Comeback Coach

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest coachee today is Emilia, which isn't her real name. She's been an avid listener of the podcast and got in touch about having a coaching session to support her in making a lateral move in a large multinational healthcare company. Not long after we arranged to speak she e-mailed to say her line manager was going to be leaving and could we talk about how she navigates shifting from peer to boss in her current team on an interim boss.There was so much ground we could have covered and the 45 minutes whizzed by. Emilia has got several significant professional transitions running in parallel which could be overwhelming if she expects too much of herself at once. She's dealing with the fallout from an authoritarian boss; she's navigating moving from being a peer to being the boss, all the time knowing it might be temporary; she's also needing to be considered about how she enters her new peer group and lastly she's attempting to limit the impact the new role will have on her family. It's a lot of effort, a lot of thinking and all on top of delivering the things she previously delivered – with a smaller team. If I were the HR Business Partner of Emilia's part of the business I would be talking to her about sponsoring executive coaching to support her over the next 6-9 months.As ever I hope you get something useful from eavesdropping on this one time coaching conversation. It's recorded in one take so what you hear is exactly how the conversation played out.I referenced an article I wrote titled Promoted into a new peer group? 5 actions to settle quickly.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, today I'm talking to Danielle Wallington who lives in St Albans, the place I've called home for 23 years. Danielle was an events manager who had her flexible working request turned down after maternity leave with her first son. From that setback came her first business “Milk & Fizz” where she used to her events management skills to bring mothers together for a different type of gathering to what was on offer at the time. She's now the founder of Flock Here – a social networking app that connects women who work from home to places to work from and people to work with. She's been through some massive setbacks in the business which is why I wanted to bring you this conversation. Self-employment isn't an easy choice and it's not for everyone and this is a chat you're going to get a lot from if you work for yourself and have small children or if you're wondering about self-employment as an option; if you're a woman working in events or if you're needing to hear a tale of grit to boost your own motivation. If you're a long time listener you'll know that COMEBACK COACH is part of a broader package of support: the Comeback Community employee experience. It's a blend of online resources, coaching, live expert Q&As, career development tools and line manager support that we deliver in many large and small organisations that who want to support their returning colleagues and get them feeling comfortable back in their roles as smoothly and swiftly as possible. Find out more and help us start a conversation with your HR team at www.comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce.REFERENCES Flock HereDanielle on LinkedInKings Global Institute for Women's Leadership eventsGender differences in the association between unpaid labour and mental health in employed adults: a systematic reviewHow I built this podcast with Guy RazMORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest today is 53 year old journalist Samantha Downes, who last year took up the post of senior news reporter at The Express after many years working freelance. She joined The Express in November after specialising in pensions and investment journalism as an investigative reporter for both trade and national publications including the Financial Times, City AM, and Pensions Expert. She's a mother of two teenage girls and writes about midlife, parenting and money issues for her own substack. She's written two books and has another underway and is also a financial commentator on TV and radio. We met a couple of months ago at the House of Lords at a breakfast hosted by another podcast guest, Baroness Helena Morrissey – episode 102 – to launch a report about the gender ISA gap.I think you'll love Samantha's honesty about returning to employment and her raw self-reflections about ambition. I really could have listened to her for much longer than we had time for and at the end of the episode I share my thoughts on why and how mothers careers come in and out of bloom – and it's not to do with the age of their children.ReferencesThe power of small wins – HBR article by Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer. Visualisation podcast episode with Maya Raichoora.ADHD & Hormones - episode 207 of The ADHD Women's Wellbeing podcast with Kate Moryousef.Danna Greenberg paper - Identity and the Transition to Motherhood: Navigating Existing, Temporary, and Anticipatory Identities. MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I wonder whether you've seen the Netflix hit Buying London with Daniel Daggers and his team of agents at his property firm DDRE? It's a lot of fun and very glamorous and my guest today is one of the team who you won't have seen on screen. I met Serge Cowan on a flight to Nice last September when he was going out to look at a property in Monaco and we got into a deep conversation about his life, including his four children. Serge is a global real estate advisor at DDRE who has sold properties in 27 locations and deals with DDREs international sales. Serge's 16 year old daughter Emily makes an occasional entertaining double act with him on Instagram and there's a link in the show notes.In 2002 Serge set up a property business which he told me he felt like he was married to. His wife worked with him too and alongside their professional life they spent five years trying to have a child. In 2007 along came baby Maddie who was born with cerebral palsy who very sadly passed away in 2017. Maddie's early years also coincided with the recession of 2009-2012 which hammered the business Serge had built. By 2018, a year after Maddie's death he realised the marriage wasn't right and their divorced was finalised in 2024.You're going to hear us talk about:A father's perspective of the strain and emotional difficulty of raising a profoundly disabled child.Battling the SEN system and local education authority for a child with cerebral palsy.His marriage coming to an end and walking away from the business he'd builtSerge's experience of ‘chronic anxiety' Negotiating with French estate agentsI hope you enjoy and extract something useful from my chat with Serge.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, today I'm talking to Baroness Helena Morrissey, ex CEO of Newton Asset Management, founder of the 30% Club and founding ambassador of AJ Bell's Money Matters campaign to help women feel good about investing. She's also the mother of nine children and author of A Good Time to Be a Girl.We talk about how to ask for a promotion and the power of holding silence when you do.The gender ISA gap, pensions and investing for children.Helena's experience of returning to work after nine maternity leaves.The psychology of what we wear at work. Helena's top tips for returning to work after a break.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, today I'm talking to Francesca Woodhouse who is the MD of UK Workplace Advisory at Edelman and mother of four children. She works full time and is married to Lewis who also works full time as a Head of Communications. You're going to hear Francesca talk about: The need to proactively managing your career.Moving between freelancing and employment.Key habits that support working full time and caring for four children.The difference having a true partner at home makes to your life.Francesca's experience of being a disgruntled middle manager.Before we glide into the conversation with Francesca, three thank yous to listeners who've left a review of COMEBACK COACH on Apple Podcasts since the last episode:Simone wrote: “Wonderful podcast on the realities of corporate career life. Always get great inspiration and some actionable tips to try out.”Lizi left this review: “I really enjoy listening to the podcast and hearing how other women manage the career and family juggle but mainly I just love hearing Jesica's take on the world. It's impossible not to feel uplifted, energised and inspired listening to her.”And thank you to Geeko1003 who says: Jessica expertly navigates the emotional and performance issues for everyone at work. The tools, tips, and insights help to create an inclusive workplace.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, in this episode we go beyond the comeback and discuss the habits, resources, ways of working and ways of thinking that help support career development when you have young children.We recorded this episode in front of a live audience at Arcadis, London - one of our treasured clients.My guests are all professional women who have 13 children between them and they've all previously been on the podcast. They were tremendously candid for which I am truly grateful.Emmie Faust – exited founder, investor and founder of Female Founders Rise. Past coachee of Jessica. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 52.Amanda Newman – Accenture. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 21.Rachel Maguire – Earl Kendrick. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 19.Liz Twiney – BlackRock. Past coachee of Jessica. COMEBACK COACH past podcast guest episode 13.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Brights Minds, I've been thinking a lot about displays of emotions at work because of the increasing number of women I've been coaching over the last 12 months who've described being taken by surprise by their tears and worrying about the implications. It tuns out there's some pretty complex psychology at play when it comes to how crying at work can potentially affect our reputation.I'm Jessica Chivers, a psychologist and executive coach. For the last 20 years I've been coaching leaders, senior professionals and high potential individual contributors during career transitions and challenging times. The work always involves an element of increasing their understanding of themselves and I'll often bring in evidenced-based insights from the world of psychology and related disciplines to help with that ('psychoeducation').In this episode I cover:My new comeback coaching research published by the British Psychological Society.Why we cry (including some gender differences). [05:41]What's been happening for the women I've been coaching who have been crying at work. [08:19]What co-workers are likely to be thinking when they see a colleague cry (where I explain ‘cognitive scripts' and ‘attribution theory') [11:06]What the research tells us is the best thing to do to mitigate any negative downsides of crying at work. [18:30]What managers need to do when they see a team member cry (where I explain some nasty gender biases) [22:11]What repeated crying at work might be telling you. [25:37]REFERENCESBecker, W., Conroy, S., Djurdjevic, E. & Gross, M. (2018). Crying is in the eyes of the beholder: an attribution theory framework of crying at work. Emotion Review, 10(2), 125-137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073917706766Elsbach, K.D. and Bechky, B.A (2018). How observers assess women who cry in professional work contexts. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(2), 127-154. Gelstein, S. et al (2011) Human tears contain a chemosignal. Science, 331, 226-230 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1198331Malle, B. F. (2006). The actor-observer asymmetry in attribution: A (surprising) meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 895-919. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.895Tiedens, L.Z. (2001). Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: The effect of negative emotion expressions on social status conferral. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1): 86-94.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest coachee today is Amber (not her real name), a past coachee of mine who I worked with years and years ago and is now on the brink of making a second career change. She wanted to have a space to think about how to navigate relationships with different organisations that she's in parallel recruitment processes with. Over the years I've had the pleasure of working with coachees years down the line after their first coaching engagement and it's so wonderful to see how they've changed and to reconnect.If you would like to have a (free) one-time coaching conversation with me that we will record and share as an episode of COMEBACK COACH, take a look here. Link to tickets for the LIVE-IN-REAL-LIFE GATHERING for the recording of episode 100: BEYOND THE COMEBACK - Raising your career through the Primary School years (26/2/25). MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I am really happy to be back with a very vibrant episode to kick off season eight where Marketing Director Caroline Smith from the toy shop, The Entertainer talk about:Making sideways and strategic ‘downward' career moves.Finding unexpected fresh drive and ambition after maternity leave.Job search challenges and strategies.Being the wildcard candidate.Nourishing your professional network.Using LinkedIn to showcase your expertise.Discipline and structure during the job-search journey.Caroline's advice for making a comeback.>>>> If you're listening before 19th February 2025 you're in time to get a ticket for the LIVE recording of episode 100: "BEYOND THE COMEBACK: Raising your career through the Primary School Years" in London on 26/2/25.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, keen eyes might notice that this episode is out a day earlier than usual. I've chosen to release this episode of Tuesday 3rd December to tie-in with International Day of Person's with a Disability. And it feels fitting to have saved this episode to the last in the current season on COMEBACK COACH because we're talking about the power of a sabbatical to refresh, re-energise and have a bit of a rest, which I hope you'll get later in the month. My guest today is Beth Wooller, a Strategic Sourcing Manager at Sainsbury's Head Office where she's also the founder and Chair of Enable, the first ever Sainsbury's Disability Network. Beth started her career as a Management Consultant at Deloitte, having graduated from Cambridge University and has a lifetime of experience living and working with a hearing loss. She is dedicated to helping people with disabilities and differences excel and focuses on raising awareness, increasing confidence and simplifying workplace processes to better support people with disabilities. Beth has recently been listed as one of the most influential disabled people in the UK in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100. 11 years into her career and feeling burned out, Beth took a sabbatical from her corporate role to reset, continue her disability work, and gain her professional qualification in Interior Design with the National Design Academy. MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds,This is the penultimate episode of season seven of COMEBACK COACH and it's inspired by my 16 year old daughter Artemis, who wants to become a pilot. This is something she decided upon at the start of the year and since then I have had many happy drives around the M25 to Heathrow airport to watch A380 planes come in and take off this year. Plane spotting is actually a lot of fun.My guest today is Rebecca Andrews is a pilot and a few months ago she returned to the flight deck after her second maternity leave. We've been chatting over WhatsApp for about six months and we recorded two separate chats. In the first part you're going to get to hear how Rebecca was feeling about returning to the air before she started her re-induction training in the simulator. Then in the second chat you'll find out how she's feeling now that she's back at work and into the reality of working parenthood and managing two pilot schedules alongside two little children. Yes, she's married to a pilot.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my conversation today is with Laura Scougall, Head of ITV Academy. Knowing Laura is a chatty, confident person we decided to make it a freeform conversation without any pre-agreed questions so it's a bit of a random episode that covers a lot of ground.We talked about:How to get back to sleep after being up with a baby or an 18 year old in my case.Coping with being placed at risk of redundancy and dragged out of your maternity bubble to think about finding another job.Not introducing yourself in meetings with an apology.Why I walk around my garden barefoot when I first wake up.The daily additional stress of being a working parent of a little boy with autism.Being totally open at work about what's going on at home.Having the confidence to ask colleagues to reschedule a meeting that you can't make last minute.Being generous with positive feedback.Laura's wobbly moments and tips for coming back to work after maternity leave which includes leaning into the chaos.I hope you get plenty from it and if you do, please would you leave a short review and a rating wherever you listen. Thank you so much.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest today is Sarah Banks from Arcadis, the global design and engineering company. Sarah has two little children and was promoted after both of her maternity leaves. We have a wide-ranging conversation including: Challenges and benefits of after work socialising.KIT days.Being the main earner in her family.Being surprised by feeling a drop in confidence.Worrying about not being able to do her job when she came back. The shadow board that Arcadis has put in place in the Places part of the business to bridge the generational gap between employees and the leadership team and avoid groupthink.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds. My guest today is  someone who wanted a platform to talk about her experience of continuing to work on and off during breast cancer treatment with the single goal of helping others find their way through this really difficult time. Tara Ferguson is an Associate Director within the People team of a medium sized bio-tech business. She's worked in a number of different sectors and types of business, in roles ranging from People Business Partner to Lead Coach to Employee Wellbeing Manager, in a career spanning over 20 years. She lives in Scotland with her husband Andy and teenage daughter Charlotte - enjoying cold water swimming, CrossFit, reading and time with family in her spare time.We talk about:Deciding not to walk away from work completely for the duration of her treatment.Coming back on a phased return at the end of last period of chemotherapy.What best in class line manager support looks and sounds like.The impact of a medically induced menopause.How businesses can hang onto women and turn the tide of the numbers of women walking away when they hit menopause.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I hope you're on good form and thank you for choosing to listen to this episode of Comeback Coach. Dan Hewitt is the Head of Talent Management and Development at Ocado, the UK online-only supermarket HQ-ed in Hertfordshire just down the road from me.When Dan came back from a few months of paternity leave he thought he was going to stay in a comfortable place professionally, not striving for the next job. This was so he could focus on family, but that was not to be and Dan moved into a bigger, stretch role.REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODESummary paper of Erik De Haan's meta-analysis of coaching using only randomised controlled trials.What Can We Know about the Effectiveness of Coaching? A Meta-Analysis Based Only on Randomized Controlled Trials MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, this episode is inspired by the previous where my guest, Ramona Aning from Ketchum, talked about how her CEO is open about family time and downtime.  I'm geeking out on "psychological job control" and "segmentation norms" which are talked about in a new paper in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology titled The competing influence of psychological job control on family-to-work conflict. As ever, there are practical takeaways from the episode which include the five questions bosses can ask in team meetings and 1:1s to ensure their people are getting the downtime they need.  The paper I refer to was published in 2023 and can be found here: https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joop.12426MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I am really happy to be back with a very vibrant episode to kick off season seven. We ended season six with an episode on the psychology of focus and attention and how to adapt your day when you wake up absolutely shattered. And you loved it and you told me so and I'm so thankful that you did because my brain runs on little drip-drip doses of positive feedback. Today I'm bringing you a conversation with Ramona Aning, a coachee of ours from Ketchum, the PR and marketing communications consultancy. She returned to her role as an account director after maternity leave earlier this year and we go into depth on:Holding boundaries at work, and how Ramona became adept at this.The signs Ramona spotted during the recruitment process for her role at Ketchum that told her it was going to be a place where she could be herself. How she found people to connect with on maternity leave via the Peanut app and how helpful those friendships have been as she returned to workPlus Ramona's wobbliest moment as she returned to work.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to HR - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I hope you're on good form and by the end of this episode got a better sense of how you can help yourself find focus, sustain your attention and experience traction. I'm Jessica Chivers, a coaching psychologist, author and developer of the Comeback Community employee experience, of which this podcast is a part.The idea for this episode has been stirring in mind for some time because focus is a frequent source of conversation with coachees who are returning to work from maternity leave with less time on their hands than they had pre-baby. If you're not a new parent or a parent at all I think you'll get plenty from listening to the psychology and my personal hacks that I'm going to share with you. REFERENCESFicca, G., Axelsson, J., Mollicone, D. J., Muto, V., & Vitiello, M. V. (2010). Naps, cognition and performance. Sleep medicine reviews, 14(4), 249-258.Leroy, s. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109 (2) 168-181: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597809000399MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, I'm inspired to bring you this episode as I've been invited to be part of a 'Human Library' at CIPD's Festival of Work where my title is "How to not burnout as a parent of a neurodiverse or challenge child." Journaling or 'free-writing' as a I call it has been one of my consistently useful coping tools, especially over the last two years, and I'll be talking about that.I'm talking you through the science of a very specific journaling protocol that has a very significant evidence base in the academic research literature. It was developed by Professor James Pennebaker in 1986.Here are the links I mention in the episode:Caremail: https://www.subscribepage.com/comebackcommunity Huberman Lab podcast 20/11/23 A Science-Supported Journaling Protocol to Improve Mental & Physical Health: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/a-science-supported-journaling-protocol-to-improve-mental-physical-health Professor James Pennebaker research: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/psychology/faculty/pennebak Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing (summary of research findings) by Baikie & Wilhelm (2018) published in Advances of Psychiatric Treatment:  https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F Therapist Uncensored podcast episode 225 with James Pennebaker: https://therapistuncensored.com/episodes/neuroscience-proven-writing-protocol-james-pennebaker-225/ Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GK5817W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, at the end of 2023 I read about a landmark legal victory for a former Avon Fire and Rescue Service employee, Sasha Acheson, who won her sex discrimination case against the organisation. Reading that piece got me curious about the experiences of female firefighters after they've notified their employer that they're pregnant; what it's like to have to shift from active frontline duty to something else and what it's like to return to an environment where you may not have a single colleague near you who understands what you've been through. My guest today is NOT that former employee but a Emma Young, a female firefighter who has a lot to say about what it's like to be a pregnant woman in the fire service. Emma has a 15 month old daughter and she's currently pregnant with her second, a pregnancy that she found out about just as she was returning from maternity leave.You're going to hear about:How Emma navigated the lack of maternity policy and the difference a good line manager can make in uncertain circumstances.Lack of knowledge in the fire service around the needs of a person who is put on modified duties.The impact of a disconnect between what organisations say they want to do to be inclusive and what happens in practice.And as ever, my guest's wobbliest moment as she returned to work, a high point and Emma's three top tips.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, my guest coachee today is Sabeha, a first time mother based in London who has returned to work for a Californian tech company. It's a conversation about the tension that exists within us when we want to give more to work and also be present at home - and the specific challenge of working for a US organisation who comes online as your working day is drawing to a close.In this coaching session we explore:How to experience more joy, not just “getting through it” as a working parent.Wanting to work more hours than you're able to.Discomfort and tension leaving work before you feel ready to, to be with your child(ren)Tensions with our partner about what time we go ‘on duty' caring for our child(ren)MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Yvette Bramley, a woman who describes herself as a full time mum and part time business psychologist. She works with the Quality Team at Lexxic, a specialist psychological consultancy and the focus of her role is ensuring the quality their delivery and reports through training, audits, spot checks and actioning client feedback. She proudly tole me after we'd chatted that was she was always a “weird” kid growing up and hopes she continues being the weird one. She also told me – and I quote:"Patience does not come naturally to me and I am a control “freak” but it works for my family. However, my daughter has taught me to be more relaxed and spontaneous. I no longer live life focusing on the next qualification or physical achievement. I now live to have fun and experience as much joy daily as possible".Yvette is my most energetic guest yet and you're going to hear about:Why KIT days are a brilliant thing to do when you're on maternity leave.Getting comfortable with changing your mind about career development activities you simply don't want to find the time and energy for now you're a working parent.Recognising how successful you already are and remembering to question self-talk that suggests otherwise. COMEBACK COACH is part of a broader package of support that we call the Comeback Community employee experience. It's a blend of online resources, coaching, live expert Q&As, career development tools and line manager support that we deliver in organisations such as ITV, Lily's Kitchen, GAM Investments, Federated Hermes, Veolia and more. Find out more and help us start a conversation with your HR team at www.comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

This short “JUST JESSICA EPISODE” is about managing rumination, how to keep healthy habits going when you're consumed by work and the psychology of mindful meditation. It's inspired by a particular coaching conversation I had one Tuesday a few weeks ago. I put these episodes together myself without the lovely Chris cleaning up bumps in the sound or adding in the swanky intro and outro and I hope you get something from it. If you do I'd love it if you shared it with someone else who you think might like it too.Click here for "DAILY CHECK-IN" tool you can download and print for your wellbeing.The meditation mantras I mentioned in this episode:Hummee Hum – The Other is you by Mirabai Cieba (12 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CFI0hslXv8Ramadasa by Satkirin Kaur Khalsa (12 mins)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVewRvqNrE The article I mentioned about meditation and the DMN on the Mindfulness Association's website: https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/science-of-mindfulness/meditation-and-the-default-mode-network/ MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, this is a very different episode to anything I've done before. Brian is a chap whose energy, openness and actions around supporting fathers I've admired on LinkedIn for quite some time. Throughout the time Brian and I have been in each others' orbits he's worked for Amazon as a Program Manager in Luxembourg, whilst also training to be a coach In June this year I spotted a very candid post from Brian about expecting to be made redundant so I got in touch to offer my condolences and to tell him how much I liked reading what he was writing about what he was anticipating and we started swapping voice notes. I do love a voice note!I asked Brian whether he'd be up for coming on the podcast later in the year when he'd made his comeback and then a thought occurred to me: why don't we document, through voice notes, what's happening for Brian on the run up to redundancy and what happens next. I do all of this with you in mind dear listener – I'm constantly thinking about how I can bring you ideas, insights and tips to make your comeback smoother, easier and more enjoyable. I'm also always wanting to bring you the hard stuff that people are going through and the emotions they're experiencing as a way to give you hope when you're going through similar struggles. At the end of the episode you're also going to hear from Dr Madeline Stevens who is the author of Strategic Redundancy Implementation: Re-Focus, Re-Organise and Re-Build. She knows a lot about how to help people through redundancy..MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Michaela Thomas, a clinical psychologist I've been really looking forward to chatting to because we've been batting voice notes back and forth for about a year and then I heard Michaela on a podcast I've been lapping up over the last 9 months (Kate Moryousef's ADHD WOMEN'S WELLBEING)  that was the galvanising stroke to get Michaela on. I originally wanted to have a chat with Michaela about how to keep partner/spousal relationships feeling good once you have a baby and go back to work and the pressure ramps up drawing upon her own lived experience as well as her professional insight. She's the author of a book called The Lasting Connection – which is about developing compassion for yourself and your partner - and has a podcast called Pause Purpose Play. I've since learned that Michaela also has a special interest in perfectionism and she has an ADHD brain and is starting to do more work in that area too. Given my recent diagnosis of ADHD and our growing interest in neurodiversity as a coaching team my mind I thought wow, let's get Michaela on to talk about her return to work and all of these things. So, you have an extra long episode today because there's so much I wanted to chat to her about. If you like what you hear from Michaela then you can find her on Instagram @the_thomas_connection and Facebook @TheThomasConnection.**Michaela is going to be joining me on Tuesday 21st May 2024 12 NOON for a live Q&A on HOW TO LIVE & WORK WELL WITH AN ANXIOUS MIND AND OTHER MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES. The Q&A is part of the Comeback Community employee experience programme and once our clients have had first dibs we open spare spots to all absolutely free**. ..MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Lianne Baker, Head of People & Culture at Enfuse who had surprise baby number three last year and we caught up at the end of her five month maternity leave. Lianne is an award-winning People professional with over 15 years' experience working within TV for Endemol, publishing for Condé Nast, recruitment, hospitality and now for Enfuse, a digital transformation management consultancy. Since joining Enfuse Group, she has been focused on culture and engagement, bringing in forward thinking and inclusive policies. Enfuse Group is recognised as a Great Place to Work, Top 5 Best Companies and best new Management Consultancy at the MCA Awards. Lianne has previously spoken up about the importance of flexible working to enable parents to parent as well as have a career in addition to writing various articles of managing IVF and Fertility treatment alongside work. You're going to hear about:How to have smooth harmonious relationships with family members who care for your children.Wanting to work during maternity leave and how to communicate that to your team.Tips for returning to a new role and/or a new organisation after a period of extended leave.Owning your decisions and tuning into what's right for you and your family.Knowing your worth and feeling good at work.And as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Ros Kwok, a woman I was introduced to after asking one of the wonderful Partners at our past podcast sponsor, Rayden Solicitors if she had a client who had had to return to work due to a change in financial circumstances following divorce. Thank you Emily Watson for coming up trumps in less than 24 hours! And you'll also hear from Emily at the end of the episode where we talk through several questions about divorce, spousal maintenance and arbitration.**LINK TO "MOTHERS WALK" on 8/3/24 for International Women's Day**Ros is originally from Singapore and came to study in the UK. She became a stay at home mum after she had children and when her youngest went to nursery she took a part time job in a nursery and after four years became a freelance photographer. When the divorce happened she was told to get a proper job, was forced to sell all of her photography equipment and then made 50 applications for jobs, and got only one interview. That interview was with John Lewis – I love JLP sooooo much – but even that didn't work out. Fast forward to today and Ros IS working for John Lewis and she's worked her way from an entry level role to being a fashion merchandiser and instagmmer for JLP. Today Ros is thriving and this episode talks about how she got there. I think many employers are recognising just how destabilising any big life can be for their people and divorce is right up there. If you're going through divorce or it's on your mind I'm sending you all the love because I know how hellish it can be. I'm a child of divorced parents and I have people around me going through divorce at the moment. To you all I send love and hope, more of which at the end of the episode.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Andrea Byrne, one of the faces of ITV News and a past coachee of mine.  She anchors the BAFTA award-winning daily news programme Wales at Six, as well as ITV's national bulletins. This includes ITV Weekend News, Lunchtime News, Evening News and News at Ten and Prince Harry is among the many high-profile names she has interviewed.Andrea also presents the current affairs programme Wales This Week; hosts her own fertility podcast ‘Making Babies'; and is a Tedx speaker. She has recently been nominated for several broadcast awards for her documentary work.She is an ambassador for ‘The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme' and a Non-Executive Director for Hockey Wales. Andrea is married to Wales and Lions legend Lee Byrne.  She is passionate about wellbeing and pioneered the introduction of Mental Health First Aiders in ITV's newsrooms.Away from the newsroom, she is a keen yogi, a novice stand-up paddle-boarder and a budding novelist!In this conversation with Andrea you're going to hear about:Remembering how good you are at your job before you start back.Why it's a good idea not to expect too much of yourself when you first return to work.It not being selfish or wrong to want to have time to yourself or not liking every moment of parenthood even when your child was very hard ‘won' as Andrea's daughter Jemima was.Pitching to be involved in projects and activities that are outside of your role.The time it takes to adjust to working parenthood.And a few random bits about the psychology of perfume and what wearing stretchy clothing does to our minds.We do also talk about baby loss and miscarriage towards the end where Andrea shares something harrowing that happened to her when she was about to do a very significant day of broadcasting.And as always you'll get to hear the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience as well as her three top tips for returning to work after a break.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, and welcome to the start of season six of COMEBACK COACH. I am so pleased to be back sharing stories and coaching sessions about returning to work and onward career development after a break. My guest today is Joanna Jacobs who took a career break straight after maternity leave from Vodafone. Prior to that she was living in Shanghai and working for Sainsburys, sussing out whether China would be a viable market for them and now she's the HR Director for UK Twinings Commercial. In between Vodafone and Twinings she experimented with a few things including the library assistant role (which wasn't for her!)If you are thinking about taking a career break or you're on one now you are in for an energising treat because this is a conversation that shows it IS possible to have a gratifying and stretching career after a significant career break.You're going to hear about:A useful way to think about your career break when you describe it to recruiters and potential employers.The power of experimentation and doing dramatically different work to what you used to do. How to set about finding a new role in the sector you were in before. Also Jo's wobbliest moment when she returned to work and her top tips for coming back from a career break.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds and welcome to another JUST JESSICA episode of COMEBACK COACH where I'm reflecting on three things that have been top of mind for me lately that I think could be useful to you too. I'm a coaching psychologist, author and founder of The Talent Keeper Specialists which is home to the Comeback Community employee experience of which this podcast is a part.A few weeks ago I went away for three days, two night by myself to my favourite hotel in Cornwall.  It's something I booked in September – when they were doing an offer - in anticipation of needing a break from home. None of the girlfriends I asked to go with me could commit and so I decided to book to go solo. And this solo trip brings together three things I wanted to mull over here:Knowing your needsThe power of a solo trip to develop your intuition How to focus on your career as well as your jobIn this episode I mentioned an article on Psychologytoday.com and our COMEBACK CONVERSATION live Q&A listings.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Phil Bush, a Credit Control Manager for Euromonitor International in London where he's worked for 17 years. He responsible for managing a department that collects unpaid debt for the business and minimises financial risk to the company. He lives in Brighton with his partner Jo and their 15 month old daughter Sadie. He's a runner who has been very keen to do the London marathon and finally this year got to do it after applying and being unsuccessful for the previous 8 years. He's also a community-minded man who volunteers for the charity Fairshare.We talk about:Why he took a sabbatical not Shared Parental Leave.How he supported his partner's return to work (to a new job).The difference having a supportive partner makes to a woman's return from maternity leave.Coping with hospitalised baby.What a 'supportive' employer looked like for Phil.Volunteering whilst on sabbatical.Feeling strange separating from family to go back to work after intense months together.Finding a new normal as a family.Deciding to have counselling to deal with the shock of an ill child.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Gemma Hill, a Heart FM radio presenter whose maternity leave was covered by non other than the formidable Anna Whitehouse AKA Mother Pukka but even still she says, maternity leave was still pretty terrifying. We talk about:Not being instantly delighted that you're pregnant3am worries about going on maternity leaveHaving a bl**dy brilliant maternity leave coverMiscarriageHow staying in touch with work can reduce anxiety about going backGemma started on air age 20 on stations around the Midlands and the North, before hanging up her headphones to pursue what she calls “a real job.” She was a national sales manager for a construction company for 6 years living in London with a stable job, a pension, maternity pay, but binned it off to chase the dream again when she was offered a job in Birmingham on the Free radio Breakfast show (for which she did her demo in Pat Sharp's towel cupboard.) After a couple of years she made her move to Heart, where she did the breakfast show across the west midlands for 3 years before moving to Drive. That's where she is today and where she was when she found she was having a (surprise) of a lock down baby. MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

My guest today is Andy Lancaster who took three months leave for planned eye and shoulder surgery from a job he loves at CIPD Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. We count CIPD among our clients and love working with them.Andy champions and leads the vision for innovative workplace learning and has been at the heart of CIPD's transformation to digital and self-directed learning, with its professional development opportunities now accessed in over 180 countries. He has more than 30 years' experience in learning and organizational development in a range of sectors and has a research Masters' degree in instructional design. He regularly speaks at conferences, writes, and contributes to research in evidence-based learning. His award-winning book “Driving Performance Through Learning” is published by Kogan Page and he is currently working on a new book on social collaborative learning called: “Organizational Learning Communities” which is due out in 2024.In this episode:How to prepare for leave as a leader of a big team.Why being vulnerable is good for us and the people we lead.Coping with brain fog and pain management.Three aspects of returning to work: the physical, the mental and the social.The unexpected good that can come out of sick leave.Why we shouldn't rush to pick up exactly the same job we had before we went on leave.The difference between being resilient and being a hero (and why none of us should be heros).MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Kerry Hickman, a past coachee of ours at Ramboll. Since qualifying as an Accountant at 21, she's had a very broad commercial career in Accountancy, Audit and Financial Management before landing in roles that manage Sales & Customer Insight.  She's travelled across sectors including consultancy, media, FMCG, currency and public sector, and worked both in the UK and internationally.  We talk about:Being made redundant when you've just come back from maternity leave.Working with a career coach - why, what, how?Using LinkedIn to find openings. opportunities, learn and expand your network.How to set about landing a quality PT role.Live Q&A tickets mentioned in the episode for 31/10/23: HOW TO HOLD YOUR BOUNDARIES AND WHAT IS A GOOD ENOUGH PARENT?MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, today you're going to eavesdrop on a one-time coaching conversation with "Zara" (not her real name) and get some expert tips on making a career change from Natasha Stanley at Careershifters. I said I'd include a link to the 8 week Career Change Launchpad experience that I talked about with Natasha that 3000 people have been through over the last 10 years.My guest coachee today used to be a diplomat and we're talking at a point when Zara has applied for roles that she's overqualified for and although she's been invited to interview she hasn't secured the job. After her last interview she was told they were not convinced she would settle and were concerned that she would leave because of the nature of the work and the income.EPISODE MARKERS2:32 Coaching conversation with Zara.38:50 How to make a career change with Natasha Stanley, Head Coach & experience designer at Careershifters.org.51:51 Three summarising tips for making a career change.54:04 Tips for people who have been on a career break and want to change careers.56:28 Zara's update one month on from our coaching session.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Cecily Motley, an accomplished entrepreneur with a proven track record of growing companies and brand building in competitive markets. She is the founder of JustParent, a new company working to close the gender pay gap by helping small companies offer more paid parental leave.Previously, Cecily co-founded Motley London, a VC backed, direct-to-consumer brand making world class design affordable. Whilst she was there she was both the pregnant employee and the CEO trying to put good parental leave provision in place. Which led her to her next venture. She lives in London with her husband and two year old son.You're going to hear about:Putting yourself under stress at work before you give birthWorrying about what people will think of your commitment as you become a parentWhat it's like to be a venture capital backed entrepreneurWhy it's good to define your leave period and stick to it Not finding your tribe on maternity leaveThe positive power of a partner who takes shared parental leaveWhat Cecily hopes her new venture, JustParent, will do for the take-up of Shared Parental Leave among men who work in SMEsAnd as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience.REFERENCES FLAGGED IN THE EPISODEIf employers really want to increase the uptake of men taking Shared Parental Leave, here's how: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/employers-fathers-taking-spl/The single best thing you can do for mothers in your organisation right now: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/the-single-best-thing-you-can-do-for-mothers-in-your-organisation-right-now/ What do business leaders think about SPL: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/business-leaders-shared-parental-leave/Expectant fathers at work: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/breakingthebias-iwd2022/MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is an HR leader who recently returned to a new job in a new organisation after being bereaved. Having met at university Helen Rowell and her husband Mike married in 2015 and went on to have a son together, Alfie, who at the time of recording is five. In March 2022 Mike was killed in a skiing accident, leaving Helen to raise Alfie alone. One of the many decisions she needed to make was how to approach her career. Up until that point she had worked full time for a global bank, progressing to Director level at the age of 33. After a period of leave Helen has now returned to work having made some radical changes.You're going to hear about:Choosing the attitude that's going to help you the most.Remembering who you were before the bereavement.How employers can support bereaved colleagues including the importance of a bereavement policy.Signs you're ready to start thinking about returning to work.Deciding to start a new job, in a new organisation.The difference a brilliant line manager makes to your self esteem.The joy and purpose Helen found in setting up a charity, Brightest Star and why she started The Widowhood podcast with Rosie, another young widow.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds and welcome to an impromptu and somewhat experimental "Just Jessica" episode of COMEBACK COACH, the podcast for people returning to work after a break. I'm Jessica Chivers, a coaching psychologist, author, founder of The Talent Keeper Specialists and developer of the Comeback Community employee experience of which this podcast is a part.I started to write this fortnight's edition of Caremail – that's our newsletter for people returning to work and looking for support for that transition and career development beyond their break – about the happiness and opportunity that can be found in rejection and thought: I wonder if I might turn this into an episode of the podcast. So here I am experimenting! If you listen all the way through and like it please let me know and maybe I'll do some more. If you're on Instagram an easy way to tell me what you think is via a DM and you'll find me @comebackcommuk.3 SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR YOUWhat are you repeatedly asking yourself to do that is draining for you?What piece of self-knowledge are you repeatedly ignoring?Where would your time be better spent?MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Divya Manek, a senior portfolio manager at BlackRock and a mother of two beautiful girls who I had the complete pleasure of coaching when she returned to work two summers ago. Day to day Divya's work involves being close to market developments, being close to clients and what they want and making sure client money is managed in the best way possible. She manages 5 people directly and 6 indirectly and she cares hugely about supporting the people around her. And she works extremely hard, you might think too hard when you listen to this.  We talk about:Doing maternity leave your own way – and not comparing yourself to what others are doing.Studying for a qualification on maternity leaveHaving an incessant hunger to achieveWhat it's like to ask for and receive family support on maternity leaveThe mindset to employ when a colleague says something hurtfulDivya's tips for making your comeback.Here's the link to the Live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on taming your overachiever gremlin and spotting the signs of burnout (26/9/23 8pm BST) that I mentioned during this episode. Complimentary tickets available via this link.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, Chantelle Angel started her career as a Montessori teacher before going onto work for a children's disability charity where she became pregnant with her first child. That baby is now 3 ½ and she has another son who is 17 months. Chantelle is now a qualified paediatric sleep consultant and founder of  Dreaming Angels,  working with a range of parents, mainly in the UK, although she's reached as far as Singapore and the US.You're going to hear about:Common baby sleep issues and what you can do about themChantelle's transformative experience of being helped by a sleep consultantThe science behind why babies who are cuddled off to sleep are more prone to waking and crying later in the nightTop tips for settling babiesAnd as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest's return to work experience.Here's the link to the Live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on taming your overachiever gremlin and spotting the signs of burnout (26/9/23 8pm BST) that I mentioned during this episode. Complimentary tickets available via this link.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright MInds, in this episode you're going to hear from Georgie Siddall, an operational risk manager who took voluntary redundancy in 2019 when she recognised she was burnt out trying to keep the show on the road at work and at home with three sons under 10. One of her sons is on the autistic spectrum and with no family around to help share the load, life was really challenging for her and her husband. She made her career comeback in July 2021 when she landed a job at Santander, one of three organisations she had on her “want to work for” target list. Alongside her day job she also co-Chairs Santander's Enable network because she wants to make a difference to colleagues who have different needs.Georgie and I met on LinkedIn on GCSE results day 2022 when I posted about my son, being permanently excluded from school for persistent disruptive behaviour four months ahead of his exams. He has ADHD and ASD and my golly it's been quite a ride and in the end he smashed his GCSEs which was just brilliant and he's now got his sights set on a Russell Group University to study economics and finance.…I am so proud! Anyway, back to Georgie. It's a beautiful story of really coming through after a very difficult time and finding a job you love. You're going to hear about: the signs of burnouthow Georgie came to the decision to take voluntary redundancyhow she got herself ready to return to workhow to ask for compressed hours and make it workthe joy and meaning that can come from doing ‘off the side of your desk' work – and how to make that work when you're already working really hard in your day jobwhat makes Santander a great employerIf you're reading this before Tuesday 26th September 2023 you're in time to come to our live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on HOW TO SPOT THE SIGNS OF BURNOUT & TAME YOUR OVERACHIEVER GREMLIN.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Jess Heagren, founder of That Works For Me – a platform that connects employers with people seeking flexible work - and author of the Careers After Babies report. Jess previously held strategically important roles at Direct Line Insurance, NIG and RBS Insurance. She's wonderfully honest and generous and I was so happy to have this chat with Jess where among other things we talked about:Coming back to work too soonPreparing for a good returnThe joy of spreadsheetsCareer progression andIdentifying a family-friendly business cultureIf you've been listening a while you'll know that this podcast is part of the Comeback Community™ employee experience. This is a solution we deliver for progressive employers to keep their people feeling confident, connected and cared for when they take extended leave from work – be it sick leave, maternity leave, shared parental, adoption, bereavement or sabbatical.If you think the experience of people returning to work after a break could be better where you work, please come over to comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce. There you'll find a quick and easy way for you to tell us who in your HR team we should be in touch with.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Well hello, it's good to be back. I wonder how you are? Our season four finale was all about how to make full time work work when you have a young family and today we're turn our attention to career progression, ambition and in particular the role of sponsorship in elevating women's careers.Although COMEBACK COACH is a podcast for people returning to work from any type of extended leave, the majority of you wonderful Bright Minds are female - and most of you are coming back from maternity leave. Plenty of you have you sights set on taking your career further when you return from leave which is why I think you're going to love hearing from Kathryn McCulloch, who's four months back from her second maternity leave and on Denton's first Global Women's Sponsorship Programme.Kathryn is a partner in Dentons' Dispute Resolution group, whose key areas of practice and expertise include aviation, drone (RPAS) regulation, wills, trusts and estates, and corporate/commercial disputes. With a strategic focus on reaching early resolution to claims, Kathryn looks to achieve timely resolution of disputes through alternative dispute resolution tools, including formal and informal mediation. She's both a fixed wing and a drone pilot, and a proud mama to two young boys.Also in this episode we've got Romana Bruderer-Schwab, who's Denton's Global Inclusion, Diversity & Equity manager and supports the ID&E agenda in more than 80 countries. Romana was born in the U.S., is based in Edinburgh and describes herself as a global citizen who has a penchant for learning, amassing new experiences and growing as a person and a professional. She is passionate about tilting the scales of equity and justice in favour of the underrepresented. In this conversation you're going to hear about:The difference between sponsorship and mentoring.Why sponsorship programmes are needed for women in the law.How self-doubt can affect the most accomplished people when they take a break from work.How a Type A personality prepares for maternity leave.Kathryn's wobbliest moment when she came back from maternity leave and her advice to people coming back from extended leave.COMEBACK COACH is part of the Comeback Community™ employee experience designed to keep employees feeling confident, connected and cared for when they take extended leave from work – be it sick leave, maternity leave, shared parental, adoption, bereavement or sabbatical.If you think the experience of people returning to work after a break could be better where you work, please come over to comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce. There you'll find a quick and easy way for you to tell us who in your HR team we should be in touch with.***MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, this is a special season finale involving six guests who are making full time work work with  young children. I wanted to do this episode after I read a statistic that didn't shock me as much as sadden me in a report published earlier this year called “CAREERS AFTER BABIES”. 848 women took part in the research which found 85% of women leave the full-time workforce within three years of having children.Upfront disclaimer, all voices in this episode are women who are in a partnership with the father of their children. The guests are drawn from our Instagram community where I put up a poll one Saturday morning in February asking whether they worked FT or PT. I was surprised that the majority in our community answered that they work full time and then thought…haha, let's do a podcast about working full time and ask these mamas to be part of it. I didn't hear from anyone who is solo parenting and working full time and so we've got the voices who volunteered to chat to me.When I reflect on the DM's people sent me on instagram and the voices of the women you're about to hear, there appear to be four key factors that enable women to continue to work FT when they become parents. Mindset and attitude of the individual: wanting to work full time and enjoying your work.Your employer having a positive and supportive attitude towards of compressed hours.Your employer having a positive and supportive attitude to working from home. And number four relates to a woman's partner: having a partner who is positive about you working FT and is committed to sharing the load equally at homeIn this episode you're going to hear those factors brought to life. My guests are:Carina Hoskisson, Engineer at Caterillar.Caoimhe Burins, Audit Manager at Dell.Rebecca Knight, an Executive Assistant in financial services.Kirsty Trude, HR business partner in an international charity.Chrissy, who works in the NHS."Anna" who works in the police.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Mind and welcome to episode 61. Today my guest coachee is Natalie Trice, a PR consultant and trainer and the author of three books. She's also an ICF-accredited career coach for PR and comms professionals.She's worked in PR for 25 years and put everyone and everything in the media spotlight. From Epson printers, Discovery Channel documentaries, and Betty Crocker cakes to Animal Planet celebrities, vegan bags and coastal holidays.Today she specialises in PR mentoring and training for brands and experts so they can get themselves in the media, and a lot of this work is based on her second book, PR School.She lives by the sea in Devon (which she's also written a book about) with her husband, two teenage sons and their two dogs, Coco and Dotty.Our coaching conversation is about Natalie's changing identity as she moves away from being a “hospital mum” – and you'll hear what that means – and towards an empty nest and re-finding her focus on a love of learning and teaching. It's a conversation about knowing what your big career dream is and what it will take for Natalie to get there.   As you're listening, if you've got a question or want to tell me about your return to work please find me on Instagram @comebackcommuk because I really do love hearing from you.And did you know, this podcast forms part of our Comeback Community employee experience designed to keep you feeling confident, connected and cared for when you take extended leave from work? If you think your organisation needs to improve the way it cares for people taking any kind of extended leave I'd be really grateful if you'd tell your Head of HR or Chief People Officer about this podcast and send them a link to comebackcommunity.co.uk.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello, Bright Minds and welcome to episode 60 with Sophie Giddings and Sam Crossley who are the job-sharing Marketing Directors at the gorgeous pet care brand Lily's Kitchen who we're proud to count among our clients. I coached Sophie when she returned from maternity leave and as you'll hear, returning to work as part of a job-share wasn't plain sailing but they have very definitely got there.In this episode we talk about Being the first job-share at Lily's KitchenThe benefits to businesses and individuals of job-sharingChallenges Sophie & Sam encountered and how they've evolved how they work togetherEducating the business about how to work with themThe best way to handover to your job-share partnerMORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Elena Gorman, a UX designer at an experience transformation studio in the north of England. She's a mother two of two, married to Tim and has two naughty cats, Bella and Isaac, and lives in Gateshead.  Elena experienced PND after her first child and again after her second. Whilst working as a project manager she stumbled across UX design and fell in love with it and it's totally changed her career and where she sees it going. She also has PhD in theology and wanted to be a costume designer but never followed it up. In this episode we cover: knowing what your career needs arebeing prepared to take a riskhow to make a career changehow to expand your professional networkmaking yourself visible to the people who might have the job you really wantplanning how you'll cope with post-natal depression with your second child after having severe PND first time aroundand how brilliant professor Sue Black isA book Elena read that helped her through her PND is What Am I Thinking: Having a Baby After Postpartum Depression by Karen KleimanShe also found “Squiggly Careers” very helpful for her career change by Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper – and when we'd finished recording she said she was taking some time this afternoon to go and read “She's in Ctrl” by Anne-Marie Imafidon. This reminded me of the advice Emmie Faust gave in episode 52 about coming back from burnout and how she was learning to stop doing, doing, doing and to be able to take time to sit and read.I also wanted to mention the work of an organisation I first read about in The Times over a decade ago called careershifters – their website is a go-to destination for people who want to make a career change and a member of our coaching team, Shiobhaun, does some work with them so I can whole-heartedly say what they're doing is good quality. Finally, Elena talked about the environment Professor Sue Black has created at the University of Durham, and that's uncommon practice. MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guests today are Times journalist, Paul Morgan-Bentley and his husband Robin. Paul is the author of a brand new book, The Equal Parent, which explores the falsehoods behind parenting roles. Paul and Robin both went through their own work comebacks after taking many months of Shared Parental Leave after having their son Solley through surrogacy.  We talk about: their surrogacy journeyhow they each prepared to return to workhow they share the load at homethe uncommon practice things they do to that enables them to have gratifying careers and a happy home life. If you like what Paul's got to say and you'd like to hear more insights from his book, The Equal Parent, I'm doing a live Q&A with him on Tuesday 28th March 8-8.45pm GMT. Complimentary tickets here.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Emily who has over 12 years Account Management experience. She's worked in two of the big London Advertising agencies and her most recent role was at a CRM agency as an Account Director.She's married to Tom, they have two daughters, Mollie who is 3 and, Mila who is nearly 1 and after nearly 4 years away from her career she's fired up to make her comeback.In this conversation I help Emily get into the right mindset for finding the role she wants and how to reach out to the brands she'd like to work for.Did you know, this podcast forms part of our Comeback Community employee experience designed to keep you feeling confident, connected and cared for when you take extended leave from work? If you think your organisation needs to improve the way it cares for people taking any kind of extended leave I'd be really grateful if you'd tell your Head of HR or Chief People Officer about this podcast and send them a link to comebackcommunity.co.uk.MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Selina Tyler,  Head of UK Wholesale at Lombard Odier Investment Management. She's a past coachee of mine who I wanted to get on the podcast because of her experience of interviewing whilst visibly pregnant and starting a new role in a new organisation after maternity leave.Selina has 18 years of investment management experience and joined the business from Mirabaud Asset Management. She's also held other senior roles at Hermes Investment Management and Man Group.Her role is focussed on driving the growth of LOIM's UK wholesale franchise and strengthening the firm's distribution proposition for intermediaries including private banks, financial advisers and wealth managers. She also oversees a team of four, seeking to promote the firm's thematic and sustainability propositions to clients across the UK wholesale network. Alongside her investment responsibilities, Selina is also a member of the advisory board for CityHive, an independent organisation which aims to foster diversity, inclusion and sustainability across the investment management landscape.  MORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Join a free expert 'Comeback Conversation' Q&A event Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Tell your HR team about Comeback Community with this 1 minute explainer film