Comeback Coach
Feeling shaky after maternity or another long leave from work? COMEBACK COACH is the wobbly-bottomed podcast about kickass comebacks with coaching psychologist and author, Jessica Chivers. She’s exactly what you need when you’re riding the return-to-work rollercoaster.
Episodes
96 episodes
95. Rebecca Andrews - Pilot - missing your job - returning to flying after maternity leave - yes YOU CAN still do it!
Hello 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 sinc...
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38:07
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
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 ...
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48:36
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?
Hello 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 conve...
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28:43
92. COMEBACK - Tara Ferguson - breast cancer - working through treatment - medically-induced menopause - how to stop women leaving in their 40s + 50s?
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 dif...
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47:36
91. COMEBACK – Dan Hewitt – Ocado – navigating the pull between career and family – having coaching – am I having impact at work?
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 Her...
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29:47
90. JUST JESSICA - Boundaries - psychological job control - why bosses need to talk about downtime (but not tell us not to work weekends and evenings)
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. I'm geeking out on "psychological job control" and "segm...
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19:49
89. COMEBACK – Ramona Aning – Ketchum – setting boundaries at work after maternity leave – being yourself – sussing out a company’s culture before you join
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....
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38:16
88. JUST JESSICA - Finding focus when you’re stretched and shattered – psychology of attention – deep work - coachees' top tips for traction
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
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32:06
87. JUST JESSICA - neuropsychology of therapeutic writing - what, how, when, why?
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 'f...
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19:38
86. COMEBACK - Emma Young - Firefighter – speaking up when things aren’t right at work – trying to change maternity policy - 'boreout' + psychology of uncertainty
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 abou...
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35:18
85. COACH - Sabeha - designing your ideal work week - how to be more present at home - experiencing more joy
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...
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44:05
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?
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 r...
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45:25
83. JUST JESSICA - Managing rumination + keeping healthy habits when you’re consumed with problems at work + psychology of meditation
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 ...
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12:58
82. COACH - Brian Ballantyne - redundancy from Amazon - opportunities on gardening leave - psychology of being 'at risk' of redundancy
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 b...
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1:11:24
81. COMEBACK – Michaela Thomas – Clinical Psychologist - relationship satisfaction after baby – keeping perfectionism in check - ADHD and returning to work
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 ...
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56:34
80. COMEBACK - Lianne Baker - Enfuse – making family as childcare run smoothly – working on maternity leave isn’t a bad thing – knowing your worth
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 professiona...
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36:38
79. COMEBACK – Ros Kwok – When divorce drives a return to work – 50 job application rejections – psychology of hope
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...
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59:47
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’
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 Wee...
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37:41
77. COMEBACK – Joanna Jacobs – Twinings – Can your career recover from a career break? (YES) - Using LinkedIn to get talking to potential employers
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 ...
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39:47
76. JUST JESSICA - Do you know your needs? | Developing your intuition | How to focus on your career as well as your job?
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 foun...
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17:47
75. COMEBACK - Phil Bush - Sabbatical from Euromonitor – supporting partner’s return from maternity – sick baby – volunteering on leave
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 ...
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40:14
74. COMEBACK - Heart FM's Gemma Hill - Mother Pukka covered my maternity - worry about taking leave - staying in touch reduced my anxiety about returning
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 terrifyin...
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34:48
73. COMEBACK – Andy Lancaster – CIPD – sick leave for surgery – preparing your team for your absence – re-crafting your role – three elements of phasing back
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.A...
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42:04
72. COMEBACK - Kerry Hickman - Ramboll - Maternity Leave & Redundancy - Feeling "wowed" about where you work - how to land a PT role - career coaching
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 tha...
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31:40
71. COACH - Zara - diplomat making career change - when head + heart don't align - career change tips from careershifters.org
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 ...
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1:00:23