Comeback Coach

Ask me a Q My guest today is Danielle, the Head of Master Planning and Landscape at a multi-disciplinary property firm. She started a phased return to work when her baby was 8 months old and she’s now been back four months. We’re talking about the path to partner and the support she’d like as she makes that transition. As you’re listening, if you’ve got a question or want to tell me about your ret...

Ask me a Q My guest today is Cheney Hamilton, founder of Find Your Flex, the flexible job site that’s on a mission to create a better work culture for future generations. It was developed off the back of her 16 years employment in recruitment advertising, which came to an end after she had her second daughter.  She’s married to Liam and they have three children who are 6, 4 and 2. Their eldest chi...

Ask me a Q My guest today is Deborah, a lawyer who specialises in inheritance and trust disputes. We’re talking when Deborah has been back at work from maternity leave a few months and she’s feeling that the world of work is very different to how it was before she went on leave. She wants to get a sense of control and find time for herself. HOW WAS YOUR RETURN TO WORK? Could your return to work ha...

Ask me a Q 54,000 women a year are forced out of their jobs due to pregnancy or for taking maternity leave and 77% have encountered some form of discrimination in the workplace. Those stats are lifted from the back of the brilliant book “Pregnant Then Screwed: The Truth about the Motherhood Penalty and how to fix it” by my guest Joeli Brearley . It’s not right, it’s not OK and in many ways I hope...

Ask me a Q My guest today is Katy, a marketing professional who’s been back at work from her second parental leave for 18 months. She returned during the pandemic to a wholesale restructuring of the marketing team which led to her heading for redundancy. However, two weeks before she was due to leave, role that was perfect for her came up and so she stayed – but it’s only for a year. Our conversat...

Ask me a Q My guest today is Claire Garwood, a civil servant at the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency. She went through four rounds of IVF and two miscarriages before conceiving her now three year old twins.  She went through so much to get where she is today and I think you’re going to find this encouraging and heart warming especially if you’re going through IVF or you’ve experienced mi...

Ask me a Q Alex is looking to re-engage with the working world after a four year career break raising two children. We’re talking when Alex is four months away from her son starting nursery and as you’ll hear, she doesn’t have a career path to pick up on and she’s questioning whether now is the time to turn her hobby into a business rather than try to return to employment. . . THINGS REFERENCED IN...

Ask me a Q Rachael is a seasoned HR professional who started her career in in-house recruitment and spent much of her 15 year HR career partnering businesses and connecting teams including for a luxury floral company. She finished her corporate HR days in a cyber security growth company as an HR Business Partner covering EMEA and beyond and this is where we pick up the return to work story. . . HO...

Ask me a Q Katie is an HR professional with over a decade of experience in financial services who’s making a move into a different role of which she has no experience. She’s returning to work after her second maternity leave into a new role that’s never been done before – no ‘playbook’ and no one to have a handover with. Our conversation takes place two weeks before her start date. I mentioned an...

Ask me a Q Amanda Newman is a senior manager at Accenture and mother of four. She’s also the woman behind The Career Mum community, which has a global membership of over 5000 people. Amanda had all of her children whilst she was at Shell, where she held various project manager roles before doing a brief stint at Microsoft and then moving to Accenture. Her youngest are five year old twins and in th...

Ask me a Q Sara is an Associate Director at a recruitment firm where she manages a team of Consultants and is the lead personal contact on over 40 client accounts. When she returned to work after having her first baby she discovered that the career she had found so energising and rewarding, was no longer a good fit and that her professional achievements no longer felt like success. Sara’s currentl...

Ask me a Q Rachel and Hannah AKA "The Job Share Pair" worked their way up through the corporate ranks to HR Director level. They were both – and still are – really committed, motivated, determined women, passionate about work and not wanting to take a step back.  Their first babies were born six days apart and they began job sharing when they returned from maternity leave and really foun...

Ask me a Q Emily is a partner in a small law firm who’s returned to work after her second maternity leave. She’s been back six months and her confidence has taken a significant knock not least due to returning remotely. She’s really missed the ‘sounding board’ type conversations she enjoyed with colleagues when she returned to work the first time. HOW WAS YOUR RETURN TO WORK? Could your return to...

Ask me a Q Ria Ingleby made a mindful return to work after cancer treatment to her job at Headspace. We discuss: Characteristics of a  mindful return 'Gliding in' not 'hitting the ground running' Self-compassion Being kind and gentle The power of journaling or 'free writing' For the resources and links mentioned in the episode visit: HOW WAS YOUR RETURN TO WORK? Could...

Ask me a Q The coaching conversation is with Julia,  a landscape architect who was furloughed after maternity leave with her second child and then made redundant. We’re talking just a few weeks into Julia setting up her own practice when she says she’s riding an emotional rollercoaster and struggling with the idea of business development.  We talk about: structuring her time focusing on one thing...

Ask me a Q Torey’s tale of IVF and moving jobs to lessen her stress and help their chances of success might be familiar to you. I talked to Torey at the start of her fourth week back after maternity leave to her role as a senior people engagement consultant at Orbit, a not-for-profit housebuilder.  Torey talks about how she started to rebuild her confidence before she started back at work and how...

Ask me a Q You’re feeling disconnected from the job you once loved then you’re made redundant after two months being back at work after maternity leave. In this COACH episode coaching psychologist Jessica Chivers works with Debora, an interior architect, who feels she’s lost her sense of purpose and says “I’ve completely changed my worldview since having my daughter.” She craves flexibility to spe...

Ask me a Q My guest today is Liz Twiney who works for an asset management firm in London.  We’re talking when Liz is 3 months back from her first maternity leave and we cover rebuilding credibility, what to do when you can’t have traditional KIT days, guilt because you love your job and how to invite people for a catch up when you’re working remotely. Five takeaways from the conversation with Liz:...

Ask me a Q Stressed, tired and determined to meet the work demands and expectations she’s set herself, Rosie is an academic with two young children and additional caring responsibilities She works 4 days a week for a university, where she's been for 9 years. The pandemic has significantly increased her caring responsibilities due to supporting family members and she’s struggled at times with...

Ask me a Q WARNING: This episode includes very naughty words. Wendy found herself feeling out of control, crying at work and sitting in a mental health seminar at work thinking “I’m not OK.” Wendy Lancaster is a landscape planner and mother of two who experienced crippling levels of anxiety when she returned to work after her second maternity leave. Wendy works with developers and local authoritie...

Ask me a Q For all the references and resources Eve, Anna & Mia mention see the Maternal Mental Health page on our website. SPECIAL EPISODE for Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 exploring: Pre-natal depression. What England’s new maternal mental health hubs should look like. Doulas – who are they, why use one and how to choose her? Post-partum psychosis – what is it? Psychosis, risk f...

Ask me a Q Fiona is an ambitious teacher on maternity leave yearning to give and do more professionally but who also wants to dedicate a large proportion of time to her children. In this COACH episode we explore what Fiona really wants, ways she could achieve it, constraints and come up with a way of looking at her situation which changes everything. This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors...

Ask me a Q When your confidence is growing and you feel like you’re on an upward trajectory and then, among glowing feedback, your manager tells you he thinks you’re still a bit lost. How do you handle that?  In this episode we hear from Valeria, an associate director at one of the world’s best known management consultancies, who’s four months back from maternity leave.  We talk about how to spend...

Ask me a Q You’ve been furloughed for five months then made redundant from a job you love. In this COACH episode coaching psychologist Jessica Chivers works with Laura Gelder-Robertson, an incredibly smart innovation strategist who’s now looking to rekindle her own innovation consultancy in the wake of unemployment.  Laura’s a mother of two young children and married to a man with a new big job of...

Ask me a Q Claire Thomas, one very customer-focussed senior director of sales at the technology company, Hitachi Vantara. She was professional services sales woman of the year 2018 - a wonderful accolade to take with her as she went on maternity leave. Read her LinkedIn article about returning to work. Claire talked so thoughtfully about purpose and values. As a coaching psychologist I know how be...