Susannah Dale

Background

About Susannah Dale

I'm the founder of the social enterprise, The Maternity Pledge. Did you know 60% of women change their job after they come back from maternity leave. And did you know that EVERY mother goes through matrescence after they have a child. You've probably never heard of matrescence so here's a quick guide. Matrescence sounds like adolescence, and that’s not a coincidence. When you go through adolescence your body changes, your hormones are raging, ultimately the way you think, feel, make decisions and interact with the world around you shifts. Matrescence is the same - your body’s changed, your hormones are indeed raging (I once went full 'Red Ross' on my husband because he was too slow making his fajita). The life transformational event of having a baby is one of the most significant psychological and physical changes you will experience, but because its largely unexplored in the medical community, those complex feelings and emotions can go unsaid and lead to poor mental health. Knowing about and understanding what matrescence is, creating a feeding plan and a postnatal plan can have a huge impact on improving postnatal mental health because you are empowering yourself to take care of you, so you can take care of your new little human. We want to help those 60% of women to stay in their job when they come back after maternity leave and we want to support 100% of mothers to navigate their matrescence. We do this through our workplace pledge and handbook for employers, and our Matrescence Packs and Matrescence Club for employees. The pledge is a best practice framework to manage a successful maternity leave and return to work, helping the employer retain staff and helping the employee stay in work. The packs are written with experts and real mothers to help navigate birth, matrescence, feeding, their relationship with their partner and answer that age old question - is this normal? A poor birth experience or a difficult postnatal period stays with you for years, understanding matrescence and using the tools in the pack can help avoid this. Our Matrescence Club helps new mothers maintain their identity, support their wellbeing and provides advice to help them transition back into the workplace. Put together, the commitment of the pledge and tools that accompany it help your business to retain its employees and support their wellbeing as a new mother. Better than spending 48 days and forking out to recruit a new manager (CIPD). Psst - it's not expensive either