Pat and I have both struggled at times over the past few years to get the balance we feel happy with between raising our children and working.

I tried to continue my career after Adam was born and returned to work 4 days / week. The 15 months I tried to make it work where very hard and I felt myself being constantly pulled from both sides, never quite feeling that I was doing my best for either my son or my job. It's taken 6 years but through meeting Pat and setting up the site I feel that I've now managed to find a much better life balance. I'm not pursueing my career any more but I am working, doing something I really enjoy and able to give as much time as I want to Adam as well. No more justifying time off when he's sick or in the Nativity!

We have recently been approached by two mums, Amanda and Sharon, who've been through similar experiences and changed careers as a result to become 'Life' or 'Career Coaches' for women. I feel that if would have been fantastic to be able to talk to one of them when I was struggling so we've decided to feature both on the site in the hope that more mums may have access to the support they need to make the best choices for them and their families.

Imagine what it would be like to speak to someone once a week, who is entirely devoted to you and your life. Who wants more for you than you have ever thought possible. How would your life be different if you had this kind of support?

Coaching Mums was set up by me, Amanda Alexander, in September 2004. I had been running a generalist coaching practice - Amanda Alexander Coaching - before this time, and because of my own passion for coaching mums - and that I'm a mum myself, I found that I attracted lot of clients who were also mums.

Coaching Mums was born out of a desire to create a "special" place for mums who don't want to just "make do" with life.

My job as your coach is to be the person with whom you can change: I want you to live your life intentionally, not accidentally.

What I want for you:

• To be the best that you can;



• To start up your own business if you wish;



• To have a career designed by you that fulfils your needs as a woman and as a mum;



• To live in a way that reflects what you value in life;



• To show you how great you are as a woman and as a mum already and help you enjoy the magic of motherhood;



• To enjoy all your relationships - with your partner, your kids and the wider world;



• To create and live by your own definition of success;



• To have reserves of time, money, energy, health, friendship and space.

What will coaching do for you?

• You'll reach for much, much more because of the support and structure the coach provides;



• You will achieve your dreams and goals more quickly than you would on your own within this structure;



• You'll make better decisions because you can run your ideas by an objective listener;

Coaching will work when there are two factors present:

• You are willing to grow;



• There is a gap between where you are now and where you want to be.

I can help you:

• Help you decide what is important to you and what you really want;



• Expand your awareness so that you can expand your options;



• Take more, better and smarter actions;



• Bring new meaning into your reality, to help you see it from a fresh perspective;



• Have more time, energy, money, focus, direction;



• Have a balanced life that works well, because you designed it;



• Solve problems;



• Help you set and accomplish the goals you really want;



• Have a lot more sustainable energy.

Visit www.coachingmums.com to find some great self-coaching resources and to sign up to my free monthly ezine "Inspire".

If you'd like to book a complimentary consultation to find out if coaching could help you, please feel free to call on 01829 752656.

Seven years ago I was riding high in my career. I was doing a job I loved as a Training Manager for an insurance company, I did lots of travelling, worked with great people, had a good salary and a company car. Then one day I ran a course and fell in love with one of the delegates (it doesn't happen on every course I hasten to add!), got married and had two children.

In the first flush of happiness of being pregnant it didn't really cross my mind that my career plans would have to change. I'd have the baby, have the minimum maternity leave, get a childminder and go back to work, right? Apart from the fact that I had a baby, everything would just carry on as before. How wrong I was!!

The last 7 years have been a constant battle/search/struggle, whatever you want to call it, to find the elusive 'work/life balance' as it's officially called. What work/life balance really means is how to carry on working without feeling a nervous, frazzled, guilt-consumed wreck who feels she's failing both as a mum and as an employee! In my search for this balance I've done different hours, changed employers, changed career directions and now I'm self-employed. Lots of drawbacks to the way I work now, lack of regular salary being one of them, but at least I can work when I choose to and don't have to take holiday to go to the Nativity.

I am now a Career and Personal Development Coach for Women. What does this mean? It means I help people like me and perhaps you manage their careers after they've had kids. After you have children your career perspectives change. You might not be able to do the same kind of job because of hours and travelling, you might have to learn how to do your job in a different way, e.g., become more focussed as you have to leave the office at 5 every day, you might feel an overwhelming sense of guilt that gets in the way of doing your job, you might feel a sense of loss and slightly resentful that you have had to make career sacrifices, you will most certainly feel stressed for a while.

The idea really came from my own experience as well as the experiences of my friends and colleagues who really struggled to cope with the demands of work and home, who were miserable and stressed in both roles but didn't want to give either of them up! And there were lots of other mums I spoke to too who hadn't worked for a while, wanted to pick up a career but just didn't know where to start or believed they could do it. Your confidence can be sapped by even a short time away from work.

My work as a coach involves helping women manage these issues so that they can feel fulfilled both as a mother and in their careers too. In a series of telephone or face-to-face sessions I help clients to explore what they really want from their lives and careers, what might be holding them back and help them to develop an action plan to get from where they are now to where they want to be. As you might be able to tell, I'm pretty passionate about the issues us Mums have to face and I love the work that I do.

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