We are thrilled to have welcomed over 200 new entrepreneurs to the programme in cohort 8. 

In our latest #OurEntrepreneurs profile we meet cohort 8 Clinical Entrepreneur Dr Farnaaz Sharief, GP, Senior Fellow at the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, CEO of Manage Your Mind and Independent Consultant. 

Tell us a bit about yourself 

A GP by background and former placed based Medical Director, I have over 15 years of experience working with multidisciplinary teams across primary and secondary care. Throughout my extensive career I have developed an in depth understanding of the challenges faced by clinical leaders and delivered a multi-award-winning resilience programme that has seen people improve their psychological well-being, build confidence, and enhance fulfilment in their job roles. This saw me feature on the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2018 and receive a British Citizens Award for healthcare at the House of Lords the year before.

I create safe reflective spaces, using robust coaching methodologies to facilitate workshops for organisations or teams and more personalised 121s for individuals. In doing so, I encourage people to think differently, recognise their strengths and bring about meaningful change to their personal and professional lives.  

Tell us about your innovation and the challenge you aim to address within the NHS? 

I have developed a practical, effective solution to workforce stress and burnout that people can use in the moment to manage their minds, calm their emotions, and improve their energy levels. This is a combination of powerful breathing techniques and a set of meaningful principles, which, when used together change the way people think about and process stress. It is easy to integrate in their working day and enables individuals to be more responsive, rather than reactive when dealing with their challenges. It encourages people to pause, think about how they communicate, function and improves their awareness of when they need to step back and recharge.   

When practiced regularly, this enables people to thrive effectively in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments, allowing them to feel fulfilled and confident in their job roles, less emotionally exhausted and maintain a better quality of life overall. Changing peoples’ ways of working is the first step in changing culture within organisations – and this is what Manage Your Mind addresses.  

Manage Your Mind (MYM) is an award-winning resilience offer that presents a practical solution for Integrated Care Systems and health and social care organisations, enabling them to empower busy health and social care professionals with powerful, essential life skills to reduce stress, burnout and improve well-being.   

In 2021, the University of Kent’s Centre for Health Service Studies assessed data from 80 participants using internationally validated questionnaires. The results revealed that 71% of programme participants experienced clinically and statistically significant improvements in well-being, while 66.1% demonstrated statistically significant reductions in perceived stress and emotional exhaustion.  

Why did you apply to join the programme, and what are you most looking forward to?

My passion to make a difference and commitment to doing so made me a strong candidate for this programme. Having worked in NHS leadership roles, I have experienced the effects of burnout, and I am working hard to develop a meaningful, practical solution that can be embedded in the working day. I know I can do better and make this difference for many more people and I would like the learning from the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme to help me achieve this.   

I am eager to expand my network, explore NHS scaling opportunities, and emphasise the benefits of my programme to NHS systems nationwide.  

What are your ambitions for the next year?

Over the next year, I would like to expand my programme by running a meaningful marketing campaign to highlight the benefits of our product to health and social care organisations across the country. Additionally, I plan to offer a virtual programme that engages individuals from the comfort of their homes, develop a mobile app with annual subscriptions for easy access to programme content, and establish a train-the-trainer model to empower Well-Being Champions within organisations for ongoing support.  

Why do you think innovation is important in healthcare?

Innovation is important in healthcare because innovative technologies, treatments, and methodologies often lead to better patient outcomes. They may also streamline processes, reduce inefficiencies, and lower costs. Some innovations, such as Manage Your Mind, focus on preventive measures and early detection of diseases. This can lead to proactive interventions, allowing healthcare providers to address health issues before they escalate into more serious conditions, thereby reducing the burden on healthcare systems and improving long-term health outcomes. 

Innovation also enables more personalised and tailored approaches to patient care whilst driving scientific progress by fostering collaboration, encouraging research and development, and pushing the boundaries of medical knowledge. 

How can we find out more?

Please visit the www.manageyourmind.org.uk for more information.   

Link: https://nhscep.com/2024/04/16/our-entrepreneurs-farnaaz-sharief/