Comeback Coach

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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 she’s keeping imposter feelings at bay. A coach has been key to changing the unrealistic expectations she has of herself. She constantly reminds herself to be patient; that it’s OK to ask lots of questions and that it will take time to get up to speed again. 

Torey is a Senior people engagement consultant at Orbit, a not-for-profit housebuilder.

This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.

BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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 spend more time with her child and wants to continue to use her problem-solving skills and creativity to help others.

This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.

BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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:

1. When there’s a choice to back yourself or not, let’s choose to back ourselves. 
2. Sometimes it’s in your own head that colleagues will think you won’t want to keep progressing when you’ve had a baby.
3. Line managers – ask your returning colleague for input and their opinion because it really stokes feelings of credibility.
4. Don’t compare yourself to others “This is my situation and this is what makes me tick.”
5. Put things in perspective. Try to find the fun in everything, have a hobby that’s a release from the daily grind and back yourself. Liz’s top tip (3 in 1!)

 BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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 the stress of trying to deliver professionally whilst looking after her family’s and her own wellbeing.

In this COACH episode we explore how Rosie can get through the acute period of stress she’s in at the moment and how she can help herself longer term.

This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.

BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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 authorities to protect the character of landscapes, built environments and important views. She’s often the lone woman in meetings with master planners, transport consultants, drainage engineers and ecologists. She has two children age 6 and 2 and says she’s married to a wonderful man who’s massively supportive of her career who has stepped back from his own to allow Wendy to focus on hers. 

It’s a really honest conversation about how out of control she felt when she first went back to work and why she decided to see a therapist.

I hope it’s useful.

BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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 factors and bi-polar disorder.
• How other cultures look after new mothers.

GUESTS:

Anna Ceesay: Journalist and founder of Motherdom.co.uk, the first UK online media platform to address issues of maternal mental health. Anna experienced pre-natal depression at eight months pregnant.

Mia Scotland: Perinatal clinical psychologist, doula, author of Birth Shock & Why Post Natal Depression Matters.

Evie Canavan: Coordinator of UK Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week for Perinatal Mental Health Partnership and postpartum psychosis survivor.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.

BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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 the early weeks back from leave:

1.  The importance of taking the time to understand what’s changed where you work
2.  Stakeholder mapping
3.  How to rebuild relationships
4.  The power of seeing yourself as a fresh pair of eyes
5.  How to handle the wobbles induced by a manager telling you he thinks you’re still a bit lost. 

This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.

BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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 his own. We’re talking at a point when Laura feels there’s a lot to do and that she hasn’t quite got the focus she’d like.

Are you away from work? There are free goodies to support your return over on comebackcommunity.co.uk where you’ll also find a blog post with Laura’s stunning visuals about her goals and how she’s going to get there plus an update on what Laura's done since the coaching conversation.

This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.

BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast.
  
  
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
  
  
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
  
  
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
  
  
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
  
  
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

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 being clear on your values can help guide career decision-making and bring fulfilment at work and at home. If you’re curious about your values and want to get clearer on your purpose I can recommend the free values in action survey that was created by the grandfather of positive psychology, Professor Martin Seligman.


BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:

• Twitter: @ComebackCommUK – talk to me, send me your questions, let me know about your return to work experience and what you think of the podcast
• Instagram: @comebackcommuk
• www.comebackcommunity.co.uk
• Comeback Conversations - FREE, monthly, online problem-solving sessions with Jessica and special guest.
• Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers
• If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.