Why it matters
This isn't a wellbeing perk. It's performance protection, not personal accommodation.
Retention. Keep experienced people you've already invested years in.
Performance. Help people return in a way that's sustainable, not just survivable.
Leadership. Protect the pipeline of women who should be your future senior leaders.
Mental health. Notice early when a hard transition is becoming something more, without treating every difficulty as a medical problem.
Recruitment. Be known as somewhere parents actually want to work.
What I offer
Everything is tailored to your organisation. Start with one piece or combine them.
For your people
Confidential 1:1 coaching before, during and after maternity leave: somewhere to think about what work looks like now.
Peer support, including help scoping and setting up an internal buddy system.
For your managers
Practical scripts, so managers know what to say (and what not to) at each stage.
Coaching and workshops for individual managers, teams or the whole organisation.
For your organisation
Talks for leadership teams, staff networks and wellbeing events.
Ongoing support and signposting as you build a better return-to-work experience.
Why me
I'm a GP with an extended role in mental health, a coach and a mum of two. I supervise GPs, support doctors through professional difficulties and work in practitioner mental health.
So I understand both sides: what happens inside a person going through a big transition, and the organisation she's trying to work in. I know the difference between someone who needs clinical help and someone who needs space to think, and I'll say which.
I have experience across coaching and healthcare organisations.
Coaching is confidential and separate from clinical care. It isn't a substitute for occupational health or medical support.
How it works
A conversation. We talk about what you're seeing and what you want to change.
A proposal. I suggest a mix that fits your size, budget and people.
The work. Coaching, workshops or talks, with a check-in on what's changing.
Organisations
Research suggests mothers are among the most productive people in the workforce over the course of a career. Yet up to 74,000 women a year in the UK lose their jobs around pregnancy and maternity leave.
That's experience and capability walking out of the door.
Sources: Krapf, Ursprung & Zimmermann (2014), "Parenthood and Productivity of Highly Skilled Labor: Evidence from the Groves of Academe," Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Working Paper 2014-001A. Pregnant Then Screwed and Women In Data (2025), State of the Nation report: pregnantthenscrewed.com
She's back. That's not the end of the story.
When someone returns from maternity leave, most organisations treat it as job done.
The leave is covered, the desk is ready, the calendar fills up again.
But the return is often where you lose her.
Not on day one.
Six months later, when an experienced woman quietly steps back, stalls, or leaves.
She hasn't become less capable.
Something has changed, and nobody made space to understand what.