Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Hemm and Sarah Douglas.
Please kick things off for us, how does your story begin?
Our story has the same roots as so many – personal experiences and a desire to make the journey easier for others. We’re experienced postpartum doulas, and we’ve worked with many families – supporting them emotionally, mentally and physically after the births of their babies. It has been an amazing journey, and we’ve been honored to spend time with families during this delicate and intimate phase of life.
We’ve learned a lot. We’ve seen how parents who plan on returning to work after their baby’s birth face a unique set of challenges – navigating work benefits and leave policies, making the most of maternity/paternity leave time, managing family and work roles, creating expectations and boundaries and dealing with guilt and self-doubt. We’ve heard parents call for more support during this short but intense transition time, and we knew we could help.
The idea started as a way to meet expectant parents where they were – at work and online – and provide them with education and support. It is evident there is quite a gap in employer offerings. Human Resource and Benefits departments aren’t organized to meet this need and don’t have the perinatal expertise to go beyond the traditional roles.
We created Soutiens to help fill a gap in the support for new parents as they plan for, take and return from maternity/paternity leave.
Has it been a smooth road?
We’ve been incredibly fortunate. The only “struggle” we’ve faced is that interest in our programming has outpaced our expectations, and we’ve had to scale up faster than we originally planned! We quickly learned to keep our expectations conservative, but to have flexible planning for reaching well-beyond them!
We were good friends prior to starting Soutiens, and we knew we’d work together well. One of us is an outgoing, engaging people person, the other is a thoughtful writer, and we hold a high amount of respect for each other’s approach and skill set. It’s been helpful to recognize and utilize our own strengths. We each know what we do well, and we bring that to the table in terms of business plans and content creation.
We’ve had a very positive reception, both in enthusiasm from people we’ve networked with and in interest from companies. In talking to nearly everyone we meet about our vision for Soutiens, we’ve received really valuable feedback which has helped shape our offerings. Our vision for Soutiens has changed drastically since we first started, in part due to the collaborative nature of launching a partnership, but also due to feedback we’ve received as we’ve networked and built our programs. And we’ve made connections with a variety of companies through personal introductions, which has thus far limited the amount of time we’ve needed to spend on marketing and advertising. We’ve learned to see every chance to talk about Soutiens as an opportunity for feedback and connection.
Our advice in summary- recognize your strengths and the strengths of those around you, share your vision with everyone you encounter and be receptive to feedback in order to grow and evolve.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Soutiens story. Tell us more about the business.
We’re bringing this idea of providing education, support, and community for new parents to the workplace, encouraging and enabling companies to take an active role in supporting their new parent employees.
Soutiens has a variety of programs to provide personalized support, education, and social support within any company. The programs developed by Soutiens utilize a strength-based approach to building resilience and a strong parenting foundation. We do this through offerings such as on-site and virtual seminars, Parent Cafes, Parent Councils, managerial training, and more.
Our approach is different than either the prepared parenting classes many couples take or the benefits overview offered by human resource departments. Our specialty lies in the blend of these two. We believe that “work skills” and “parent skills” are complementary, that the early days of being a parent are ultimate leadership training experiences, and that strong parents are strong employees. And with education, support, and community, new parents can build strength, resilience, and flexibility, and can be both a productive employee and an engaged, attentive parent.
From the business perspective, it is no secret that new parents often struggle upon returning to work – any new parent can regale you with the challenges faced on a daily basis. New parents, particularly mothers are leaving the workforce at an alarming rate. As an employer, the number of highly trained, experienced employees who are at risk of leaving companies translates into a great expense, especially in competitive environments.
We are confident that with training and support employees can be better equipped to navigate the transitions associated with having a new baby and returning to the workforce engaged and productive.
One thing that we are proud of is the response from expectant parents. We see the engagement and aha! moments during our seminars. It is clear that they are hearing information for the first time and thinking about parental leave and the postpartum period in a whole new way. Our observations were quantified during a recent Soutiens seminar series, participants, through pre- and post-surveys. It showed a 30% increase in confidence in their ability to offload projects and responsibilities to team members, 45% increase in knowledge of how to take care of their emotional and mental wellbeing after baby and 51% more clarity on how to manage work and family responsibilities. This change is what motivates us every day.
It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others.
There are a million ways to be a good parent; there are a million ways to manage the family- and work-life flow. Sometimes, parents need a dose of humor (“Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures by Amber Dusick or “Dad is Fat” by Jim Gaffigan), sometimes a moment of reflection (“Operating Instructions” by Anne Lamott or Project Love podcasts), sometimes a reference of “is this normal?” (The Wonder Weeks app or “What to Expect the First Year” by Heidi Murkoff). Our recommendation is this – there’s never going to be just one source to pull from. Read. Listen. Try things. Take what works, and don’t be afraid to leave what doesn’t.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.soutiens.us
- Email: info@soutiens.us
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/soutiensllc
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/soutiensllc
Image Credit:
Amanda Hemm, Ann Stachowicz
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