Lisa Askem: The Sleep Better Community CIC
Lisa Askem knew her sleep classes were helping people. What she had not yet realised was that they could be a business.
During her interview with Trampoline, she ran her idea past Josephine, who saw a business where Lisa had only seen classes. “Wow, you could run a business with this,” she said. It was exactly what Lisa needed to hear. “That shifted me to thinking that I had a business rather than just running classes,” she says. “It was a big shift.”
The Sleep Better Community CIC exists because poor sleep is a public health issue that rarely gets the attention it deserves. Lisa’s classes are open to everyone, all ages, no prerequisites. She meets people where they are, helps them understand their relationship with sleep, and gives them practical tools to change it. The sessions have been delivered in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, a deliberate choice that speaks to the communities she is trying to reach.
Almost 100 people attended her sessions over six months, up to 75% of whom identified as Black or mixed heritage
The Lambeth Council Communities Connections Grant gave Lisa the platform to prove what she already knew. Almost 100 people attended her sessions over six months, up to 75% of whom identified as Black or mixed heritage. She built relationships with healthcare providers and community groups across North Lambeth, secured a contract with a GP practice in Stockwell, and partnered with SLaM NHS. Three volunteers joined her along the way. What started as classes had become a model.
Getting there was not straightforward. Alongside the grant came everything that goes with it: policies, legal structures, EDI data collection, evaluation forms, quarterly monitoring, invoicing. Lisa built all of it. She also won a place on the School for Social Entrepreneurs start-up programme, where she deepened her understanding of what running a social enterprise requires and found a peer network she still draws on.
“A mix of joy and overwhelmed”
Her mentor through the Trampoline programme, Sophie Cottrell, helped her find the confidence to make decisions and the discipline to manage time against budget. “She helped me find confidence and navigate decision making,” Lisa says.
And through all of it, life kept going. Lisa relocated to Hull to be closer to her daughter, who had her first baby. The past eighteen months have meant commuting to London, travelling to Manchester for in-person sessions, managing a house move, and supporting a new mother, all while building a social enterprise from the ground up. “A mix of joy and overwhelmed” she says. She kept going anyway.
The Sleep Better Community CIC is now operational, contracted, and growing. Lisa came to Trampoline with an idea she believed in. She left with the clarity, the confidence, and the tools to build it into something real.
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