The Matrescence Project

Have you been planning your return to work after motherhood, but now feel a little lost about how to actually make it happen?
Perhaps you had the itch to return to work, only to discover that when you did, something didn't quite fit anymore.
Or maybe you're still itching to return to your career, but aren't sure what that should look like now that you're a mother.
Whatever your relationship with work, career and motherhood, today's conversation with India Sutherland from India Sutherland Coaching is likely to speak to you.
India experienced first-hand how matrescence can shift our identity, and how those changes can have profound implications for our careers, ambitions and the way we want to work.
Like many mothers, she eventually left the corporate world and built a coaching business that allows her to work in a way that is much more aligned with her values, her family and the life she wants to create.
In this conversation, India shares practical advice for mothers returning to work or navigating work after having children, including how to approach conversations with your employer, ask for the flexibility you need, and navigate the realities of sick children, school and daycare commitments, pickups and the many unexpected demands of family life.
But we also go deeper.
Because sometimes a difficult daycare or school drop-off—when your little person is clinging to your leg and begging you not to leave—can leave you wondering:
Is this really what I want to be doing?
How can I make this work better?
What do I actually value?
And perhaps most importantly:
What do my family and I actually need from the way we structure our lives?
Because our values aren't simply a buzzword.
As we move through matrescence and motherhood, our values can become clearer, shift or feel increasingly difficult to ignore. And when the way we're living and working feels out of alignment with those values, we can feel the consequences.
This is a conversation about motherhood and identity, returning to work, career change after having children, workplace flexibility, family needs and finding a way of working that feels more congruent with the woman you've become.
If you'd like to hear more from India or learn more about her coaching and how she supports mothers, you can find her through her website, Instagram and Substack below:
https://indiasutherland.com
https://www.instagram.com/indiasutherland.coaching?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsi=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
https://substack.com/@indiasutherlandcoaching
Topics discussed: matrescence, motherhood identity, returning to work after motherhood, career after motherhood, working mothers, career change, workplace flexibility, values, motherhood and career, Australian mothers, flexible work.
 
 
 

Are you on maternity leave or planning your return to work transition? Have you recently returned but feel different, changed, or like you are not performing in the same way? 
According to Mothered Magazine’s editor-in-chief, TEDx speaker, author and award-winning workplace culture innovator, Alexa Starks, mums often do feel a difference in their performance - but for the better. If you need the evidence to help you understand the change or perhaps the language to explain it to others then this conversation is for you. 
Alexa also discusses what workplaces can do from a systemic perspective to better support mothers returning to work after maternity leave, and how this is in fact in their best interests as well as yours. 
We also discuss the long-overdue and much-needed change in the narrative of mothers, motherhood, and how awesome this real-life experience actually is for our leadership skills. 
If you want to access the full report (and perhaps show it to your boss?) visit: https://www.motheredmagazine.com
You can also check out Alexa Starks on Substack or Instagram.  
In future, if you want the opportunity to send in your questions to the incredibly knowledgeable women who will be sharing their insight and expertise on this podcast in future episodes, be sure to follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matrescence_project/ or on The Matrescence Project's Facebook Page where I share the details before the interviews. 
This is a podcast for all of us, so I want you to have the opportunity to have your questions answered!

Emily joins me from Canada to share her deeply honest journey through an unexpected path into motherhood. Together, we explore matrescence through multiple lenses—from the cultural and societal expectations placed on mothers to the deeply personal pressure so many women carry to become the elusive "good mother."
With remarkable vulnerability, Emily reflects on how motherhood challenged the identity she had carefully presented to the world, and how the transition through matrescence ultimately led her to discover a version of herself that felt genuinely authentic for the first time.
Our conversation also turns to the future. Emily shares the changes she hopes to see in the way society prepares, supports, and validates new parents, believing that a better understanding of matrescence has the power to transform the experience of motherhood for future generations.
Although we discuss differences between pregnancy and postpartum care in Canada and Australia, one truth remains universal: no matter where a woman lives, becoming a mother is a profound psychological, emotional, and social transition. Matrescence knows no borders, yet too often women are expected to navigate this transformation without the understanding, language, or support they deserve.
This conversation is a powerful reminder that while every mother's story is unique, the experience of becoming a mother is something that connects women across the world.

We prepare women for labour. We prepare them to feed a baby. We prepare them to keep a tiny human alive.
But very few of us are prepared for what happens to us.
In this bonus episode, I explore why understanding matrescence—the profound physical, emotional, psychological and social transition into motherhood—isn't simply empowering. It can be preventative.
When mothers have language for what they're experiencing, they are better equipped to recognise when they need support, extend compassion to themselves, and navigate one of life's biggest transformations with greater confidence. And maybe most important of all - the language connects us with each other, helps us feel heard, validated and part of a community rather than alone. 
This knowledge helps us embrace the changes and see how incredible our brain and body are, while really appreciating the beauty in those changes rather than trying to "bounce back". 
This episode is inspired by my latest Substack essay, The Missing Language of Motherhood, and is a call to action.
If this conversation resonates with you, please share it with one mother. Then encourage her to share it with another.
Awareness spreads one conversation at a time, and together we can help ensure fewer women enter motherhood without the knowledge they deserve.
Full Substack essay: https://substack.com/@thematrescenceproject 
 

How does a woman navigate matrescence when she still feels she is emerging from adolescence into adulthood herself?
Meet Olivia: A woman who speaks of exactly this, but with a few extra difficulties. In her first six months of motherhood, Olivia experienced domestic violence and a relationship breakdown. But after feeling lost in the process of becoming a mother, after feeling like motherhood eclipsed her identity entirely, Olivia finally feels like she is finding herself. This comes after two more pregnancies and babies, a deeply redemptive home birth, and another Bub on the way.
Olivia's truly inspiring story of motherhood and matrescence started with difficulty and isolation, but her perseverance and strength helped her transition into the mother, woman and individual she is today.  
This is a powerful reminder that matrescence is not a single moment, but an unfolding process that often occurs over years. 

Prepare yourself for a truly raw and honest conversation as Rhi opens up about her experience, with absolutely zero sugarcoating. From an unplanned pregnancy she wasn't sure she could continue, to making a decision and throwing herself into research and preparation. Rhi explains how she feels she managed to ensure a positive postpartum season by setting herself up and the steps she took to do so. The power of embracing and welcoming the changes matrescence brings, and leaning into trusting her partner and their communication. Rhi has an incredible depth of insight, and proves just how important it is to know about matrescence and the power of doing the research before her baby was born. 

What if the changes you're experiencing in motherhood aren't a sign that you're "losing yourself"—but evidence that your brain is adapting to one of life's biggest transitions?
In this jam-packed conversation, I'm joined by Dr. Renee White—doula, biochemist, founder of I Fill Your Cup, and host of The Science of Motherhood Podcast—to unpack the fascinating science behind matrescence.
Together, we explore:
Why becoming a mother can trigger such a profound identity shift
What happens in the brain from conception and throughout early motherhood
How and why these changes show up in everyday life
Why the experience can feel different with subsequent pregnancies
The impact of anxiety, trauma, and pre-existing mental health challenges during the transition to motherhood
Grieving your former self while embracing who you're becoming
Self-care, career changes, role transitions, and finding your footing in this new season of life
Most importantly, we discuss what mothers, families, communities, and healthcare providers can do to better support women through matrescence—so they can navigate this transition with greater understanding, confidence, and compassion.
Experts and Resources mentioned in this conversation:
- Dr. Greer Kirshenbaum (Neuroscience PhD, Doula and Mother) The Nurture Revolution
- Dr. Marian Piper (Artist, Writer and Researcher who turns pain into purpose)
Mums Matter Psychology offer Perinatal Mental Health Support for pregnancy and beyond, with bulk billing options https://www.mumsmatterpsychology.com 
Now that we have empowered ourselves with the scientific knowledge thanks to Dr. White's help, we discuss what we need to do to help support mothers so they experience this transition with less confusion and more calm and confidence. 

Cass describes her former self as "fiercely independent". A woman who was not tied down by anyone or anything, who loved to travel, thrived on winning in the boardroom and climbed the corporate ladder. Cass shares how meeting her soul mate, her now husband, began to soften her, and how this changed her perspective on bringing children into the world. But Cass's introduction to motherhood was met with many emotional mountains to climb. Cass struggled to connect with her baby through pregnancy out of fear of losing her, then when her daughter came early and spent her first 6 weeks of life in NICU that fear persisted. Cass spoke of struggles, traumas and how not having a village around her impacted her transition into motherhood. Cass felt she didn't fully "bloom into motherhood" for many years after her daughter was born as a result of the collection of these experiences. But through persistence, perseverance, strength, courage and a mother's determination, she bloomed into the mother she wanted to be in the most unexpected places and in the most surprising ways. Cass shares her perspective on what mother's are missing in their postpartum season, the biggest difficulties in workplaces as per her experience, and what she thinks we need to do as a culture and a society to improve home, family and work lives for mothers and families alike in future generations. 

Episode 3: My Matrescence Story - Zana's Personal Journey
In this deeply personal episode, host Zana sets aside the research and theory to share her own lived experience of matrescence — the profound transformation a woman undergoes when she becomes a mother.
Zana paints a vivid picture of who she was before children: a psychology graduate raised to value independence and career ambition, living a city life with her husband — traveling, spending freely, and loving every bit of it. Then, almost overnight, everything changed.
She opens up about the shock of early motherhood — the anxiety that "absolutely exploded," the fear of being alone with her newborn, the guilt of wanting to return to work while simultaneously dreading daycare drop-offs. Through her first matrescence season, she discovered that knowledge and education were her lifeline back to confidence.
But the path to her second child was far from straightforward. Zana shares the heartbreak of three consecutive miscarriages — the grief, the shame, and the quiet courage it took to keep showing up for the son she already had. When her rainbow baby arrived, her second matrescence season unfolded very differently: with more clarity, less anxiety, and a growing willingness to let her old values go.
By her third season, the transformation was complete. 
This episode is a beautiful reminder of why matrescence matters: when we understand that the shifts we feel to our core are normal, necessary, and worth embracing, we stop fearing them — and start becoming the mothers we want to be.
Listen to Zana's journey to find out just how much her life, her values and her mothering shifted when she finally embraced matrescence. 
Follow The Matrescence Project on Facebook and Instagram to be up to date with upcoming interviews, and for the opportunity to send in your questions to professionals and get the information you would like about the season of becoming a mother.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575355774112 
https://www.instagram.com/matrescence_project/ 

Motherhood changes women deeply — neurologically, psychologically, emotionally, and socially — yet so few of us are ever taught to expect it.
In this episode of The Matrescence Project, I explore the science behind matrescence and the hidden transformation that takes place when a woman becomes a mother. I unpack the wider societal consequences of continuing to undervalue this season of life, and why understanding matrescence matters not only for mothers today, but for the generations of women coming after us.
Because changing the conversation around motherhood could change everything.
For up to date information on future episodes, be part of the conversation and the opportunity to have experts answer your questions around matrescence and your becoming into motherhood, be sure to follow The Matrescence Project on Facebook and Instagram.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575355774112
https://www.instagram.com/matrescence_project/