Return to More^®

More clarity. More confidence. More of who you actually are. That's the outcome everything here is built around.

Support her return. Keep your best people.

1:1 coaching, manager training and HR consultancy for the biggest transition point in a parent's career — before, during and after leave. Built around mothers, and open to every parent.

Book a call See how it works

Cali Gold, founder of Mother Tells Coaching — **Cali Gold**15 years in senior HR, People and Talent leadershipMum of 3

The invisible load

She's not tired. She's carrying everything.

Three in four UK mothers with dependent children are now in paid work, up from two in three at the start of the century. The support around them hasn't kept pace.

The women I coach are ambitious, capable and very good at what they do. But they arrive at work with a hundred tabs already open: the nursery pickup, the school email, the appointment, the birthday, the meal plan. None of it closes when they sit down at their desk.

This isn't a resilience problem. Telling women to cope better won't fix an environment that keeps asking for more. It's a management and leadership issue, and one organisations can genuinely solve.

66%

of working mothers experience burnout from a lack of personal time, compared with 47% of fathers.

64%

feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities, against 38% of fathers.

1 in 4

working parents use almost two weeks of annual leave a year to care for their children or parents.

Deloitte UK / YouGov survey of 2,000+ UK working parents, June 2026. Employment figures: Office for National Statistics.

Two clear paths

Built for her. Open to every parent.

Structured, data and insight-led programmes — not generic training. Everything here is built from what the evidence actually says works, and measured against outcomes that matter: whether she stays, whether she progresses, whether every parent feels able to use the leave they're entitled to, and whether your policy holds up in practice. Mothers are our dedicated focus. Fathers and partners are supported too.

For Employers

Everything here can be brought into your organisation — training for your managers and HR teams, and coaching for the parents returning. Backed by data, not guesswork, from our own Risk Score diagnostic to the retention research below.

Your managers and HR teams

Manager Coaching

For the people who go first

The return-to-work conversation is the one many managers dread, and often avoid. In one recent benchmark, only a quarter of employers surveyed (25%) provided any manager guidance or training on supporting parental leave.Bright Horizons, Parental Leave Benchmark 2026

Our practical sessions give managers the real words, the right timing and the confidence to stop avoiding it out of fear of getting it wrong, with mothers first and with fathers and partners too.

65%

of returning parents say their employer simply doesn't understand how difficult coming back to work actually is.Growth Spurt / HR Magazine

The best policy and the best pay mean nothing if she isn't met with support, trust and agility through one of the hardest transitions women face in their career. That starts with the manager in front of her, not the handbook behind them. And when managers get this right, it becomes normal for every parent to use the leave they're entitled to.

HR & L&D Support

The policy work behind the conversation

A review of your tools, policies, benefits and your maternity, paternity and shared parental leave rights against real experience — including the April 2026 day-one changes — and getting your organisation ready for the 2027 gender equality action plan requirement.

What a review covers

Your policies and benefits, read against what actually happens in practice
Maternity, paternity and shared parental leave rights, including the April 2026 day-one changes
Your parental leave and return-to-work data, so your plan contains real actions, not just intentions
Readiness for the 2027 gender equality action plan requirement

See what's changing in 2027 →

Your people

1:1 Coaching

For the woman in the middle of it

Confidential coaching before, during and after leave — identity, confidence, and the practical reality of a role that no longer fits the same way. Including the pivot, if "going back" doesn't mean going back at all.

What this looks like in practice

4 in-depth 1:1 coaching sessions across the parental leave journey — before you leave, during your leave, and in the weeks and months after you're back
Unlimited email support between sessions, so support doesn't stop the moment the call ends
Your own copy of the Return to More toolkit — practical guides, prompts and checklists for every stage, from the first announcement to twelve months on
Built on 15 years of real HR and people leadership experience — not generic coaching theory

Small-group coaching · Mothers

For mothers who need to know they're not the only one

There's something powerful about going through a big change alongside women who just get it. Our small-group programme brings mothers at the same stage of return together for guided coaching, honest conversation and peer support.

Together we work on

Letting go of the beliefs quietly holding your career back
Staying motivated at work without carrying guilt home
Finding your footing as a leader who's also a mother
The mental load, and how to lighten it
Moving past perfectionism

Ask about the next group →

1:1 Coaching · Fathers & partners

For dads and partners too

Becoming a parent changes work for fathers and partners as well, and it rarely gets talked about. The same confidential 1:1 coaching, for the return after paternity or shared parental leave and everything that comes with it.

Day 1

Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights in Great Britain on 6 April 2026, and paternity leave can now follow shared parental leave.Employment Rights Act 2025

Preparing for, and returning from, paternity or shared parental leave
Being the supportive partner and the employee, without dropping either
Boundaries, wellbeing and the mental load nobody sees
Having the flexible working conversation with confidence

For Individuals

Coaching that goes further.

Mothers are the heart of this work, but boundaries, wellbeing and ambition aren't only a mothers' issue, or only a return-to-work issue. These conversations come up for everyone. 1:1 coaching here is open to every parent, men and women alike.

Boundaries

Saying no without the guilt or the over-explaining
Protecting time that's actually yours — evenings, weekends, headspace
Setting expectations at work you can sustain, not just survive this week
Noticing when "being helpful" has quietly become "being available always"
Having the conversation before resentment builds, not after

Wellbeing

Noticing the gap between "fine" and actually fine, before it becomes burnout
Building habits that fit real life, not an idealised version of it
Understanding what's actually driving your stress, not just managing the symptoms
Permission to rest without needing to earn it first
Knowing when it's time to ask for more support, and how to ask for it

The Motherhood–Ambition Axis

How to find your clarity and confidence

Motherhood and ambition is a complex topic — one that needs nuance, and both the personal and organisational view. This work gives you proven coaching tools to unlock real clarity on where you sit on the motherhood–ambition axis.

Outcomes

How to define your own ambition values
How pressure, perfectionism and pleasing can hold you back
The macro view: the invisible structures and forces that hold mothers back
Understanding the impact of the "second shift" and mental load on ambition

Book a call

Why it matters

Nearly half of women planning to return after leave are already halfway out the door.

43%

are already thinking about leaving before they're even back.

90%

say they weren't offered any formal return-to-work support.

79%

of mothers who go back full-time end up leaving, because they can't sustain it alongside a baby.Careers After Babies Report

£30k+

average cost of replacing an employee — retention is usually cheaper than recruitment.

85%

leave full-time work within 3 years — without the right support.

Careers After Babies Report

90%

stay when specialist coaching is part of the return.

Commonly cited, EY

Gender Action Planning 2027

Gender equality is moving from reporting to action.

From 2027, organisations with 250 people or more are expected to have to publish what they're actually doing to tackle workplace gender inequality — not just report the gap.

But if we're serious about women's equality at work, we need to understand what happens at one of the biggest career transition points: motherhood. That includes fathers too. When dads and partners are supported to take leave, caring stops being treated as a women's issue.

250+people: the organisations affected
April 2026action plans open on a voluntary basis
Spring 2027expected to become mandatory

We help you get ready: a clear-eyed look at your parental leave and return-to-work data, policies and practice, so your plan contains real actions, not just intentions.

Check your readiness Talk to us

Employment Rights Act 2025. Mandatory timing is subject to secondary legislation.

Who returns?

Who stays?

Who progresses?

Who leaves — and why?

You can't close the gender gap without understanding the motherhood gap.

Hi, I'm Cali Gold

15 years spent listening to what mothers don't say out loud.

15years in senior HR, People and Talent leadership

I've spent 15 years in senior HR, People and Talent roles — including in-house at Deloitte, Gett and YuLife — building the policies, leadership programmes and culture work organisations point to as proof they support their people. And I've watched that policy fail to make it into the one conversation that actually decides whether she stays.

I'm also a mum of three. I know the hundred open tabs, and I know what it takes to walk back into work and feel like yourself again.

Mother Tells Coaching exists to close that gap — coaching for her, the right language for her manager and team, and a clear-eyed look at where your policy meets, or misses, real experience. Mothers are our dedicated focus; fathers and partners are supported too.

The podcast

Mother Tells, the podcast

I launched it during my own maternity leave. Twice a month, women and mothers from all over the world, across every industry, share what working, motherhood and going back to work really felt like: what helped, what fuelled the anxiety, and what their workplaces did and didn't get right.

Hearing these stories first-hand is how I understand what women in every kind of workplace are really going through.

2 new episodes a monthWomen & mothers worldwideEvery industry

Listen on Spotify →

All coaching is confidential — nothing discussed is shared with an employer without explicit consent.

The difference

Cali really understood my wobbles and nerves — not just about leaving my children, but returning to a full-time new job. She truly listened, gave me support, but also gave me tangible tools that have stayed with me. Going back to work was very difficult for me, but Cali made it much lighter and easier.

— Sophie, working mum, returned to work after redundancy

Let's talk about what your people need to hear.

Whether it's one conversation with a returning employee, a workshop for your team, a group programme for your mothers, or a proper look at your policy, tell me where you're starting from. The first conversation is always free and always confidential.

cali@mothertells.com

The parental gap doesn't wait to show up in your numbers. Let's close it before it does.

cali@mothertells.com

In conversation

Hear from the women.

Short clips from my conversations with women about work, motherhood and everything in between.

For managers & HR teams

Coming Back After Loss

Support for employees returning to work after pregnancy or baby loss, whether they're the mother, the father or the partner — co-led with a Specialist Bereavement Midwife, built for the managers and HR teams who go first.

1 in 4

UK pregnancies end in loss

~20,000

women in the UK experience loss while still at work, every year

38%

go on to meet the criteria for PTSD at three months

36%

of organisations have any policy for it at all

Book a call See the workshop

This isn't a rare, one-off conversation anymore. It's becoming one of the most common — and most avoided — moments a manager will face.

Why we built this workshop

Coaching and manager training for baby loss has become significantly more requested over the past year — not because loss is new, but because organisations are finally recognising they have no idea how to handle it well. Loss affects partners as well as mothers, and managers need to know how to support both. Untrained managers and workplace silence don't just add to someone's grief — they drive burnout, presenteeism, and the quiet loss of experienced women you've already invested in.

Co-led by two people who actually know this territory.

Medical and emotional insight, paired with the practical language for the workplace conversation. Neither half works as well alone.

Specialist Bereavement Midwife

15 years of clinical experience

Brings the medical and emotional reality of pregnancy and baby loss — what's actually happening for the person going through it, physically and emotionally, and what genuine support looks like versus what feels supportive but isn't.

Cali Gold, Mother Tells Coaching

15 years in HR & people leadership

Brings the workplace lens — the actual wording, timing and structure of the conversation a manager needs to have, built from years of coaching working parents through return-to-work transitions.

What's included

Length

60–90 minutes, depending on group size

Format

Virtual or in person

Style

Genuinely interactive — not a lecture

Audience

Managers, HR & People teams

This goes beyond policy or benefits — it's the conversation and the support that actually count. So many managers get this wrong, or avoid the conversation altogether for fear of saying the wrong thing. This session gives them the words, the structure, and the confidence to get it right.

What teams say

We've brought Mother Tells to our company Monthly Learn to raise awareness during the Pregnancy Loss week and were so pleased to see the engagement the session has received. Our team loved the fact we've invested into this topic and have been speaking of it for a couple of weeks since!

— Olya Yakzhina, Head of People and Culture at Work.Life

Bring this to your organisation.

If this feels like something your team would value — for Baby Loss Awareness Week or at any point in the year — let's set up a call to talk through options.

cali@mothertells.com

Grief doesn't wait for a good time. Neither should support.

cali@mothertells.com

Legal

Privacy notice

Last updated: 5 October 2026

I take your privacy seriously, and I've tried to keep this notice short and plain. It explains what personal information this website collects, why, and what your rights are.

Who I am

Mother Tells Coaching is run by Cali Gold, based in London. I'm the data controller for the personal information collected through this website. You can contact me at cali@mothertells.com.

What I collect, and why

The contact forms. Your name, email address, who you're getting in touch as, and your message. I use these to reply to you and to talk about how I can help.
The Return to More® Risk Score. Your name and work email, plus your score and risk band. I record this when you start and again when you finish. I don't receive your individual answers. I use these details to show you your result and to follow up about it and about return-to-work support.
Emails and calls. Whatever you choose to share with me when we talk.
Workshops and coaching. If you attend a workshop or work with me, I'll collect what's needed to deliver it, such as your name, email and feedback. Anything you share in coaching is confidential, and I won't share it with an employer without your explicit consent.

My lawful basis is usually legitimate interests: replying to people who have asked about, or engaged with, my services. Where the law requires your consent, for example for some marketing emails, I'll ask for it. You can ask me to stop contacting you at any time.

Please keep sensitive details out of the forms

Please don't include health or other sensitive details in the contact form. If you do share something sensitive, I'll treat it in confidence and use it only to respond to you.

Who I share it with

I don't sell your information. I use a few trusted services to run this website and my business:

Netlify hosts this website and receives the details you enter into its forms.
Google provides my email and, where I use it, workshop feedback forms. This site also loads its fonts from Google Fonts, which means your IP address is sent to Google when a page loads.
Spotify and LinkedIn. If you click through to them, their own privacy policies apply.

Some of these providers are based outside the UK, so your information may be processed in other countries. Where that happens, it's protected by appropriate safeguards, such as the provider's standard contractual clauses.

Cookies

This website doesn't use analytics or advertising cookies. If that changes, I'll update this notice and ask for your consent where it's required.

How long I keep it

I keep enquiry and Risk Score details for up to 24 months after our last contact, unless you become a client, in which case I keep records for as long as the work and my legal and accounting duties require, or you ask me to delete them sooner.

Your rights

You have the right to ask for a copy of your information, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to how I use it, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw consent at any time. To use any of these rights, email cali@mothertells.com.

If you're unhappy with how I've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. I'd appreciate the chance to put things right first.

Children

This website is for adults and isn't aimed at children.

Changes to this notice

If I change how I use your information, I'll update this page and the date at the top.

← Back to the website

Support her return. Keep your best people.

She's not tired. She's carrying everything.

Built for her. Open to every parent.

For the people who go first

The policy work behind the conversation

For the woman in the middle of it

For mothers who need to know they're not the only one

For dads and partners too

Coaching that goes further.

Boundaries

Wellbeing

The Motherhood–Ambition Axis

Nearly half of women planning to return after leave are already halfway out the door.

Gender equality is moving from reporting to action.

Return to More^® Risk Score

Before you begin

15 years spent listening to what mothers don't say out loud.

Mother Tells, the podcast

Let's talk about what your people need to hear.

The parental gap doesn't wait to show up in your numbers. Let's close it before it does.

Hear from the women.

Coming Back After Loss

Co-led by two people who actually know this territory.

15 years of clinical experience

15 years in HR & people leadership

What's included

Bring this to your organisation.

Grief doesn't wait for a good time. Neither should support.

Privacy notice

Who I am

What I collect, and why

Please keep sensitive details out of the forms

Who I share it with

Cookies

How long I keep it

Your rights

Children

Changes to this notice

Support her return. Keep your best people.

She's not tired. She's carrying everything.

Built for her. Open to every parent.

For the people who go first

The policy work behind the conversation

For the woman in the middle of it

For mothers who need to know they're not the only one

For dads and partners too

Coaching that goes further.

Boundaries

Wellbeing

The Motherhood–Ambition Axis

Nearly half of women planning to return after leave are already halfway out the door.

Gender equality is moving from reporting to action.

Return to More® Risk Score

Before you begin

15 years spent listening to what mothers don't say out loud.

Mother Tells, the podcast

Let's talk about what your people need to hear.

The parental gap doesn't wait to show up in your numbers. Let's close it before it does.

Hear from the women.

Coming Back After Loss

Co-led by two people who actually know this territory.

15 years of clinical experience

15 years in HR & people leadership

What's included

Bring this to your organisation.

Grief doesn't wait for a good time. Neither should support.

Privacy notice

Who I am

What I collect, and why

Please keep sensitive details out of the forms

Who I share it with

Cookies

How long I keep it

Your rights

Children

Changes to this notice

Return to More^® Risk Score