Fortis Therapy: Growing, Developing, Evolving

Guest Editorial •  Spring 2022

While we all may have plans to progress or at least a direction of travel, sometimes fate forces our hand. For me, it was a road traffic accident that nearly saw me lose a leg at the age of 19.  While my leg was saved, a huge part of me wasn’t and I looked to therapy to help. I received poor quality, unprofessional services that were as damaging as the accident itself.  When I had eventually recovered, I decided there had to be a better way.

I re-trained and founded Fortis Therapy & Training at my kitchen table in 2012. Fortis has grown from two employees to the 50-strong team we have today and is now a multi-award-winning business specialising in working with business owners, organisations, schools, private individuals, and emergency services. Our aim is always to deliver high quality, effective and accessible therapeutic services to THE gold standard. A standard we, as a team, have created.  We have a whole range of hugely effective services, delivered online and in person across the UK.

So, for your business, what does growth mean to you? Do you factor the wellbeing and mental health of your team into that growth? Do you know how much more you could achieve if you did?

If you could adopt a way of working that was not only good for your employees but your work environment and overall output and productivity – would you? When it comes to wellbeing and mental health support in the workplace, the world has, in some cases, needed a pandemic to make people and their needs the priority.

It’s thought that better mental health support in the business sector could save up to £8billion per year.  We know too from the research, that leaders need to be on board, to create impactful and sustainable change.

A positive approach to wellbeing and mental health reduces absenteeism, grievances and disciplinaries and improves retention, presenteeism, leavism and productivity.  The added incentive being that this all impacts positively on your culture and the ‘bottom line,’ above all creating a great place to work.  Actively working to support your team with any mental health and wellbeing issue can and does pay dividends – it’s a strategic investment resulting in long-term benefits.

Fortis works with some incredible, ground-breaking businesses across the UK, in-person and online, to influence this exact change. These businesses include The Royal Horticultural Society, Orsted, Eversheds Sutherland Law Firm, Humberside Police, South Yorkshire Police, Oscar Kilo the National Police Wellbeing Service, the NHS, Multi-Academy Trusts, The Lincolnshire Showground, NEBOSH, Synthomer UK and Mizkan (Branston Pickle) to name a few.

The support we develop for you and your organisation is always tailor-made and focussed on growth and development – with team wellbeing, mental health strategies, advice and consultancy support, organisational development for cultural change, therapy, mediation, business/leadership coaching and development, reflective practice and crisis interventions, all being areas we can help with.

Bio details                                                                                               

Alexis Powell-Howard

Founder and MD, Fortis Therapy & Training

Alongside founding Fortis, our multi award-winning therapeutic and emotional wellbeing service, Alexis is also an experienced leader and manager, a BACP accredited and experienced psychotherapist, systemic practitioner, supervisor, trainer, mediator, and coach, passionate about therapeutic approaches and how effective they can be to help organisations, schools, and individuals to move through difficult times. A regular on BBC Radio Lincolnshire and Humberside, contributing expert and host of live webinars, seminars, conferences, and podcasts, Alexis is a TEDx and professional speaker too.

Fortis Therapy & Training

Working online worldwide and with therapy spaces in Grimsby, Louth, Hull and Scunthorpe.

Website: www.fortistherapy.co.uk

Email: claire@fortistherapy.co.uk