World Wellness Weekend – meet Duty to Care founder Sadie Reid, of Hip & Healthy
One of the Duty to Care founders, Sadie Read, of Hip & Healthy, pic supplied by Hip & Healthy
To celebrate World Wellness Weekend, we go behind-the-scenes to meet one of the founders of Duty to Care, the new wellbeing charity for healthcare practitioners. Sadie Reid has channelled her passion for wellbeing and years of experience in the industry into the project from the very beginning. She runs digital health and wellbeing magazine, Hip and Healthy, and the online directory of wellness professionals, The Hip List. Combining her skills and contacts, she has created a database of over 1000 therapists who are supporting the charity’s work with NHS staff.
You first set up Hip & Healthy eight years ago – what inspired you to do this?
S: I was working at Condé Nast Traveler for five years and I’ve always had a passion for health and fitness. My parents lived in LA while I was at university, so I used to go over and visit during holidays. It was a real eye-opener to see the wellness industry out there. 15 years ago over here, it was very much about restriction and counting calories. For me, wellness was really about lifestyle that makes you feel your best. Over in LA, it was more about getting up early and long walks at the beach. This was still very niche in the UK and the health magazines were not aimed at the consumer I wanted to target.
I took a six month sabbatical from Condé Nast when I moved to Hong Kong with my now-husband, our living costs were covered by his company. It was a once-in-lifetime opportunity to have this time and know I had a job to return to. I had always wanted to start a wellness magazine, so I started to contact Asia Pacific magazines and started writing for them. I knew when I returned to the UK, I wanted to start a wellness magazine that shared content that would inspire people to be the best version of themselves.
Why do you think Hip & Healthy has been so successful?
S: I was lucky with the timing – I managed to get on the market at just the right time and was working alongside great people like Deliciously Ella. There was a shift of consciousness and mindset around that time, and brands liked that we were targeting a more sustainable wellness community. It was very popular and word started to spread. It was much easier to grow then as there was less competition, we grow slower now but we’ve just celebrated our highest ever hits/month on the website.
Why do you think there’s been this cultural shift towards wellbeing and more holistic treatments?
S: I think it’s growing awareness. When you first approach wellness for yourself – for me that’s running, yoga, meditating and I’m also into juicing and crystals – you work out the balance that makes you happy. It’s not something you turn your back on, once you start to feel good, you don’t want to just stop.
People have become more open to trying new things, and the branding of ‘wellbeing’ has completely changed. There’s been an acceptance of wellbeing practices and more awareness which has been helped by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow starting up GOOP and talking more openly about therapies.
Why do you think wellbeing is so important for NHS workers and what inspired Duty to Care?
S: The stress they must be under each day is different to that of an office job. I can’t even imagine how they do it, everyday they go into work and face life or death decisions. It’s important to raise awareness, there’s a small number in the NHS who know to look to holistic treatments.
But there is also a real “superhero” culture, that they have to be invincible. It’s really important for NHS staff to know that wellbeing services are available to them. We don’t only want people to come to us when there is already a problem. We rely on these people to take care of us when we are in need, it’s so important that they are able to look after themselves and to have free and easy access to these services.
What has the response to Duty to Care been like so far? Has it confirmed the need for the service?
S: It’s been incredible. We’ve only been running a few months and we’ve already had over 500 sign-ups from NHS staff, and we’ve got over 1000 therapists. I’ve been amazed at the response, the therapists were so willing to help and many of them are even offering pro bono sessions. At the beginning, CBT and therapy were the most popular, but now it’s opening up to a lot of breathwork, PT and nutrition sessions. One of the loveliest things has been seeing the more holistic therapies really helping as well as the more traditional therapies like CBT. That openness to trying holistic therapies has been lovely to see.
Do you have any big goals for Duty To Care?
S: My personal goal is to increase awareness of the therapies available and to add more to the list. I truly believe that everyone is different and different therapies can help different people. There are some on the more holistic side that I held off on at first but I would love to see added now these are proving popular.
The idea that self-care is a waste of time is one that annoys me more than anything – it’s so important and it can make such a difference. Setting up Duty to Care has been prompted by Coronavirus, but it’s definitely something we see running for the long-term.
Find out more about health and wellness by visiting the digital magazine – Hip & Healthy for standout wellness content, recipes, curated travel, beauty trends and lifestyle.