Scottish Enterprise Awards 2020

29 | Scottish Enterprise Awards 2020 Nov20487 Best Alternative Therapies Service – Angus Owner and founder of Love & Above, Debbie Bolton is a personal development practitioner offering guidance and workshops to promote health and wellbeing. Debbie began her journey by studying to become an Usui Reiki Practitioner and quickly moved onto studying Angel Tarot Cards to an advanced level. As time has gone on, she has studied to become an Advanced Reiki Master/Teacher, Crystal Master/ Teacher, Phytotherapist, and Angel Intuitive Therapist, as well as offering many different psychic services. Committed to personal development in any area of life, Debbie continues to learn and study. Having spent most of her working life in Northamptonshire, she moved back to Scotland at the start of 2015. At this point, she was shocked by the lack of health, wellbeing mind body studies’ events around the country and this where the idea and concept of Love & Above was created. At the start of 2016, she co-created Love & Above and began to organise events in the Aberdeenshire area. After a successful initial year, the company pushed into rural Perthshire and Tayside in 2017 and subsequently the business was restructured, with the events becoming consolidated and larger. Debbie tells us more about the company and what it has to offer. “It can be split into three distinct areas,” she begins. “These being events, therapies, and training and authorship.” In the events area, Debbie organises health and wellbeing exhibitions around Scotland which can encompass any area of life. With the therapies and training side of things, she offers alternative, complementary, holistic therapies and self-development programmes, as well as courses and workshops. Debbie has co-authored seven books as well as having a monthly article published in a magazine. “My main goal is to show others that there is a different perspective and mindset in life which can complement mainstream medicine,” she highlights. “This can involve planned relaxation, using crystals for enhancing an emotion, or help in an area of life or healing.” Debbie’s core value is to live what she teaches and offers, and she has managed this by herself coming off immune suppressant medication by using techniques such as daily visualisations, drinking lemon, digesting the therapeutic essential oil frankincense, placing specific crystals around the house and administering daily Reiki treatments. Working within this chronically huge unemployment area within Scotland has helped reveal to Debbie that help really is needed by the local communities and she strongly believes in collaboration with others in order to make this happen. Working from a Therapy Centre in Montrose in Angus (Nemetona), Debbie has formed partnerships with many different businesses in order to organise exhibitions and events which run from the centre. “Sometimes, people just want to be listened to and at other times they want to try something new,” she states. “There are small pockets of people around the country who work from the heart and want to help others and make what they offer accessible to all.” Debbie has even created a workshop based on her own catchphrase: “Keep Rocking Your Awesomeness!” The aim of the workshop being to show people that they can live their most awesome life on a daily basis if they choose to. Currently, the health and wellbeing industry is in an exciting position as, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, mental health has become significantly more important and people are waking up to a new way of living. Debbie believes that people are becoming open enough to try mindfulness meditation or looking at going for a wellbeing walk if they are working from home, whilst others have taken time during furlough to focus on areas of self-development, such as physical fitness, learning a new skill or trying to build on their mental wellbeing through online courses. “Throughout much of lockdown, there has been a ban on close contact therapies, but now that has re-opened again, I have been busier with my therapies, courses and self-development sessions than I was before.” Debbie is already working on a new book and is creating more courses based on personal development, helping people to discover their life purpose, and encouraging them to write their own manual on life. So how does Debbie foresee the future? Well, it is “awesome” of course! Company: Love & Above Contact: Debbie Bolton Website: www.loveandabove.co.uk Now, more than ever, mental health and wellbeing is a key focus in most people’s lives. We speak to Debbie Bolton, founder of Love & Above, about her offering, her core values and how she is committed to revealing people’s “awesomeness!”