Serena Taylor wins Powys award for burnout-prevention push

By Nathan Brooks

Serena Taylor, owner of The Serenity Reset in Knighton, won the NPTC Group of Colleges-sponsored Entrepreneurship Award at Friday night’s annual Powys business awards.

The ceremony took place at The Infantry Battle School, Dering Lines, Brecon. Mid Wales Manufacturing Group organized the event.

The Serenity Reset opened in 2023. Shropshire Star described it as a busy community hub for babies, parents, older adults, people with chronic illness, athletes and families. Classes now run online as well as in the studio and can be booked at www.Serenityknighton.co.uk.

The operation brings together deep rest and strong discipline, therapeutic movement and martial arts, individual healing and family connection. Taylor combines advanced yoga and breathwork skills to help clients reduce stress, cope with life’s challenges and recover more effectively.

Taylor said: “My vision for The Serenity Reset extends far beyond our studio in Knighton, particularly into workplace wellbeing, burnout prevention and helping people with chronic illness.”

She added: “It is wonderful to have won this award, especially as the other two finalists were so strong. As a new business, this will help build that trust that I need to help people.”

Taylor’s business followed her own experience of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and burnout. The former lawyer and school teacher is also an advanced yoga teacher, somatic movement coach, breathwork and meditation practitioner. She has experience in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and life coaching.

She described the scale of workplace stress this way: “It is so important to understand that 92% of the workforce this year has said that they have come under immense stress and 35% of our workforce say that they are constantly under stress. When you are living with that kind of stress and worry, it sucks the joy out of life and creates illness.”

The figures amount to roughly nine in ten workers reporting immense stress and a little more than one in three reporting constant stress. Taylor cited those numbers as evidence that employers need to act before stress becomes illness or absence.

Taylor also cited Deloitte research estimating that poor mental health costs UK employers £51 billion every year through sickness absence, reduced productivity and staff turnover. That annual cost makes prevention an operating-cost issue, not only a workplace benefit.

Her ambition is straightforward: “My ambition is to help businesses identify burnout before it becomes absence and, where possible, eliminate unnecessary workplace stress at its source.”

She rejected a relaxation-only approach: “It’s not simply about giving employees a couple of hours to relax. It’s about creating meaningful, sustainable changes that improve wellbeing, productivity, job satisfaction and staff retention.”

Taylor summarized the company’s wider operating approach: “We are responding to real community needs, removing barriers to participation, investing in professional excellence and continuing to grow.”

Earlier this year, she published The Serenity Reset and The Serenity Kitchen. The companion books outline her method for burnout, fibromyalgia and nervous system recovery.

The judges said: “We were impressed by Serena Taylor’s clear vision, strong leadership and determination. She has combined hard-earned life skills with a well-developed business plan, sound finances and a focused approach to growth.” Quabbs Cabin, Knighton, and Mid Wales Lodges, Llandrindod Wells, were runners-up.

What does the award change for employers?

For employers, The Serenity Reset’s proposition is preventative rather than episodic: prevent staff burnout before it becomes long-term sickness absence and address unnecessary workplace stress at its source. It is not a short relaxation session.

The award gives Taylor a credibility signal with prospective clients, which she says will help build trust. The announcement discloses no client list, pricing, service package or measured outcomes, so employers still need evidence that interventions reduce absence and support retention.

Taylor says she is responding to community needs, removing participation barriers and continuing to grow. Her next test is whether award visibility converts into workplace partnerships that deliver lower absence and stronger retention, rather than simply expanding the studio’s class roster.