Wisdom For Working Mums

A report by The Equality and Human Rights Commission found that one in five new mums said they had experienced harassment or negative comments from their colleagues or boss when they were pregnant or returning from maternity leave. This week’s podcast guest is Danielle Ayres.  Danielle is a senior solicitor at Gorvins Solicitors working in their Employment Law Team.  She advises individuals and businesses on employment relationships.   Danielle has carved out a niche as a pregnancy and maternity employment law expert. She is now one of the go-to solicitors in the UK supporting working women and mums to challenge unfair treatment as a results of their pregnancy and/or maternity leave. In this episode Danielle shares her experience and expertise on Employment Rights for Working Mums.

This week’s guest is Nicki Seignot who is known as The Parent Mentor.  She is passionate about helping working parents return to work and thrive when they do.  She specialises in supporting businesses and organisations develop mentoring for new parents and returning talent She is a real pioneer and champion in this area having introduced maternity mentoring to Asda Walmart in 2011, where over 200 returners have been mentored to date.  Since then in her work as The Parent Mentor she has gone on to advise, mentor, coach, facilitate, write and speak on this subject across the UK and Europe.  So we really do have an expert amongst us on this episode. Nicki is the co-author of the first business book on parental mentoring ‘Mentoring New Parents at Work’ and is also a Member of the House of Commons All Party Parliamentary Group for Women and Work.

As achievement orientated working mums who care deeply about our family and our work, we are often left feeling overwhelmed.  The volume and complexity of the demands in our lives is leaving us in survival mode.  And it’s completely unsustainable for us and our families. This week’s podcast episode is a must listen if: the mere task of getting through the day and your never ending to-do-list leaves you feeling exhausted you’re trying to work like you don’t have a family and be with your family like you don’t have work and feeling overwhelmed by it all you have no time to catch your breath and the nearest you get to pampering is a when the steam from your coffee smacks you in the face! I interview James Glover who is Client Director for The Energy Project UK. James is not only a World and European Sports Champion. He has spent a decade coaching and supporting some of the world's highest performing individuals and teams to be at their best.  He is also a busy working parent himself. Now in his work for The En

In times gone by we used to have a community that supported us through our mothering journey. But somehow over time we’ve lost this connection to people who could support, advise and nourish us. Though the proverb "It takes a village to raise a child" has become cliché, the impact of our village-less living is having a devastating impact on mothers. I’m very excited to be speaking with an incredible women who supports women in celebrating and restoring motherhood.   She’s one of life’s wise and wonderful women who in ancient times would have been a central figure in our communities.  In this episode I interview Su Barber.  Su offers pre and post natal support to couples, exploring strategies to cope with birth, dealing with unexpected or desired consequences of the journey and offering support at the birth itself.

Ask any parent and the thing that we often want most for our children is for them to be happy and healthy.  But most of us we will, at some point in our child’s life, have to help them navigate feelings of lack of confidence, stress, anxiety, problems in friendship groups and worrying. That’s our job as parents but when we are faced with helping our children with these issues there is very little support to do it effectively.  This can leave us feeling helpless at a time when we need to feel resourced to support our children. In this episode I interview Libby Steggles-Ginn. She supports children to manage their emotions and self esteem and confidence so they can feel happy, free and live a healthier more resilient life. Libby is known as the emoji-coach.  She is an International Transformational Coach and is also qualified as an NLP Practitioner, Advanced PSYCH-K and Mindfulness Facilitator and teaches Meditation.

Most people’s relationship with money is often complex, difficult and confused. Whether it's how much to charge for your time or how to ask for that pay rise. Or how to balance spending and saving.  Maybe it's guilt for having money or fear of losing it. But for women it seems to be even more so, especially as working mums.  Maybe it’s the challenge of affording childcare whilst working. Maybe it’s working flexibly or part-time which leads to a reduction in pay, whilst often doing the same amount of work. Maybe it’s becoming more reliant on our partner after being used to being self sufficient and independent.  Or maybe it's becoming the main breadwinner in our family and coping with the change in dynamics that creates.  ​ So this podcast interview with ​the inspirational Rebecca Robertson from Evolution Financial Planning is a must if you would like to feel more empowered financially.  Rebecca is an award winning business owner, TEDx speaker, qualified Independent Financial advisor and regular media comment

Lisa Webb is Public Health Nurse who works with families to give pre-school-age children the best possible start in life.  She is a a former nursery teacher and a trained counsellor and therapist.  She was awarded the George Medal by the Queen for an unbelievable act of bravery when a machete wielding man attacked the primary school where she was a nursery teacher.  She protected the children in her care but suffered life changing injuries. In this interview she shares how this event has impacted her life and how she has used it for a positive force in her life. Now as a Public Health Nurse she is passionate about helping mothers thrive and speaks really honestly and openly about maternal mental health.  

In this episode I interview Bridget Supple a highly experienced Parent Educator.  She is an expert on baby brain development and the effects of attachment in the first 1,000 days.  We discuss how to choose the best childcare when returning to work. She shares her knowledge of child brain development & neuroscience to help make what can be one of hardest decisions as a parent that little bit easier. Show notes and links to this episode can be found at www.wisdomforworkingmums.co.uk/podcasts Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!

Episode 2: In this episode I interview Felicity Wingrove, Founder and Managing Director of Zen Communications, a kick-arse PR company.  She shares her honest insights into what it takes to run a thriving business whilst raising a happy & healthy toddler, nurturing a great relationship with her partner & about to give birth to baby number 2! And it doesn’t involve pretending to be superwoman! Links mentioned in this episode: Zen Communications website  Felicity's LinkedIn profile  

Episode 1: In this very first episode for the Wisdom For Working Mums podcast show, I share with you what this show is about, why I started it and what you can expect from future episodes of the Wisdom For Working Mums podcast. Show notes and links to this episode can be found at www.wisdomforworkingmums.co.uk/podcasts Don’t forget to subscribe to the show!