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.

Ask me a Q

Emma is a solicitor in a top 20 law firm who’s keen to progress her career after maternity leave, raise her visibility and still have time for her two young boys and husband. In this COACH episode Emma and Jessica explore tactics for making those things happen. Spoiler: they come up with a doable plan that doesn’t involve magic-ing up 48 hours in a day.

Are you on extended leave from work? Preparing for leave? Or recently returned? Find free goodies to support your return over on www.comebackcommunity.co.uk.

What did you think of the episode? Got a question about returning to work? Chat to Jessica on Twitter @ComebackCommUK. Also find us on Instagram @ComebackCommUK.

If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website.

Season 1 sponsor is Rayden Solicitors

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

The conversation is with Rachel Jackson, previously of HP and Cisco where she worked in technology sales for 20 years and also sat as Vice Chair on the Inclusion Board and led the UK Back to Business employee resource group. 

“Build your support squad before you go back to work; ask for help before you’re at breaking point and establish a really good self care routine,” are just three of the cracking pieces of advice Rachel says she’d put in her playbook for how to navigate the early months returning to work from extended leave.  

Rachel had two maternity leaves during her time at Cisco, returning after her second child in 2019. She recently took the decision to step out of her career to run with her deep interest in the world of inclusion. She now runs her own business, A Different Me, which aims to positively impact the lives of working mothers in corporate organisations.  As you’ll hear Rachel can remember her time returning to work as if it were yesterday and she’s got a series of cracking tips for how to handle the early months back at work.

RESOURCES FLAGGED IN EPISODE:

• A Different Me, Rachel Jackson’s business
• Rachel on Insta
•  Rayden Solicitors - season 1 sponsor - Times 200 family law firm
• How to Own the Room podcast with Viv Groskop

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

Chloe is a PR professional who feels in limbo having come back from one maternity leave and knowing she’s going to be going away again in six month’s time. She’s come back to work that leaves her feeling unmotivated and out of control. Our conversation focusses on what Chloe wants from the next six months and how to make it happen. We talk about three key themes:

1.       Recognition

2.       Promotion

3.       Progression
 
Our season 1 sponsor is Rayden Solicitors.

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

“Imposter feelings can be where your strengths lie,” says Caroline Flanagan. Caroline talks about coping with constant low-level anxiety and how she handled imposter feelings when she returned to work after her first maternity leave to a U.S. law firm - where she was the only female lawyer with a baby. 

RESOURCES FLAGGED IN EPISODE:

• Baby Proof Your Career by Caroline Flanagan 
•  Rayden Solicitors - season 1 sponsor - Times 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.