated by systems that were not supportive of wellbeing and held back by workloads that left little space or time for creativity and pursing areas of interest. I could see my team members battling the same frustrations and after years of trying to change systems and implement more supportive working practices, it was disheartening to witness these being slowly eroded by uncontrollable rises in demand and more restrictive workloads.

Having experienced high workloads which lead to burnout in a previous role, I always promised myself that:

1. If I was ever in a management position I would not sit by and knowingly watch my team’s mental health and wellbeing being put at risk
2. I would not allow my dedication to my work to put my own mental health and wellbeing at risk again

So spurred on by time for self reflection during the pandemic, my developing interests in psychological coaching and positive psychology and reaching brick wall after brick wall in my attempts to implement meaningful changes, I summed up the courage to take action. 

Three months after returning from maternity leave, with two children under 3 years old at home, I handed in my notice and set up my own psychology business, determined to take control of my own destiny and create the life I was secretly dreaming of. 

Like many other female founders I’ve spoken to, a big driver for me in creating the business was to:

- use my knowledge and skills to help others

- create financial stability and open up new opportunities for my family 

- have the work life flexibility to be there when needed for the people that matter most to me

As I cautiously dipped my toe into the female founder space, I was eager to learn from other more experienced female founders. So I signed up to several different summits/challenges and listened to the stories of other women.

Amongst the inspiration and gems of advice shared, I began to notice a pattern in their stories. 

What started with the work life flexibility, building with focus and passion, often changed into stories of relentless drive, tunnel vision, pushing through doubts and fears to make their businesses grow. 

Stories of secretly holding onto criticisms, imposter syndrome, overwhelm, narrowed focus, evasive rest and then bang! 

Burnout. 

Forced rest. 

Stepping away from the business. 

Hoping it will survive. 

Fearing they’d lost all they had worked so hard for.

Stories of recovery and rebuild emerged – starting again with a new outlook, emphasising the importance of self care and wellbeing and warning against being sucked into hustle culture.

I was intrigued as to why none of these amazing, intelligent and dedicated women had taken action to support their mental health and wellbeing along the way, knowing that simple changes could have made all the difference. I wondered what support was out there ….

I found none.

None!!

While there was a sea of coaches supporting women with marketing, sales, social media, copywriting, web design, manifestation and money mindset (to name a few) – I struggled to find one single specialised service/coach/psychologist who was specifically offering support for the mental health and wellbeing of female founders.

While I found plenty of coaches focused on business development or specific mindset topics they were not skilled to support with mental health and wellbeing.

While there were therapists supporting women with their mental health and wellbeing they were not versed in the demands of business and unique pressures this brings.

I realised business and wellbeing were being treated separately despite being inextricably interwoven.

And so the FFWA was born.

To unite the two and provide a space where business and wellbeing are not separated or supported in isolation but supported together to empower women with the self leadership tools needed to support their wellbeing and confidently lead sought after impactful businesses that spark authenticity, joy and fulfilment, alongside financial success.

Dr Frances Greenstreet is a Chartered Psychologist (this means she has achieved the highest standards of professional training in the UK) and has over 12 years experience supporting adults and children with their mental health and wellbeing. 

She is a highly regarded and respected practitioner and has a Psychology Doctorate and BSc Psychology with first class honours.

Dr Frances is one of the first known psychologists in the UK to develop programmes specially designed to support the mental health and wellbeing of female entrepreneurs and is a pioneer and advocate for female founder wellbeing.

She is passionate about women’s mental health and wellbeing and finding workable solutions to complex challenges that are supportive of individual differences and the interwoven lives women lead. Her work focuses on empowering women to work with their strengths and ensure they build businesses that feel fulfilling and joyful. She helps women develop their own psychological skills and curate a wellbeing strategy that can support them to feel confident, productive and purposeful, with the resilience to overcome challenges and reach their goals.

Dr Frances is a proud life long learner and committed to continuous professional development. She has extensive knowledge and experience of developmental trauma, attachment and neurodevelopmental differences. She has undertaken further training in positive psychology coaching, solution focused brief therapy, trauma informed approaches, neurodiversity and narrative therapy amongst many other areas. 

She is a speaker, trainer and featured expert and a member of the British Psychological Society and the UK Health and Care Professions Council. Her work is regulated and compliant with the highest standards of professional practice and ethical conduct.

The combination of her advanced psychological skills and personal entrepreneurial experiences offers female entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to receive psychological coaching from an expert practitioner who truly understands their needs and can help them improve their wellbeing now and establish positive working practices to ensure they have a sustainable and joyful approach to drive future success.

Hi there,

I’m Frances, I live in the UK with my husband and two young boys who are my absolute priority and driving force in life.

I love my job, I love being a Mum and I love having my own business – but wow the juggle is real! 

Having grown up with three sisters and one brother it’s somewhat amusing to now find myself outnumbered by males in my own home! I wonder if subconsciously another reason I felt driven to establish the FFWA was to bring more female connections into my life of dinosaurs, Pokémon, mud and play fighting! 

Although, having previously lived with the real prospect of never having any children, I feel beyond lucky to have the two most amazing boys in my world and wouldn’t have it any other way.

As a family we love to be outside, walking in nature, digging on the beach, throwing sticks in rivers. We are fans of garden picnics and family BBQ’s. Relaxing with friends and making time and space in our lives for those who we care about.