Mike Lacey-Smith is making the most of lockdown

Anyone meeting Mike Lacey-Smith for the first time would immediately peg him as a biker.

He has the mandatory tattoos and piercings and favours black clothing and either a leather or denim jacket. They would be correct. Lacey-Smith is the national vice-president of the motorbike club Sons of Jo’burg, but there is so much more to the man than meets the eye.

He has done a lot in his 57 years. He has been a school teacher (English and Guidance at Greenside High School), got his black belt in karate, completed a Masters degree and became a practising counselling psychologist, beaten alcoholism and been married three times, most recently to Corrinne in November last year.

“I have been consulting for the past 24 years,” said Lacey-Smith.

Mike Lacey-Smith poses for a picture outside his home in Blairgowrie, 16 September 2020. He recently wrote a book called ‘After the pause’ on dealing with life after lockdown. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

“I was part of employee assistance programmes at Anglo American, Nike and MTN. About seven years ago I went into full-time corporate training and change management.

“I run a large number of workshops dealing with what people call ‘soft skills’, but what I call critical skills – emotional intelligence, negotiation skills, leadership skills, communication skills, conflict management, and so on. I also do project management training and am quite involved in the construction industry.

“I have been blessed to have worked with more than 250 companies in this country, across all industries – finance, IT, transport, clothing and mining. I have also trained in 14 different countries. I have worked with eight government departments and many government ministries, both here and abroad.”

Lacey-Smith’s latest achievement is a book titled Life after the Pause, which deals with handling the lockdown due to Covid-19. “We got put into lockdown and, being a facilitator, everything got shut down. Being separated from people made it difficult for me to do my training, although I did do a bit electronically,” he said.

“Just before lockdown was announced, Corrinne and I managed to fly back to Joburg on the last plane from Port Elizabeth, where I was doing some training. Three days into lockdown she suggested I write a book about this unprecedented time and she came up with the title.

“We brainstormed five pages and created an acronym out of the ‘pause’, which stands for prepare, accept, understand, solidarity and engage. That’s essentially the process we need to go through. “It centres around Covid-19 – which I call the biological virus. I call it that because it has spawned other viruses – the alienation virus, the social virus, the identity virus, the emotional virus and the financial virus.

“It is divided into three tranches – pre-virus, or the life we knew; the pause, which is now; and post virus, which is when they have found vaccines. Each chapter also has a section for leaders to improve their leadership skills.”

Mike Lacey-Smith poses for a picture outside his home in Blairgowrie, 16 September 2020. He recently wrote a book called ‘After the pause’ on dealing with life after lockdown. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

Lacey-Smith has tapped into his own life experiences, and his experiences as a counsellor and facilitator, to formulate a recipe to make what people are currently experiencing easier to stomach.

“I describe the pause as one elongated, agonising moment in which the world changed forever. Everything I’ve learnt as a psychologist is in the book. The world at the moment is in grief for the life we knew. I have dug very deep into human emotions as they relate to this period, and how to start to process them,” he said.

“There are so many damaged people who don’t actually comprehend what they have been through. Think about the anxiety and the stress. More people have died from stress-related illnesses than from Covid-19.

“The book looks at what we can do as individuals to create positivity in what seems to be a dark space.”

The lockdowns and the consequences thereof have had a profound effect on many, and facing up to and dealing with circumstances is not always easy.

“The book helps people restore an element of balance in their lives, despite the fact that we are living in trying times. It guides people to deal with and manage their emotions in a healthy way,” said Lacey-Smith.

“Writing it was difficult, but it was cathartic because, as I was writing, I realised I was living my emotions by expressing them.”

Mike Lacey-Smith with his wife Corrinne pose for a picture outside their home in Blairgowrie, 16 September 2020. Lacey- Smith recently wrote a book called ‘After the pause’ on dealing with life after lockdown. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

Apart from his work, which he “loves”, Lacey-Smith’s other passions in life are Corrinne and son Christopher, biking, religion and Liverpool.

“I’m part of the Rainbow Biker Foundation, which is an NPO, and what we did was raise money during the lockdown to help out families in the biking community who had no jobs and no food as a result of the restrictions,” he said about on one of numerous charitable causes he has supported.

He is “blessed, blessed, blessed” to be married to Corrinne, who he says keeps him grounded. “We both have our deep faith, we both play guitar, we are both bikers and we both like to help people. I say it’s a match made in heaven,” he said.

“My experiences have taught me well and I am now happy with my life. How could I not be? In the past 12 months, I married the woman of my dreams and Liverpool won the English Premier League.

“I’ve finally found a measure of balance in my life.”

Lacey-Smith’s book is available at www.amazon.com/dp/B08GCV22QC#

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