Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Comeback Coach
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
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| 115. COMEBACK – Steph Ogden – CEO HDI Global – Stop! Step away from the business on maternity leave (it won’t fall apart without you). | 12 Nov 2025 | 00:39:38 | |
Hello Bright Minds, Stephanie Ogden, loves her job. She is the UK CEO of the global insurance company HDI Global and she was an absolute treat to chat to because she was so open and honest. We get into the nitty gritty of how to step away from your business when you are holding the top job or another really senior role. But this is not just an episode for senior leaders – if you work in a big organisation, a male dominated environment or you are ambitious for more in your career this listen will be worth your time. This episode is sponsored by Little Dish, a company who's values chime with mine and I am delighted to have their partnership. **Raising & Rising** A leadership career retreat for mothers in senior roles is happening on Monday 9th February 2026. Details here.
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| 114. JESSICA - How knowing your values and being interested in the values of others helps you lead better and enjoy sustainable career success. | 29 Oct 2025 | 00:32:56 | |
Hello Bright Mind, I start this episode by sharing a piece of academic astonishing research that demonstrates, unequivocally, the powerful and positive link between values and career success. Values frequently come into the work I do with leaders who are having a challenging time at work or in combining work and home. I do a lot of work with professional women with children who place importance on achieving at work and value being present and emotionally available for their children which can sometimes be very, very hard. I hope you enjoy my musings on the psychology of values and strengths and how they relate to career and wider life success. Best wishes, Jessica RESOURCES & REFERENCES
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| 105. COMEBACK – Danielle Wallington – Flockhere founder – building a biz after flex request refused on maternity leave – guilt + grit – community is everything. | 14 May 2025 | 00:45:00 | |
Hello 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 Kings Global Institute for Women’s Leadership events How I built this podcast with Guy Raz
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| 15. COMEBACK - Torey - HR manager - IVF - being open about imposter feelings at work - rebuilding confidence | 13 Jul 2021 | 00:21:09 | |
Torey’s tale of IVF and moving jobs to lessen her stress and help their chances of success might be familiar to you. I talked to Torey at the start of her fourth week back after maternity leave to her role as a senior people engagement consultant at Orbit, a not-for-profit housebuilder. Torey talks about how she started to rebuild her confidence before she started back at work and how she’s keeping imposter feelings at bay. A coach has been key to changing the unrealistic expectations she has of herself. She constantly reminds herself to be patient; that it’s OK to ask lots of questions and that it will take time to get up to speed again. Torey is a Senior people engagement consultant at Orbit, a not-for-profit housebuilder.
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| 14. COACH – Debora, interior architect – losing purpose - feeling disconnected from work you loved - craving more time with your child | 29 Jun 2021 | 00:29:36 | |
You’re feeling disconnected from the job you once loved then you’re made redundant after two months being back at work after maternity leave. In this COACH episode coaching psychologist Jessica Chivers works with Debora, an interior architect, who feels she’s lost her sense of purpose and says “I’ve completely changed my worldview since having my daughter.” She craves flexibility to spend more time with her child and wants to continue to use her problem-solving skills and creativity to help others.
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| 13. COMEBACK – Liz – Rebuilding credibility - getting your head back into gear - backing yourself after maternity leave | 15 Jun 2021 | 00:17:20 | |
My guest today is Liz Twiney who works for an asset management firm in London. We’re talking when Liz is 3 months back from her first maternity leave and we cover rebuilding credibility, what to do when you can’t have traditional KIT days, guilt because you love your job and how to invite people for a catch up when you’re working remotely.
BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:
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| 12. COACH - Rosie - how to progress your career when coping with increased caring responsibilities | 01 Jun 2021 | 00:36:33 | |
Stressed, tired and determined to meet the work demands and expectations she’s set herself, Rosie is an academic with two young children and additional caring responsibilities She works 4 days a week for a university, where she's been for 9 years. The pandemic has significantly increased her caring responsibilities due to supporting family members and she’s struggled at times with the stress of trying to deliver professionally whilst looking after her family’s and her own wellbeing. In this COACH episode we explore how Rosie can get through the acute period of stress she’s in at the moment and how she can help herself longer term. This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.
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| 11. COMEBACK - Wendy - Coping with anxiety - crippling guilt - feeling out of control - seeking therapy and coping lessons | 18 May 2021 | 00:16:44 | |
WARNING: This episode includes very naughty words. Wendy Lancaster is a landscape planner and mother of two who experienced crippling levels of anxiety when she returned to work after her second maternity leave. Wendy works with developers and local authorities to protect the character of landscapes, built environments and important views. She’s often the lone woman in meetings with master planners, transport consultants, drainage engineers and ecologists. She has two children age 6 and 2 and says she’s married to a wonderful man who’s massively supportive of her career who has stepped back from his own to allow Wendy to focus on hers. It’s a really honest conversation about how out of control she felt when she first went back to work and why she decided to see a therapist. I hope it’s useful.
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| 10. SPECIAL - Maternal Mental Health - Better Births - PND - Psychosis - Doulas - PaNDAS Foundation | 03 May 2021 | 00:44:43 | |
For all the references and resources Eve, Anna & Mia mention see the Maternal Mental Health page on our website.
Anna Ceesay: Journalist and founder of Motherdom.co.uk, the first UK online media platform to address issues of maternal mental health. Anna experienced pre-natal depression at eight months pregnant. Mia Scotland: Perinatal clinical psychologist, doula, author of Birth Shock & Why Post Natal Depression Matters. Evie Canavan: Coordinator of UK Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week for Perinatal Mental Health Partnership and postpartum psychosis survivor.
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| 9. COACH - Fiona - ambitious teacher - making a career dream happen – getting out of your own way | 20 Apr 2021 | 00:37:54 | |
Fiona is an ambitious teacher on maternity leave yearning to give and do more professionally but who also wants to dedicate a large proportion of time to her children. In this COACH episode we explore what Fiona really wants, ways she could achieve it, constraints and come up with a way of looking at her situation which changes everything.
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| 8. COMEBACK - Valeria, management consultant - best things to focus on at work in the early weeks after your return | 06 Apr 2021 | 00:17:02 | |
When your confidence is growing and you feel like you’re on an upward trajectory and then, among glowing feedback, your manager tells you he thinks you’re still a bit lost. How do you handle that?
This episode is sponsored by Rayden Solicitors, an award-winning, Times Top 200 family law firm.
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| 7. COACH - Laura - innovation strategist - re-finding purpose and focus after furlough and redundancy. | 23 Mar 2021 | 00:34:35 | |
You’ve been furloughed for five months then made redundant from a job you love. In this COACH episode coaching psychologist Jessica Chivers works with Laura Gelder-Robertson, an incredibly smart innovation strategist who’s now looking to rekindle her own innovation consultancy in the wake of unemployment. Are you away from work? There are free goodies to support your return over on comebackcommunity.co.uk where you’ll also find a blog post with Laura’s stunning visuals about her goals and how she’s going to get there plus an update on what Laura's done since the coaching conversation.
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| 6. COMEBACK - Claire - Finding your purpose, how to pitch for compressed hours and make it work | 09 Mar 2021 | 00:19:47 | |
Claire Thomas, one very customer-focussed senior director of sales at the technology company, Hitachi Vantara. She was professional services sales woman of the year 2018 - a wonderful accolade to take with her as she went on maternity leave. Read her LinkedIn article about returning to work.
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| 104. COMEBACK – Samantha Downes – The Express - it's OK to be ambitious - ditching freelance for employment - is your career in bloom? | 30 Apr 2025 | 00:50:52 | |
Hello 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. References The 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.
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| 5. COACH – Emma, lawyer - how to progress your career, raise your visibility at work and still have time for family | 23 Feb 2021 | 00:41:25 | |
Emma is a solicitor in a top 20 law firm who’s keen to progress her career after maternity leave, raise her visibility and still have time for her two young boys and husband. In this COACH episode Emma and Jessica explore tactics for making those things happen. Spoiler: they come up with a doable plan that doesn’t involve magic-ing up 48 hours in a day. Are you on extended leave from work? Preparing for leave? Or recently returned? Find free goodies to support your return over on www.comebackcommunity.co.uk. What did you think of the episode? Got a question about returning to work? Chat to Jessica on Twitter @ComebackCommUK. Also find us on Instagram @ComebackCommUK. If you’d like to have a coaching conversation with Jessica for a future episode of Comeback Coach please contact us via the website. Season 1 sponsor is Rayden Solicitors
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| 4. COMEBACK – Rachel – How to get through the early months back at work – playbook for success - what to stop and start | 09 Feb 2021 | 00:22:59 | |
The conversation is with Rachel Jackson, previously of HP and Cisco where she worked in technology sales for 20 years and also sat as Vice Chair on the Inclusion Board and led the UK Back to Business employee resource group. “Build your support squad before you go back to work; ask for help before you’re at breaking point and establish a really good self care routine,” are just three of the cracking pieces of advice Rachel says she’d put in her playbook for how to navigate the early months returning to work from extended leave. Rachel had two maternity leaves during her time at Cisco, returning after her second child in 2019. She recently took the decision to step out of her career to run with her deep interest in the world of inclusion. She now runs her own business, A Different Me, which aims to positively impact the lives of working mothers in corporate organisations. As you’ll hear Rachel can remember her time returning to work as if it were yesterday and she’s got a series of cracking tips for how to handle the early months back at work.
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| 3. COACH – Chloe, PR professional – how to get more job love, more recognition and not feel icky about self-promotion | 26 Jan 2021 | 00:36:01 | |
Chloe is a PR professional who feels in limbo having come back from one maternity leave and knowing she’s going to be going away again in six month’s time. She’s come back to work that leaves her feeling unmotivated and out of control. Our conversation focusses on what Chloe wants from the next six months and how to make it happen. We talk about three key themes: 1. Recognition 2. Promotion 3. Progression BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:
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| 2. COMEBACK - Caroline - how imposter feelings can make you stronger - lawyer - mum of 4 | 13 Jan 2021 | 00:23:00 | |
“Imposter feelings can be where your strengths lie,” says Caroline Flanagan. Caroline talks about coping with constant low-level anxiety and how she handled imposter feelings when she returned to work after her first maternity leave to a U.S. law firm - where she was the only female lawyer with a baby.
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| 1. COACH – Nicola - losing job love - maternity leave - D&I - struggling to find your place | 13 Jan 2021 | 00:37:59 | |
Nicola returned from maternity leave to a role that she’d trained a long time to do but that her heart was no longer in. She talks about how she’s struggling in a male dominated team and experiences casual sexism on a day to day basis. Her mind has been ignited by the world of diversity and inclusion and she’s keen to explore other opportunities within her blue-chip firm. However, she’s been asked to ‘respect the hierarchy’ and not make attempts to reach more senior figures outside of her team to get her voice heard. Three resources Jessica flagged in this episode:
BE IN TOUCH & FREE GOODIES TO SUPPORT YOU:
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| 0. Welcome to Comeback Coach - Introducing 'Comeback' and 'Coach' episodes | 29 Dec 2020 | 00:15:58 | |
Comeback Coach is the wobbly-bottomed podcast about kickass comebacks for people riding the return to work rollercoaster. If you're on maternity leave - or away from work on for another reason - and want to come back feeling prepared, positive and filled with self-belief, this podcast is for you.
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| 103. COMEBACK - Serge Cowan - DDRE (Netflix’s Buying London) - losing a child with cerebral palsy - divorce - starting over in business - living with anxiety | 16 Apr 2025 | 00:36:44 | |
Hello 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:
I hope you enjoy and extract something useful from my chat with Serge.
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| 102. COMEBACK - Helena Morrissey - ex CEO - 9 maternity leaves - pay rise negotiations - 30% club founder - finances after a break | 02 Apr 2025 | 00:38:37 | |
Hello 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.
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| 101. COMEBACK - Francesca Woodhouse - Edelman – proactive career management – working FT with 4 kids – having true partnership at home | 19 Mar 2025 | 00:45:16 | |
Hello 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:
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.
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| 100. LIVE SPECIAL - Raising your career through the Primary School years - candid chat with Amanda Newman, Liz Twiney, Emmie Faust & Rachel Maguire | 05 Mar 2025 | 01:00:29 | |
Hello 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.
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| 99. JUST JESSICA - Psychology of crying at work – how to limit damage to your career + what managers should do when a team member cries | 19 Feb 2025 | 00:28:23 | |
Hello 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:
REFERENCES
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| 98. COACH – Amber – career change + not burning bridges when you have multiple (potential) job offers | 05 Feb 2025 | 00:40:22 | |
Hello 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.
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| 97. COMEBACK – Caroline Smith – The Entertainer – Relentless resilience job hunting after redundancy – being a wildcard candidate - senior marketing women struggling to land jobs | 22 Jan 2025 | 00:39:47 | |
Hello 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:
>>>> 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.
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| 96. COMEBACK - Beth Wooller - Strategy Manager at Sainsburys - sabbatical - burnout - a break from hitting the next career goal - writing a book + interior design | 03 Dec 2024 | 00:36:48 | |
Hello 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.
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| 113. EXPERT – Anna Marthur – You are not a failure because you failed to get the promotion – the cost of pleasing people – asking for feedback | 15 Oct 2025 | 00:48:17 | |
Hello Bright Minds, QUICK LINKS to things in this episode: HR webinar on female talent not stepping up. Raising & Rising leadership retreat early bird registration. Women & Men receive different developmental feedback. Anna Marthur’s new book, The Uncomfortable Truth. Little Dish x The Felix Project My guest today is the wonderfully warm and open psychotherapist, speaker and author, Anna Marthur. You might know Anna from her podcast, The Therapy Edit or her books or you might not know her at all – in which case you are in for a treat. She’s written many books that I think will speak to you, dear Bright Mind including “Know Your Worth: How to build your self-esteem, grow in confidence and worry less about what people think” and her latest, “The Uncomfortable Truth: Change your life by taming 10 of your mind’s greatest fears.” I wanted to get Anna on to talk about:
Anna and I have both recently collaborated with Little Dish, the wholesome children’s food company. Little Dish are the season nine sponsor of COMEBACK COACH and I am super proud to have their support because we both want to make life easier for working parents. I do that as an executive coach, providing a powerful and confidential thinking and problem-solving space and Little Dish does it by creating easier evenings with their delicious, nutritious and quick-to-cook meals. One thing Little Dish is doing at the moment that has brought an even bigger smile to my face is their ‘Buy One Give One’ campaign with The Felix Project to end school holiday hunger.
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| 95. Rebecca Andrews - Pilot - missing your job - returning to flying after maternity leave - yes YOU CAN still do it! | 20 Nov 2024 | 00:38:07 | |
Hello Bright Minds,
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| 94. COMEBACK – Laura Scougall – ITV – redundancy risk on maternity leave – being open at work about demands at home (autistic son) – how to get back to sleep | 06 Nov 2024 | 00:48:36 | |
Hello 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:
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.
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| 93. COMEBACK - Sarah Banks - Arcadis - Adjusting to big changes at work after maternity leave – benefits of being main earner - what is a company shadow board? | 23 Oct 2024 | 00:28:43 | |
Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Sarah Banks from Arcadis, the global design and engineering company.
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| 92. COMEBACK - Tara Ferguson - breast cancer - working through treatment - medically-induced menopause - how to stop women leaving in their 40s + 50s? | 09 Oct 2024 | 00:47:36 | |
Hello 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. We talk about:
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| 91. COMEBACK – Dan Hewitt – Ocado – navigating the pull between career and family – having coaching – am I having impact at work? | 25 Sep 2024 | 00:29:47 | |
Hello 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.
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| 90. JUST JESSICA - Boundaries - psychological job control - why bosses need to talk about downtime (but not tell us not to work weekends and evenings) | 11 Sep 2024 | 00:19:49 | |
Hello 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.
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| 89. COMEBACK – Ramona Aning – Ketchum – setting boundaries at work after maternity leave – being yourself – sussing out a company’s culture before you join | 28 Aug 2024 | 00:38:16 | |
Hello 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.
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| 88. JUST JESSICA - Finding focus when you’re stretched and shattered – psychology of attention – deep work - coachees' top tips for traction | 26 Jun 2024 | 00:32:06 | |
Hello 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. REFERENCES
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| 87. JUST JESSICA - Why pouring your thoughts onto the page helps you process setbacks and tough times - neuropsychology of therapeutic writing | 12 Jun 2024 | 00:19:38 | |
Hello 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. 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
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| 86. COMEBACK - Emma Young - Firefighter – speaking up when things aren’t right at work – trying to change maternity policy - 'boreout' + psychology of uncertainty | 29 May 2024 | 00:35:18 | |
Hello 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:
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| 112. COACH - Louise - Pressure to impress senior leaders after maternity - showing commitment to get promoted (and being the only mother on the team) | 01 Oct 2025 | 00:40:02 | |
**Quick link to register interest in the Raising & Rising leadership retreat for mothers in senior roles in February 2026 – CPO’s and HR professionals please register and we'll be in touch about places for your senior female talent.** Hello Bright Minds, today you are going to eavesdrop on a coaching conversation with a senior woman who is 2 months back from a 10 month maternity leave who wants to show her leadership team she is committed and wants to progress. She’s the only mother in her part of the business and she feels she’s competing with younger colleagues who can work long hours and have little or no immovable demands on them outside of work. Our conversation starts by Louise – not her real name - outlining two challenges and we quickly move into stakeholder mapping and working out the perceptions she needs to create in two or three key people’s mind. We end with some thinking about energy management and creating ‘rules’ for when she’ll stay late and which after work drinks are worth going to. My absolute heartfelt thanks to Little Dish, the award-winning children’s food company, for sponsoring this episode of COMEBACK COACH. Find out more at www.littledish.co.uk.
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| 85. COACH - Sabeha - designing your ideal work week - how to be more present at home - experiencing more joy | 15 May 2024 | 00:44:05 | |
Hello 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.
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| 84. COMEBACK - Yvette Bramley - Psychologist – my most upbeat guest – how to feel success and get a grip on guilt – is it OK to change your mind about career aspirations? | 01 May 2024 | 00:45:25 | |
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:
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.
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| 83. JUST JESSICA - Managing rumination + keeping healthy habits when you’re consumed with problems at work + psychology of meditation | 17 Apr 2024 | 00:12:58 | |
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. 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=7CFI0hslXv8 Ramadasa by Satkirin Kaur Khalsa (12 mins)
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| 82. COACH - Brian Ballantyne - redundancy from Amazon - opportunities on gardening leave - psychology of being 'at risk' of redundancy | 03 Apr 2024 | 01:11:24 | |
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 last year (2023) 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! 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. .
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| 81. COMEBACK – Michaela Thomas – Clinical Psychologist - relationship satisfaction after baby – keeping perfectionism in check - ADHD and returning to work | 20 Mar 2024 | 00:56:34 | |
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.
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| 80. COMEBACK - Lianne Baker - Enfuse – making family as childcare run smoothly – working on maternity leave isn’t a bad thing – knowing your worth | 06 Mar 2024 | 00:36:38 | |
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:
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| 79. COMEBACK – Ros Kwok – When divorce drives a return to work – 50 job application rejections – psychology of hope | 21 Feb 2024 | 00:59:47 | |
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. 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.
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| 78. COMEBACK - Andrea Byrne – ITV Newsreader - projecting confidence when you don’t feel it – YES you can still do your job – how to have NO GUILT ‘me time’ | 07 Feb 2024 | 00:37:41 | |
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.
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| 77. COMEBACK – Joanna Jacobs – Twinings – Can your career recover from a career break? (YES) - Using LinkedIn to get talking to potential employers | 24 Jan 2024 | 00:39:47 | |
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:
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| 76. JUST JESSICA - Do you know your needs? | Developing your intuition | How to focus on your career as well as your job? | 27 Dec 2023 | 00:17:47 | |
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:
In this episode I mentioned an article on Psychologytoday.com and our COMEBACK CONVERSATION live Q&A listings.
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