Beyond Barriers CIC

24/10/2025

This is music to our ears… at Beyond Barriers we work hard to challenge the over medicalisation of distress within the mental health world . So reconsidering the ‘deficit’ and ‘disorder’ within the term ADHD is something we rumble with on a daily basis. What term would you use instead?

22/10/2025

Beyond Barriers Staff Support sessions always starts by mapping out how the team is functioning, but look at how your individual staff might feel by the end of the day… the post-it’s are a reflection of how they felt after todays session.

I’m always so grateful that commissioning managers invest in their teams health seriously in the knowledge that healthy teams naturally perform well. It takes a courageous manager/leader to allow their team to voice the challenges as well as the strengths of the business or organisation.

We have to name the reality that most employees don’t have much control over their working environment, but what they can control is how they manage the impact of their work. And that’s what we do in our sessions.

We address the blocks to maintaining boundaries, prioritising needs and generally being more sustainable in their working and personal lives.

This isn’t a wellbeing checklist that asks staff to do more to support their wellbeing when they’re already stretched. This is about understanding the mechanisms of burnout, looking at imbalances within team functioning, and using psychological models such as and approaches to get to the heart of staff needs.

Always happy to talk more about the work and how we might be able to support your team using trusted, evidence-based approaches 📞📧

16/10/2025

Walking into the Beyond Barriers office felt (and smelt) unusually momentous this morning. Not because we’ve redecorated, hired anyone, expanded. Nope, because we’ve got a cleaner. An actual cleaner.
I can’t tell you what a shift this represents.
Some of you will already be nodding 🙂‍↕️ and you’re likely to be founders, entrepreneurs or small business owners. Yes?

We’ve been bookkeeper, Marketing and personnel manager, Admin, decorator and Cleaner… amongst many other roles. Most founders and small business owners will relate to this, but if you’re a woman with childcare responsibilities you’ll be more vulnerable to absorbing XS roles because ‘that’s just what you do’. ‘Family comes first’ - and your business feels like another big hungry baby.
However, this isn’t a baby. It’s a business. And others can help take care of it too. It doesn’t all need to be us anymore. So to the female founders out there, I invite you to ask yourself:
🧐 Have you got enough of a village to raise this child?
❓ If you’re not delegating, can you lean into why? What are your blocks? Are you carrying an old belief that Your needs come behind other people’s? Whose voice is this?
💪🏻 And regardless when you started believing it, is it still valid for you in 2025? If not, can you ask that voice to be quiet for a while and let you make the decisions that serve you well, instead of keeping you stuck in old patterns?

Yes, ‘Leaders eat last’. But they still have to eat. And to do that we need to draw on our courage and take the risk to make changes in our business, and our well-being.

Get the bloody Cleaner 😉

10/10/2025

This year’s World Mental health Day feels more pertinent than ever...

We are holding you in mind if you are affected by the division and unrest in our world. We know that people are feeling insecure and unsafe in their own towns and their own workplace. Beyond Barriers sees you, and please know that we, and many other people, believe that everyone is entitled to feel secure in their own community regardless of their story. Whilst we alone can’t resolve this, we can offer something to support the way it makes you feel. So give yourself 2 minutes, and take a moment in this quick guided space to connect you with your own strength and courage. Please share this with anyone who needs it

10/10/2025

Today we are holding you in mind if you are affected by the division and unrest in our world. If you’re able to give yourself 2 minutes, please take a moment in a guided space to connect you with your own strength and courage. Please share this with anyone who needs it

09/10/2025

Another great opportunity from TCV - The Conservation Volunteers in Trafford

08/10/2025

How does profit fit within a not-for-profit?

Sometimes, as ex-NHS psychologists, the idea of profit and therapy going together feels intolerable. But here lies the essence of social enterprise.. if we can create small pockets of surplus from our self-funded work, we can provide the free trauma care for low income, disadvantage residents. So creating a surplus or profit is absolutely essential within an ethical means. Today’s session with Paul Limb @ actioncoach and other Altrincham BID business was useful in highlighting my blocks, and also opportunity to create more surplus in an authentic way.

So… I’ll put it out here for accountability… I’m going to do my sort of marketing, which is demonstrating the trust people can put in us and our services. So by the end of October I’ll be offering a free one hour Emotional Health Check once a week for anyone who’s curious about how their emotional health can be enhanced, either through therapy, specialist coaching, workplace wellbeing, support for neurodivergence, or any other unmet needs that they may not even be aware of. They will be Tuesdays at the Beyond Barriers office in town Centre. If you want to be a founding voice in our emotional health check pilot, do get in touch at enquiries@beyondbarriers.uk and come and see yourself. https://lnkd.in/e5JC6Yrm

Thank you to Paul from ActionCOACH and for the session, and also the thoughts and feedback from my fellow businesses who attended EMCN Brand Photography , Steve Upham from Altspace Coworking Office , Revive Hair And Beauty SalonJoely Sant & Liz Rhodes from Heritage healthcare and others

24/09/2025

30/06/2025

Sorry it’s been a while… but I bet lots of you can relate to this feeling..

Like many small businesses our director (me) does most of the socials. And as someone with a neurotype that can easily get pulled into scrolling and loses a lot of time, I decided to have a social media detox in January. I deleted my apps, felt a lot more focused, more present at home and work, and so one week turned into many.
But.. the reality is that much community engagement is via the world of social media so I’ve been looking at ways to reintroduce it back without taking over. So as we launch new programmes this summer you’ll start see us back again. Feel free to DM for any info on our therapy, coaching, staff support and room hire, Zoe x

28/05/2025

Perfectly put…

17/03/2025

Meet Zoe, our director and lead psychologist at Beyond Barriers. With 20 years experience in Clinical Psychology within the NHS, Social Care, and Non-profit settings.
Zoe founded Beyond Barriers in 2019 with a vision of something more progressive. Her journey has been dedicated to understanding and healing the effects of adversity and trauma, especially within relationships.

Driven by a passion for inclusive mental health services, Zoe believes in empowering individuals to heal and thrive beyond mental health difficulties. She champions the movement towards trauma-informed communities and advocates for high quality, accessible support for all.

Zoe's approach is deeply rooted in compassion and tailored interventions. Specialising in various therapies including Compassion Focused Therapy, EMDR and body based approaches, she fosters healing within progressive therapeutic relationships. Zoe's expertise extends to group therapy, recognising the power of shared experiences in recovery.

Beyond her clinical practice, Zoe finds fulfilment in supporting teams and organisations through consultation and training. Her commitment to supporting employees and small - medium business workplace wellbeing reflects in her dedication to her role within her community.

Learn more about Zoe's journey
https://www.beyondbarriers.uk/zoe-rivers