Benedicte Taillard: Natural therapist
Benedicte Taillard was born in Senegal to French parents, and grew up in Australia and America. As a professional conference interpreter, she lived in many countries such as Vietnam, New Caledonia, France, and Germany before finally settling in Barcelona in 1998.
She defines the USA as 'home', maybe because to this day that´s where she spent most of her life, and because “There, I melt into the melting pot”. She holds a graduate degree in intercultural relations & communication, and interpretation (M.I.I.S. California). She speaks English, French and Spanish fluently.
After working as both an NGO interpreter and an intercultural consultant for 20 years, Benedicte, a divorced mother of three, relocated to Barcelona in 1998, pursued studies in Naturopathy (COFENAT), and specialised in both mind and body techniques: hypnotherapy, life coaching, NLP (Talent Institut, Integratiu Institut), and reflexology (I.I.R., Florida), therapeutic massage, lymphatic drainage (FENACO), and stress management.
Benedicte holds two practices in Barcelona. She also volunteers monthly reflexology workshops for cancer patients and families at the Institut Oncologic l'Hospitalet in Barcelona.
Where did the original idea come from for your business?
I feel that natural therapies and personal development are a natural extension of my travels and of my work in cross-cultural communication. Each person is a wonderful world on their own, too often unaware of the extent of their full potential and own resources.
As a cross-cultural communicator, skills such as active listening, calibration, non-verbal communication etc. are essential to my work with hypnosis and coaching: they are a first response to, and acknowledgement of, the specific needs of the people who visit and express their pains or frustrations, each in their own individual ways.
As a natural health practitioner in reflexology and massage, the treatment starts with the verbal communication and listening that takes place before the power of therapeutic touch conveys more body listening, empathy, comprehension, and vital energy.
What are the positive aspects about having a business here?
Having a business in Barcelona offers many advantages: I chose to stay and work in Barcelona because it's beautiful and because it sits at the door of Europe. It attracts people from around the world, and is developing into a cosmopolitan city but at the same time it conserves its authenticity and human scale. It is becoming a rich (multi)cultural hub, thanks to its own history, its people, their diversity, and their creativity.
Another of the advantages Barcelona has to offer is the culturally-embedded “word-of-mouth” system which complements your business propaganda.
What do you wish you’d known when you started? A challenging step for new businesses in Barcelona is to obtain the full administrative, legal, and tax information you need. It is often difficult and confusing to know where to retrieve this information, if it exists, and to get a clear interpretation of it. Also, paperwork and bureaucracy are heavy and slow.
Did you get help from any particular official organisations or associations?
I recommend Barcelona Activa to anyone wanting to start a business here: they have helpful “Entrepreneurship” programs, to help you with your business plan, find out what financing aids or bonuses you might be entitled to, and make administrative difficulties less intricate.
Find out more about hypnosis, coaching and NLP with Benedicte