Starting a family brings great joy. Finding a way to balance work with family commitments is not always so straightforward. As a coach, I can help you plan your maternity leave and return to work in a way that fits your priorities. Two previous clients share their stories:

Returning to work after maternity leave:

“I had been back at work for about a month, after 6 months away, and I was feeling very overwhelmed with the process of reengaging with work, as well as adjusting to my new work-life balance. I had solicited advice from colleagues, especially those with small children, but felt like these discussions were not getting to the core of the issues I was facing. My hope for the coaching sessions were to discuss the challenges that I was facing in my return to work, but also how to approach and prepare for promotion and working towards a successful research career.

I found the coaching sessions immensely positive and helpful. The coaching sessions allowed me to explore some issues that were inhibiting my success. Some of these issues I hadn’t really identified a priori as key factors that were affecting my performance, but in the organised, yet free-flow discussions with Lara, I was able to identify and pinpoint a few sources of work stress. The most valuable part of the coaching was the positive affirmation that these problems that I had that were bogging me down, indeed had solutions. Most solutions were not quick and easy, but with time and investment, I could improve and get over hurdles that I felt were limiting my success

Before having my baby, I let work take up the vast majority of my time and often made it my highest priority. Clearly, as a mother I had to adjust my work-life balance and I was very worried that I was not working hard enough, not being a part of enough activities in the department, and that my colleagues would judge me as not dedicated to my career. In my discussions with Lara, it was clear that I was still working very hard, and I was very invested in the success of my career, but that at the same time, I could be equally invested in the success of my family. Through a few tasks, like mapping out my work week, and several discussions I was able to not only come to terms with my new work-life balance, but to also feel proud of my achievements. This was crucial to my successful return to work. I cannot thank you enough.”

– Lecturer, University of Edinburgh

Planning maternity leave:

“What I wanted to achieve from coaching was to understand what will be the best way for me to handle my coming maternity leave (including how much time to take off, whether to come back full time or part time and whether I should include any contact/work hours during my maternity leave).

In the coaching session we discussed all these options, the positive and negative points. We also tried to identify whether some of the views were mine or not. First of all discussing all this with Lara helped me a lot to understand what is important for me and what not. The idea of drawing also the maternity leave and including all the different time points made it easier for me to visualise all the different options.

I think that Lara is a very good coach. She was very good in listening to all of ideas and used various tools that helped us identify a good balance for me during my maternity leave. I enjoyed the session I had with Lara and it helped a lot to achieve what I hoped.”

- Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Edinburgh

If you or your colleagues could do with some support preparing for maternity leave or returning to work, please contact me at hello@bellrock-coaching.co.uk

Maternity Leave Support