A Better Start to Motherhood

The State of UK Postnatal Care Today

In this episode, we sit down with Susie Crowe - consultant obstetrician and one of the most senior voices in UK maternity care - to take an honest look at postnatal care as it stands today. We cover what postnatal care actually includes, why the quality and depth of that care varies so significantly depending on where you live, and what needs to change. We talk about birth debriefs, maternal mental health, pelvic health, physical recovery, and the case for trauma-informed care. Susie also shares what she believes every woman should feel entitled to ask for - and why self-care in the postnatal period isn't selfish, it's essential.

Navigating Your Career Journey as a Working Parent

In this episode, we pick up where we left off with Susie Powis, founder of HiHo Coaching, and move from recognition into action. We explore Susie's three-pillar framework; Return, Navigate, Accelerate - and what practical steps look like at each stage. We talk about how to identify your values as the person you are today, how to avoid knee-jerk career moves that close off future options, and how to position yourself for growth without losing sight of family life. Susie also shares her own experience of leaving corporate life, moving through a startup that wasn't quite right, and eventually building HiHo - the hardest year and a half of her life, and the most purposeful.

What happens when your Career meets Motherhood?

In this episode, we sit down with Susie Powis, founder of HiHo Coaching, to explore what happens when your career journey collides with your motherhood journey. We talk about the identity shifts that come with becoming a parent, why mothers can find the early months particularly destabilising, and how the things that feel like setbacks - the lost confidence, the changed priorities, the daily unpredictability of life with a baby - are quietly building something new. Susie draws on 20 years in corporate leadership, her own difficult return to work after her second child, and her experience coaching parents back into their careers to help us understand why this moment deserves more recognition than it usually gets. This is part one of two - next episode, we get into what to do about it.

What to Do Instead of Screens: Building Independent Kids Through Play

In this episode, we pick up where we left off with Hannah Hagon from Unplugged Tots - moving from the problem with screens to what we actually do about it. We get into the practical side: how everyday activities like sorting washing and building patterns with Lego can become genuine learning moments, why your child's boredom isn't yours to fix, and how screen-free play needs to compete with the dopamine hit that screens deliver. Hannah shares examples from her book and her own family, and we talk about the parental effort it takes upfront to build kids who can entertain themselves - and why that investment compounds over time.

The Cost of Screen Time on Our Kids: Building a Healthy Relationship With Screens

In this episode, we sit down with Hannah Hagon, founder and author of Unplugged Tots, to talk about something every parent is navigating — screen time. We explore what screen use is actually displacing in our children's development, why not all screen time is the same, and how the real goal isn't banning screens but building an intentional relationship with them. Hannah shares the stats, the research, and the story of how a Raspberry Pi festival with her two- and four-year-old daughters led to a book that's changing how families think about play, tech and childhood.