Surprise! My Bijou Trauma Therapy Business Was Already Carbon Neutral

Actually more than carbon neutral - carbon negative!

Dr. Sharryn, Founder of CaramoCare

I’ll be honest—when I started looking into carbon tracking, I was expecting to find a long list of environmental sins I wasn't too proud of.

Car miles. Dog treats in plastic—that one dodgy printer cartridge.

After crunching the numbers, scouring through receipts, and filling in yet another cheerful spreadsheet… something weird happened.

CaramoCare was already carbon neutral!

Not because I’d set out to be. Not because I’d paid for an offsetting badge. However, because of how I run my business, intentionally and with principle. I started paying a small monthly amount to Carma Earth several years ago, thinking it was a tiny contribution. I never really shouted about it much. It turns out the small things are sometimes actually the big things.

Granted, CaramoCare is a very low environmental usage business anyway.

Here's how the numbers stacked up:

• I drive under 2,000 miles a year for work (mainly for NHS projects or events).

• My car’s already bought, well-maintained, and used like a taxi for trauma (just with more coffee and fewer complaints).

• I use 100% renewable energy at home and in the office.

• I source food for events and training from Too Good To Go and The Company Shop—saving surplus food from landfill.

• I bought crockery seconds by weight from the Mondego Outlet. (Plates may not always match, but neither do my socks. It’s fine.)

• My tech is often refurbished and reused, and I donate end-of-life kit to digital inclusion charities.

And perhaps most importantly: I don’t fly for work. Clients can fly me in. I try to keep it rare, essential, and never just for optics.

I didn’t plan to be carbon neutral.

I did plan to run a business that reflects what I care about: Reducing waste. Fighting burnout. Healing harm without creating new kinds.

Because trauma therapy shouldn’t come with a planetary hangover, and it turns out, when you build slowly, deliberately, and with a bit of ethical stubbornness, you get results without even realising it.

This isn’t about perfection.

I still use some paper. I still boil the kettle twice sometimes because I forget I boiled it the first time.

But if a solo practice like CaramoCare—just me, a big heart, and a half-decent kettle—can be carbon neutral, it means the bar might be a bit lower than you think.

You don’t need a sustainability department. You just need to give a damn, and keep asking:

“Is there a better way to do this?”

Turns out, I’ve been answering that question all along. I was just too dumb to see it.

And now I can say, with full integrity: CaramoCare heals people and respects the planet.

Not a bad legacy for a little business with big dreams,

VBW

Sharryn