Library

The largest free library in the world. Free. No Ads. No AI.

Events

The world’s top experts, live every day

Get away with a Teacher

Browse retreats

Join thousands

Explore a Challenge

Browse A to Z

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

COURSE

Mindful Preparation For Parental Leave

With Lori Mihalich-Levin

Preparing to welcome a baby into your family can be a time of great excitement – and also anxiety. This course is for anyone who is planning to go out on parental leave from their place of employment – whether maternity or paternity leave – who would like to focus on both work and baby in a mindful, intentional, calm, and confident way. Over the next 6 days, you will learn how to reduce your anxiety around leave, craft a thoughtful leave plan for your supervisor and team, prepare for logistical challenges, and develop leadership skills. Most importantly, you will feel connected to a working parent community and will feel less alone, knowing that new parents all over the world are having the same thoughts and feelings as you are.

Learn how to prepare for your upcoming maternity or paternity leave in a mindful, intentional, calm, and confident way.

6 Days

10 students

5.0 stars

11 min / day

English

About this course

Life Transitions

Meet your Teacher

Lori Mihalich-Levin

View Profile

Washington, DC, USA

Lori Mihalich-Levin, JD, believes in empowering working parents. More than ten years ago, she founded a program to support new moms and new dads in their personal and professional identity transition to working parenthood, and she is the author of a popular book on this topic. Lori lives in Washington, DC, where she is a healthcare lawyer in private practice, a mama to two wonderful redheaded boys, and an avid mindfulness practitioner. Her thoughts on leadership on parental leave transitions have been featured in national and global publications.

View Profile

6 Days

10 students

5.0 stars

11 min / day

English

Lesson 1

Your Introduction To A Mindful Preparation For Parental Leave

This first session sets the framework for our mindful preparation for your maternity or paternity leave. You’ll be introduced to the four themes of a successful planning process: developing a mindful mindset, navigating the logistical aspects, viewing leave as a leadership opportunity, and building a working parent community. You will also meet Lori, your guide for this course.

Lesson 2

Developing A Mindful Mindset For Your Parental Leave

In this session, you will explore the thoughts and feelings that are coming up for you around parental leave, and Lori will discuss and validate many of the concerns and worries that expectant new parents face. You will then learn several specific practices that can help you calm your nervous system when you experience anxious thoughts. You will walk away feeling more calm and confident about your impending maternity leave or paternity leave.

Lesson 3

Creating A Parental Leave Plan And Negotiating Aspects Of Your Leave

In this session, you will learn how to go about creating a formal parental leave plan and the reasons to spend time creating one. Just as important as creating the plan is being able to discuss it with your manager and team, and this lesson will walk you through how to do that as well. Finally, you will leave this lesson with strategies for negotiating various elements of your leave, including concepts like ramp-down and ramp-up, flexibility, and communication during leave.

Lesson 4

Navigating The Practical Logistics Of New Parenthood

We start today’s lesson with a gratitude practice, to ground us before we turn to the more logistical aspects of planning for parental leave. You will then learn some fundamentals and mindset shifts related to four important areas of maternity and paternity leave preparation: childcare (both the emotions and the logistics), food (preparing to feed both yourself and your baby), finances, and work schedules. We will end with some important lessons about boundary-setting.

Lesson 5

Viewing Your Leave Through A Leadership Lens

Today, you will learn how to look at your upcoming parental leave through a leadership lens. You’ll explore how this planning process can be an asset (rather than a detriment) to your career. You’ll also discover ways that your actions can inspire others to be intentional about leave planning and to feel more confident in their own maternity and paternity leaves.

Lesson 6

Starting To Find Your Working Parent Community

As you prepare for leave, you’ll want to start thinking about the community of support you can build to guide you along the path of working parenthood. In this final lesson of the course, we will focus on the importance of connecting with others who are going on this journey around the same time you are. We will explore four categories of people who may be part of your “working parent posse.”