• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Women Deserve Better

Women Deserve Better: For us, that means better information, better support, and better choices. Life brings challenges. We bring empowerment, because we’ll never underestimate women.

  • Work
    • Find a Job
    • Build a Career
    • Take Maternity Leave
    • Thrive As a Working Parent
    • Know Your Rights at Work
  • Learn
    • Earn Your Degree As a Parent
    • Know Your Rights on Campus
    • Finance Your Education
    • Medical Care for Student Moms
    • Housing for Student Parents
    • Child Care While You’re In Class
  • Live
    • Child Care
    • Feeding Your Family
    • Housing
    • Clothes
    • Medical Care
    • Getting Around
    • Money Matters
    • Special Needs
    • Fun
  • Love
    • Fathers
    • Your Parents
    • Adoption
    • Support Networks
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Contributors
  • Shop
  • Support Us
  • Donate
  • Home

3 Places to Find Professional Peer Support When Requesting Maternity Leave

August 18, 2018 by Bethanie Ryan

Having a good support network is important for any task you are trying to accomplish. This is especially true whenever you are trying to take maternity leave. Thankfully for working moms, it can be easy to find professional peer support from women who have gone through what you are experiencing, if you know where to look!

The first place to look is your informal network within your own office. It is always nice to have people in your own office to talk to when it comes to pregnancy and leave time. (Even having just one person who really understands can be very beneficial.) If women from your office have taken off for maternity leave, they will most likely have the “inside scoop” on how it works within your specific workplace. Each business or company is different, so knowing what your friends and coworkers experienced in terms of how much they still needed to keep in touch with work, how much of a workload they had to come back to after leave, and what struggles they may have faced can help you to better understand what you may experience.

Knowing is half the battle, and it really puts your mind at ease if you have a clearer understanding of what to expect when you take time off from the office. Your informal network can also give you tips and support in terms of which people to approach before, during, and after maternity leave to make sure that your transition goes smoothly. It also is nice to have a friend “on the inside” to keep you up to date on what is happening while you are away.

The next place to look is on the internet. New moms groups on Facebook and mommy blogs can be both a blessing and a curse. Many groups have questions and answers to problems that you may not have even considered before about maternity leave. The “outside view” can help by giving you different questions to have answered by your superiors, different ideas of how maternity leave can be adapted to different situations, and different views and feelings about taking time off. They can also provide a 24/7 supportive environment and a place where you can feel connected to the “real world.” Women in these online groups can answer questions at all times of the day and night and can give comfort if you start feeling lonely or disconnected from the world outside of your new baby.

You should try to be careful though, because they can also be places where you get “lost down a rabbit hole” of both information and unhappy moms who may not be having a great maternity leave experience. Make sure you stay focused on the positive posts and comments and know that these women are looking for support as well. You can even be a positive, supportive voice to them, too! Sharing your own story can make you feel more involved in the community, and it can be very cathartic for both you and the other mothers.

Finally, if you are struggling to find someone through your informal network or online, talk to your human resources office. Your company may have amenities, such as an employee assistance program or confidential counselors who can put you in touch with other women or support groups for new mothers. Also, try talking with your OB-GYN because she or he is probably looped into available support resources.

Filed Under: Take Maternity Leave, Work Tagged With: Maternity Leave, support network, unpaid maternity leave

Primary Sidebar

Suggested Articles

3 Tips for Choosing When to Start Maternity Leave

Returning to Work After Maternity Leave

4 Tips about Maternity Leave

fb-share-icon

Footer

This message is only visible to admins.
PPCA Error: Due to Facebook API changes it is no longer possible to display a feed from a Facebook Page you are not an admin of. The Facebook feed below is not using a valid Access Token for this Facebook page and so has stopped updating.

neverunderestimatewomen

Check out "Learn the Basics of Unemployment Benefi Check out "Learn the Basics of Unemployment Benefits," courtesy of Women Deserve Better Expert and legal aid attorney Susan Schoppa.
https://www.womendeservebetter.com/learn-the-basics-of...

 #womendeservebetter
A woman out of work recently sent us the following A woman out of work recently sent us the following email. We wanted to share her thoughts with you:
The most common feelings I experience as an unemployed job seeker: 
1. Rejection/Sorrow. Something is wrong with me… because it cannot be that I don't have more than the required training or education or experience... so it must be me.
2. Anxiety from inadequacy of effort. Something would come along if I just tried harder (more than daily searches, weekly job clubs, outreaches on LinkedIn, etc.).
3. Aloneness. Other people with fewer skills, less education and experience… are getting jobs. They won't understand how alone I am in this. Other people must have a lot of resources to not have to work for this long, and I am barely making it and can't afford things now. I am alone in this.
4. Hopelessness. Scores of applications and letters to employers have gone unanswered for weeks and now months. What's the use?
5. Blaming myself and/or self-doubt. Why didn't I see the writing on the wall and find something while I still had a job? I guess I really am as stupid as these employers think I am.
6. Confusion. I am now out of my routine, so things don't fall into place like they once did. Am I getting dementia? Is this normal?
7. Anger. If my employer thought I was so great to give me a very good review several years in a row, why haven't they told me of other available jobs after this one ended? Shame on them!
8. Embarrassment. People may think I lost my job because I was a marginal or lazy employee. They don't know how hard I worked, and that the termination was due to issues not of my doing. They may see me as someone who deserved this.
9. Fear. What if I can't find a job in time before we lose our place to live?
10. Happiness. It can be a good thing to start over sometimes.
Have you ever felt like this woman? Please know that there is help. Check out our latest article on Women Deserve Better, "Find Help When You Can’t Find a Job":
https://www.womendeservebetter.com/find-help-when-

#WomenDeserveBetter
Are you struggling to pay your rent or mortgage? A Are you struggling to pay your rent or mortgage? Are you worried about losing your home? Here is some information about what could happen if you can't pay all of your rent or mortgage, courtesy of Women Deserve Better Expert and legal aid attorney Susan Schoppa.

www.womendeservebetter.com/how-to-find-legal-help-for-evictions-and-foreclosures 

#WomenDeserveBetter
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Thanks for signing up!

GET OUR LATEST NEWS

ABOUT

  • Our Mission
  • Contributors

SUPPORT US

  • Donate
  • Become a Partner
  • Share Your Story or Your Expertise
  • Promote Women Deserve Better

Women Deserve Better: For us, that means better information, better support, and better choices. Life brings challenges. We bring empowerment, because we’ll never underestimate women.

Copyright © 2021 — Feminists for Life of America • All rights reserved.