Owner of mental health space, The Red Tent, Mikki Fisher wants to change the game of mental health.
The business owner, mother of three and strong advocate for mental health found herself inundated on her social media platform with women who wanted to open their hearts to her. Instead of leaving these messages unopened in favour of prioritising sponsored content like so many influencers might have done, Mikki decided she wanted to make a difference. On a mission to create a safe space where women could openly discuss mental health struggles, Mikki believes that by changing our attitude towards mental health, we can get rid of the stigma attached and instead celebrate healing.
We chat with Mikki about her online mental health space, The Red Tent, how it evolved and how women can get involved.
1. Tell us about The Red Tent?
The Red Tent is an online mental health space for women*. We provide a safe space with online therapy, workshops, resources and more. We want to change the game of mental health! We believe that healing should be for everyone. We want to f*ck off the stigma by changing our attitude towards mental health. We want to remove the shameful, white-coat feel about it and instead celebrate healing.
*We are a safe space for everyone! We have a rainbow of clients! The Red Tent will be the women’s section but we are growing on that.
2. What prompted you to launch it?
I found myself attracting people (especially women) who felt comfortable enough to share their traumas, struggles and feelings with me. I always have for some reason! Strangers have always opened up to me in a really beautiful and vulnerable way! Once I started to create a bit of a platform I was finding myself inundated with women sharing their hearts with me.
I love helping people so much! I love being a safe space! And I want to give everyone every second of my time and energy, but I can’t. Plus it’s also not productive of me to be that person. I was constantly recommending women to seek help, because I know from my own personal experience how effective it is. I have always believed that nurturing your mental, spiritual and emotional health should be treated the same way we treat our physical health.
I became a bit of an evangelist for healing. I just wanted everyone to know how empowering and life-changing it was to heal! I wanted them to know that they didn’t have to have a diagnosis to be worthy of healing. If you felt a bit shitty, that was enough, In fact, you don’t even need to feel shitty! We all have healing and discovering to do!
So I decided to create a space for people to do that. Somewhere they felt safe and welcome. I wanted the language to be real and relatable! I wanted the branding to be colourful and inviting! I’m so passionate about what I do and all I want is for that to translate through my business.
3. How does The Red Tent tie into your life/work/family?
I’ve created The Red Tent to essentially be able to run itself. Or at least it will be able to soon. The joy of creating a business is that YOU get to decide how it will look. How will it support your clients? How will it support your staff? How will it support you? I wanted to create a business that was essentially an extension of myself. I wanted it to be able to support a life of freedom and flexibility! For not only myself, but also for my staff and for my clients. Freedom and flexibility are at the forefront of my mind. I want to be able to be there for my family whenever they need me. I want to work smarter, not harder.
I can’t encourage people to look after their mental health and live a life of balance, but create an environment that doesn’t mirror that.
4. What do you envision for The Red Tent in the future
SO much! We have a podcast launching soon, products that will be available, a membership/subscription, courses and so much more. I also want to take it on the road! Do in-person events!
We are also creating a Men’s Tent and Rainbow Tent, which will be safe spaces specifically for men and the LGBTQIA+ community. They will all be under The Red Tent umbrella, but I think it’s important to have a safe space for these individual communities to heal together.
I honestly have huge plans! I am probably an absolute pest to work for haha. This is why I work with A-type personalities who take all the open tabs in my brain and put them in an Excel sheet.
5. Why do you believe mental health is so important for women specifically?
The short answer is that I don’t. I think it’s important for everyone.
But the reason that I created it for women originally is because the feminine energy is the Mother energy. The carer and the nurturer. I truly believe that women are more likely to seek help because (thanks to the patriarchy) there is slightly less stigma attached. I could write a trillion words on this subject, but essentially I believe that if we heal women, we can heal the world.
I’ve seen it happen with our clients. A woman will come to us for help and then before you know it, their husband/partner/brother/son has booked five sessions. If we heal our women, we create space to heal everyone else. We heal generations! We create an emotionally healthier world for our children!
I also want to reiterate that the word *women* is being used as a blanket term for anyone who feels strongly led by their feminine. It has nothing to do with what bits and pieces you were born with.
6. What have been some of the biggest challenges faced in launching The Red Tent?
I am definitely the biggest challenge without a doubt haha. Imposter syndrome has reared its head often. I’ve been pregnant twice and had a baby in the last year. I’ve had to balance creating and running a business while parenting two (now three) kids. I also work for myself outside of The Red Tent, which I’ve needed to do to fund TRT (starting a business of this size is NOT cheap).
God, there are so many challenges! Creating/running a business is like having another child. It challenges you in so many ways. A giant mirror! The irony of creating a mental health business that has challenged my mental health is not lost on me. It has forced me to heal and grow even further! It has challenged my ego! Which it has needed to, because I’m just a silly little human with the expectations of a robot.
The business really has gone through (and will continue to go through) it’s own healing journey. And I love that. The business embodies its purpose.
7. What would be your go-to piece of advice for new mums?
Your child chose you for a reason. Don’t worry about being the best Mum, and instead channel your energy into being the best YOU. Kids don’t do as we say, they do as we do.
8. What is your favourite thing about The Red Tent and why?
Its heart. This business has been created from a deep, deep passion to heal the world. I know this because I am the heart. The Red Tent won’t ever be perfect. It’s human. It doesn’t judge. And it says fuck occasionally. Because, don’t we all?
9. Who can access The Red Tent services and how can they do this?
Anyone and everyone! So long as you have the Internet and a phone or computer, you have access to our services! Regardless of where in the world you are!
Our website is still being finished, but at the moment you can check us out and book a session with one of our incredible therapists on Instagram at @the.redtent
10. How have your priorities changed since you first started The Red Tent?
Oh, great question. I think I’ve shifted from aiming to achieve perfection to embracing my humanness. I started out trying to create a business from my masculine. I was trying to keep up with the masculine entrepreneur energy and it was exhausting and continued to defeat me.
I love the quote “Women are expected to work like they don’t have children, and parent like they don’t work”. Well, I kind of hate that the quote has to exist because it’s so true. BUT, unfortunately it is very true. I decided to unsubscribe from that idea. I didn’t want to work like I didn’t have children. I wanted to work like a real life human. I wanted to slow down, create from intuition and trust the timing of everything.
I still kind of suck at this, but I’m learning.
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