Mothers at Work
Develop Specialised Expertise in Supporting Mothers at Work
A professional microcredential for coaches, consultants, HR professionals, leaders and mother-support practitioners seeking to better support mothers in paid work
2026 COHORT NOW OPEN
2026 Cohort Includes:
In addition to the full Mothers at Work Program, you'll also receive:
The Mothers at Work Implementation Series - four live implementation sessions throughout August 2026 designed to help you:
✓ Build confidence as a Mothers at Work professional
✓ Clarify your professional pathway
✓ Strengthen your positioning and visibility
✓ Develop a practical plan for implementing this work in your business, practice, organisation, or role
Live implementation calls are recorded and available to participants who cannot attend live.
To preserve the interactive nature of the Implementation Series, enrolments may close once capacity is reached.
Mothers at Work – Quick Facts
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Mothers at Work is a training program for professionals who support, or want to support, mothers navigating paid work.
Created by motherhood studies sociologist Dr Sophie Brock, the program combines evidence-based research, sociological insight, practical frameworks, and ready-to-use resources to help you understand and address the unique challenges working mothers face.
Rather than focusing solely on productivity, confidence, or work-life balance, Mothers at Work explores the deeper cultural, structural, and sociological forces shaping mothers' experiences, including guilt, the mental load, identity shifts, workplace culture, and the Care-Career Conundrum.
Whether you work with mothers individually, facilitate groups, consult with organisations, or are exploring a new professional direction, this program helps you develop a specialist lens for supporting mothers in paid work with greater confidence, depth, and impact
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When you enrol during the June 2026 intake, you'll receive immediate access to the full Mothers at Work training program, plus access to The Mothers at Work Implementation Series, which includes 4 live calls.
These four implementation-focused sessions begin in August and are designed to help you move beyond learning the material and into applying it within your work, business, workplace, or organisation.
Together we'll explore:
• Developing specific expertise in supporting mothers in paid work
• Designing your Mothers at Work pathway
• Positioning, visibility and thought leadership
• Creating your 90-day implementation plan
You'll also complete a short Directory Snapshot before the series begins so I can better understand your background, goals, and areas of interest.
Because these sessions are designed to be interactive and tailored to participants, places may close once capacity is reached.
All sessions will be recorded.
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This training is for people who feel drawn to supporting mothers and want to develop meaningful expertise in an area that is increasingly needed across coaching, therapy, leadership, workplace wellbeing, education, consulting, and advocacy.
Some participants join because they already work with mothers.
Others join because they want to pivot, niche, expand their offerings, strengthen their positioning, or create new opportunities within their business or career.
You may be:
• A psychologist, therapist, counsellor, social worker, or mental health professional
• A coach, educator, facilitator, or group program leader
• An HR professional, people leader, consultant, or DEI practitioner
• A researcher, advocate, writer, or speaker interested in motherhood and work
• A business owner or entrepreneur wanting to specialise in supporting mothers
• Someone exploring a career pivot into the mother-support space
Whether you're already working with mothers or feel called toward this work, Mothers at Work provides the knowledge, language, frameworks, and practical resources to support your next step.
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Understand the root causes of guilt, burnout, and the mental load
Confidently explain complex issues like the motherhood penalty, maternal wall, and maternal wage gap with confidence
Support working mothers to reduce guilt, strengthen confidence, and reach personal and professional goals
Use easy-to-share summaries of key research and data to support advocacy and visibility
Leverage the ‘motherhood asset’ to build inclusive and empowering workplace cultures
Use ready-made presentations, frameworks, activities, and resources within your practice, workshops, programs, or organisational work
Identify opportunities to specialise, expand your offerings, or strengthen your professional positioning
Expand your practice with new strategies, insight, and credibility in the mother-support space
Contribute to inclusion by recognising and addressing issues affecting mothers in marginalised communities
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When you enrol in Mothers at Work, you receive:
Immediate access to 5 comprehensive training sections combining research, critique, practical strategy, and implementation
Video lessons with accompanying downloadable slides and a private podcast version for learning on the go
The Mothers at Work Implementation Series (June 2026 cohort only)
Done-for-you presentations to begin sharing insights straight away
The Maternal Thriving Resource Pack, including workbooks, activities, guides, checklists, and implementation tools
Done-for-you workshop outlines, templates, and client-facing resources
Return-to-work and re-entry planning materials
Resources to support individual mothers, groups, workshops, and organisational initiatives
Certification as a Mothers at Work Professional upon successful completion of the assessment requirements
A listing in the Mothers at Work Directory to help mothers, organisations, and referral partners find your services
Ongoing access to all program materials
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Approx. 1–2 hours per section, 8 hours total content
Complete the course in a weekend or spread it across several weeks
Includes quick-reference guides and implementation tools you can revisit anytime
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Mothers represent one of the largest and most underserved populations seeking support.
Motherhood shapes confidence, identity, wellbeing, career decisions and relationships.
Many professionals already work with mothers but lack specialised frameworks and language.
Organisations are increasingly looking for support around parental wellbeing and retention.
Having a niche area can help differentiate your work and strengthen your professional positioning.
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The Mothers at Work Program can be completed as a professional microcredential in supporting mothers navigating paid work.
A microcredential is a short, focused professional learning experience that recognises specialised knowledge and skills within a specific area of practice.
The program includes approximately 8 hours of self-paced learning. Participants who also attend all four live implementation calls may record approximately 12 hours of professional development in total.
Upon successful completion, participants may apply for the Mothers at Work Microcredential, which includes:
A Certificate of Completion
A Mothers at Work Professional Badge
A profile listing on a Mothers at Work Directory webpage hosted on Dr Sophie’s website
The application process involves a short reflective assessment designed to demonstrate engagement with the program content and its application within your professional context. It does not require a formal essay or examination..
Applications are reviewed individually to ensure participants have engaged with the program content and can apply the concepts appropriately in their work.
As CPD requirements vary between professions and countries, participants should check with their own professional association, registration body, or employer regarding recognition of these hours.
Thinking About Developing Specialised Expertise in Supporting Mothers at Work?
Download the Free Program Guide
See inside the Mothers at Work Programl and explore:
✓ What you'll learn
✓ The frameworks and tools included
✓ The Maternal Thriving Resource Pack™
✓ The live implementation series
✓ The microcredential, badge and profile listing
✓ Whether Mothers at Work is right for you
Ready To Develop Expertise In Supporting Mothers At Work?
Whether you're a coach, therapist, consultant, facilitator, educator, HR professional, or leader, you may be noticing that motherhood is shaping the experiences of many of the women you support.
Yet few professionals receive specialised training in this area.
Mothers at Work combines evidence-based research, practical resources, and sociological insight to help you develop confidence and expertise in one of today's most important and underserved areas of support.
Why Specialised Sociological Knowledge Matters
Most professionals working with women encounter motherhood-related challenges every day
Guilt.
Overwhelm.
Identity shifts.
Burnout.
Career uncertainty.
The mental load.
Workplace frustration.
Most professionals working with women encounter motherhood-related challenges every day.
Yet without a deeper framework, it's easy to focus on symptoms while missing the broader forces shaping mothers' experiences.
Mothers at Work provides a specialist sociological lens that helps you understand not only what mothers are experiencing, but why.
One of the foundational frameworks you'll learn is the Care-Career Conundrum - helping explain the tensions many mothers experience between caregiving, paid work, identity, and wellbeing.
The care career conundrum is a sociological model explaining the challenges mothers face balancing career and motherhood. While broader social change is necessary for complete resolution, there are ways we can help mothers navigate ‘the juggle’, ease their mental load, reduce guilt, and increase their confidence and level of support.
"I highly recommend Dr Sophie Brock's 'Mothers at Work' course for any mother-support worker who might guide their clients through the journey back to paid work.
As a career coach specialising in supporting mothers through matrescence and career transitions, I was truly impressed by the depth of research and practical tools the course offered.
Sophie’s insights into the challenges mothers face in balancing career aspirations with family responsibilities are spot-on with her Care Career Conundrum model, and the wealth of resources provided made this course invaluable.
It not only informed my own practice but also inspired me to expand my offerings to better support mothers feeling stressed and overwhelmed by this transition.
This course has been a game-changer for me."
- Emma Reddie - Career & Motherhood Coach
Is This For You?
This program is for those who want to develop greater confidence, expertise and impact in supporting mothers. This is for you if:
Support mothers through counselling, coaching, therapy, mentoring, or other one-to-one work
Facilitate groups, workshops, courses, or community programs for mothers
Work in HR, leadership, employee experience, wellbeing, DEI, or organisational development
Want to deliver presentations, workshops, consulting, or training related to working motherhood
Support women more broadly and regularly see motherhood-related challenges arise in your work
Are exploring a business, career pivot, or niche pathway focused on supporting mothers
Develop expertise in the issues that shape mothers' experiences of paid work.
The Frameworks You'll Learn
Included Frameworks & Tools
The Care-Career Conundrum™
Understand the competing expectations mothers navigate between care and paid work.
The Perfect Working Mother Myth™
Help mothers recognise and challenge impossible cultural expectations.
The 5R Method™
A practical framework for understanding and reducing the mental load.
The Maternal Identity Integration Approach (MIIA)™
Support mothers through identity shifts, role transitions, and self-redefinition.
The Motherhood Asset Framework™
Help mothers identify, articulate and leverage strengths developed through motherhood.
The MOTHER Media Analysis Method™
A framework for understanding how media and cultural narratives shape maternal expectations.
The Identity Mapping Tool™
A practical exercise for exploring role conflict, alignment, and integration.
One of the advantages of specialising is having frameworks that help you explain complex experiences clearly and confidently. Throughout Mothers at Work, you'll learn practical tools, models, and methodologies that can be applied within coaching, therapy, facilitation, workshops, organisational work, speaking, and advocacy.
What Content The Mothers at Work Training Covers
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Unveiling the Struggles of Working Mums and Why These Struggles Exist
Current research and data on the realities of working motherhood
Key insights into the experiences of mothers in organisations and business ownership
Practical statistics and evidence to support advocacy, education and organisational change
A sociological perspective on diversity, equity and inclusion through the lens of motherhood
Understanding the additional pressures faced by self-employed mothers
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Cracking the Code: Why Working Mothers Face Unique Challenges
Understanding the Perfect Working Mother Myth and other cultural narratives shaping mothers' experiences
Exploring the Care-Career Conundrum as a framework for understanding competing expectations
Evidence-based insights that challenge common assumptions about working mothers
Understanding how social and cultural expectations influence confidence, identity and decision-making
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The Ripple Effect: The Cost Mothers and Organisations Pay
Understanding the motherhood penalty, maternal wall and maternal wage gap
The mental health consequences of maternal guilt, burnout, mental load and unequal care distribution
The organisational costs of failing to adequately support mothers
Why motherhood remains a critical DEI issue
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The Motherhood Asset: Unlocking Hidden Potential
Harnessing the power of the maternal brain in the workplace and within business
The business case for supporting working mothers
Applying the Motherhood Asset within organisations, leadership and workplace development
Supporting self-employed mothers to leverage maternal strengths within their businesses
Challenging deficit-based narratives of motherhood
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Your Toolbox for Change: Practical Strategies for Success
The 5R Method for understanding and reducing the mental load
The Maternal Identity Integration Approach (MIIA)
The Mum Guilt Reframe and Release Method
Return-to-work tools and transition frameworks
Practical strategies for supporting wellbeing, confidence and sustainable success
"The Mothers At Work Program has provided the context, knowledge, and resources for me to support mothers who engage in paid work through my business.
Studying under Dr Brock is a dream come true, and her dedication, compassion, and passion comes through in this program. She has provided a thorough, evidence-based program to help those in the motherhood support field hold space for and support their clients struggling with balancing their mothering and professional lives.
I feel empowered, prepared, and confident in my ability to contribute to the well-being of working mothers and implement the strategies, resources, and practices outlined in the program.
I had high expectations for the program from the start, because I have followed Dr Brock's work for many years, and this program definitely OVER-delivered in terms of content and resources. I would recommend this program to anyone in the motherhood support space!"
- Nicole Bonaire - Authentically Imperfect Mama
What You'll Walk Away With
✓ Certificate of Completion
✓ Mothers at Work Professional Badge
✓ Website Mothers at Work Directory Profile Listing
✓ 8+ Hours Professional Development
✓ 4 Live Implementation Calls
✓ Licensed Frameworks & Resources
plus, you’ll receive
The Maternal Thriving Resource Pack
20+ Ready-to-Use Resources, Templates and Tools
One of the biggest challenges after professional development is translating ideas into action.
That's why Mothers at Work includes the Maternal Thriving Resource Pack - a collection of practical tools, templates, workbooks, presentations and implementation resources that can be used within coaching, counselling, workshops, organisational initiatives, speaking engagements and client work.
Instead of starting from scratch, you'll have ready-made resources you can adapt and apply straight away.
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Speaking Guides for mothers and leaders - to help you offer advice and key dot points to consider when having conversations about planning a return to work and managing the care/career conundrum for mothers who are employees, and for mothers who are business owners
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Release Working Mum Guilt Workbook for mothers to help them to ease perfectionism and release working-mum-guilt. The workbook is editable to adapt to your own branding and style.
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Mental Load Workbook for mothers on managing the mental load - editable to adapt to your own branding and style.
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Done for you Speaking Notes for a 1 hour presentation on the key considerations in supporting mothers to return to work and key considerations for mothers in the workplace (adaptable to deliver to mothers directly or to organisations)
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Done for you Powerpoint Presentation with slides to accompany 1 hour presentation - template is editable to adjust to your own branding and add/remove information
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Template for course/program that you can adapt and expand on to help you take course content and teach it to groups of mothers to help them manage the juggle of working and mothering
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Template for Return to the workforce plan for you to customize for your clients
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Template for Return to your business plan for you to customize for your clients who are self-employed
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Template Pitch Emails to help you if you'd like to reach out to organisations and pitch yourself to offer workshops and education sessions
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The Care Career Conundrum Checklist is a checklist that you can use with your clients or employees to help identify the specific struggles an individual is facing that is a direct symptom of living within the Care Career Conundrum.
"I can highly recommend Sophie's Mothers at Work programme for mother supporting practitioners wanting to delve deeper into the care-career conundrum.
This has been an invaluable framework for me in my work supporting mothers in the workplace, shifting away from self-blame to reframing understanding through a systemic lens.""
- Lydia Stallard - Psychologist & Founder of Full Circle Psychology
Become recognised as a Mothers at Work Professional - demonstrate specific expertise through your micro-credential, badge and directory listing.
Confidently explain why working mothers face unique challenges using evidence-based sociological frameworks rather than surface-level productivity advice
Apply Mothers at Work frameworks including the Care-Career Conundrum, The Motherhood Asset, the 5R Method, MIIA, and the Mum Guilt Reframe and Release Method
Support mothers navigating guilt, the mental load, matrescence, burnout and workplace challenges with greater clarity and confidence
Communicate complex issues such as the motherhood penalty, maternal wall and maternal wage gap in ways that are practical, accessible and actionable
Facilitate conversations, workshops, coaching sessions and organisational initiatives using ready-to-use resources, presentations and implementation tools
Identify opportunities to integrate this work into your existing practice, business, leadership role or organisation
Strengthen your credibility and professional positioning as someone with specialist expertise in supporting working mothers
Access a practical toolkit of templates, workbooks, presentations and implementation resources that can be adapted to your own context
What Completing Mothers at Work Supports You To Do
Everything Included In Your Enrolment
Training
✓ 5 Training Sections
✓ Private Podcast Version
✓ Ongoing Access
Resources
✓ Maternal Thriving Resource Pack™
✓ Templates, Worksheets & Implementation Tools
Professional Recognition
✓ Mothers at Work Microcredential
✓ Mothers at Work Professional Badge
✓ Website Directory Listing
Live Support
✓ August Specialist Implementation Series
Whether you're a coach, therapist, consultant, facilitator, leader or aspiring specialist, Mothers at Work equips you with the frameworks, language and tools to confidently support mothers navigating the realities of paid work and care.
You'll develop a deeper understanding of the cultural, organisational and systemic forces shaping mothers' experiences, allowing you to create more meaningful and effective change in your practice, business, workplace or organisation.
FAQ
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Mothers at Work is designed for professionals who want to develop specialist expertise in supporting working mothers.
This includes:
• Coaches, psychologists, therapists and counsellors
• HR professionals, people leaders and workplace wellbeing practitioners
• Consultants, facilitators and organisational trainers
• Researchers, advocates and educators
• Professionals who want to specialise in supporting mothers navigating paid work
• Individuals exploring a career or business focused on motherhood and work
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No.
Many participants already support mothers in their practice, workplace or organisation.
Others join because they want to develop specialist expertise in this area, explore a new professional direction, or build a motherhood-focused offering within their existing work.
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Yes. You'll receive immediate access to all training materials, resources and downloads upon enrolment.
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To receive the Mothers at Work microcredential, participants are required to have watched all 8 hours of course content and complete a short reflective assessment demonstrating engagement with the program content and its application within their professional context.
This is not an academic assignment, essay, or examination. Applications are reviewed individually prior to awarding a microcredential certificate of completion, badge, and profile listing.
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The Mothers at Work Program includes approximately 8 hours of self-paced learning.
Participants who attend all four live implementation sessions may record approximately 12 hours of professional development in total.
As CPD requirements vary between professions, countries, and registration bodies, participants should check with their own professional association, employer, or accrediting body regarding recognition of these hours.
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The Implementation Series is a four-session live support experience included with June 2026 enrolment.
The sessions are designed to help you integrate the material, strengthen your professional positioning, build confidence applying the frameworks, and identify practical ways to use Mothers at Work within your practice, business, workplace or organisation.
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No.
You'll receive immediate access to all course materials and can work through them at your own pace.
The implementation sessions are designed to support participants wherever they are in the learning process, although you'll get the most value by engaging with the content before or between sessions.
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The Mothers at Work Specialist Implementation Series includes four live implementation sessions held throughout August 2026 at 11:00am (Sydney/Melbourne time):
Call 1 – Becoming a Mothers at Work Specialist
Monday 10 August 2026Call 2 – Your Offerings and Place in the Ecosystem
Monday 17 August 2026Call 3 – Positioning, Visibility & Leadership
Monday 24 August 2026Call 4 – Integration + Your 90-Day Action Plan
Monday 31 August 2026All implementation sessions will be recorded and made available to enrolled participants, so you're welcome to join live, catch up later, or do a combination of both.
While you'll gain the most from attending live where possible, participation in the live calls is not required in order to complete the program.
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The self-paced training contains approximately 8 hours of content.
Some participants complete the program over a weekend, while others work through it over several weeks. You'll also have ongoing access to revisit the material whenever you need.
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For as long as the e-learning platform remains active, minimum 1 year. The Maternal Thriving Resource Pack include materials that are for you to download and keep.
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Yes, I've designed these resources to be template that you can build on and customize to be most appropriate for your work with mothers. You can change the wording and branding to suit your business/organisation.
I ask that you don't change the name or descriptions of concepts I've developed as original, which will be marked with a copyright sign for ease of recognition. I would also recommend you resist changing any data or references listed.
You will receive a copy of the presentation slides as a powerpoint file.
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I have designed the program to be relevant across countries, and so haven't included any information to do with policy or the law. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are meeting your own clients'/organisations expectations on including policy guidelines specific to your country/state/territory.
The information contained in this program is drawn from sociological evidence, research and theory, as well as data from a research project I've completed with mothers across the world, but with a majority of participants located within Australia.
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Yes this program is designed to be adaptable to apply to both mothers as employees and mothers as business owners.
There are key resources included that are designed specifically for you if you support mothers who are self-employed.
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I don’t offer refunds on this digital product outside what is required by law in Australia.
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Yes, you can join on a payment plan. Please note that if you sign up for a payment plan you are required to complete all payments.
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Choose Mothers at Work if you want practical specific training focused specifically on supporting mothers navigating paid work.
The program explores workplace culture, maternal identity, guilt, the mental load, career progression, organisational change, and the unique challenges mothers face when balancing care and paid work. You'll gain practical frameworks, tools, resources, and implementation support that can be applied immediately in your professional role, business, practice, or organisation.
Choose the Motherhood Studies Certification if you want a broader and deeper immersion into the sociological study of motherhood. The Certification explores motherhood theory, matrescence, maternal identity, social constructionism, contemporary motherhood research, and the wider cultural and structural forces shaping mothers' lives.
Many professionals choose Mothers at Work as a focused pathway because it provides practical tools and resources that can be implemented straight away. Others go on to complete the Motherhood Studies Certification later to deepen their theoretical and sociological foundations.
I've created a comparison guide that outlines what's covered in each program, who they're best suited for, and what you'll walk away with.
Click here to download the comparison guide.
If both programs resonate with you, there's also the option to enrol in both through a discounted bundle, giving you immediate access to the full Certification and the Mothers at Work Program with significant savings.
You can explore the bundle option here.
Still unsure? Reach out at info@drsophiebrock.com and I'd be happy to help you determine the best fit for your goals and professional context.
Learn more about Sophie
I have spent 13 years researching Motherhood and have a PhD in Sociology specialising in Motherhood Studies from The University of Sydney. In my research I developed what has been described as a ‘ground-breaking theory’ for understanding how Mothers’ lives are shaped by the social and cultural construct of Motherhood. I’m also a Mother myself.
I’ve been working on developing curriculum and programs for the last 11 years, starting out when I began teaching at The University of Sydney and supporting the development and teaching of undergraduate units of study in sociology. I taught and facilitated classes face to face for 5 years before moving into the world of online program development and teaching. I continue to publish in the space of maternal scholarship and be involved in research and consultation.
My most recent research project involved qualitative surveys gathering information from 580+ mothers from across 20+ countries, gathering stories and data on their experiences in planning their return to work, and their experiences of employment as mothers.
My passion and focus is in supporting those who work with mothers to develop, integrate, and adapt a sociological lens of Motherhood into their businesses, careers, and professions.
The ultimate purpose of my work is to contribute to changing the cultural conversation on Motherhood and the individual experiences of Mothers, creating a world where Mothers feel empowered, supported, and valued.
"I knew from my previous experience with Sophie’s programs that Mothers at Work was going to be fantastic and help me personally and professionally. However, this exceeded my expectations.
The information was clear, concise and easy for my brain to quickly understand and apply it to my current work and work I am planning for the future.
I really appreciated the “done for you” resources, as I often get stuck when creating these myself. I over analyze everything and takes me forever to finish! I have already implemented/integrated some of these resources into my work.
I will be recommending this program to everyone I meet who works with mothers."
- Dawn - Mama Comes First / Sunrise Mental Health & Midwifery
Included with 2026 enrolment
The Mothers at Work Implementation Series
Four live implementation sessions throughout August designed to help you:
• Build confidence applying the material
• Clarify your specialist positioning
• Identify your pathway within the motherhood support ecosystem
• Develop visibility and thought leadership
• Create a practical plan for applying the work
This is available only to participants joining during the current enrolment period.
$2899 AUD
Investment
Prefer to pay monthly?
For a limited time, join with our extended 12-month plan – $245/month