See more of the picture
Bring different parts of family life together to understand how they affect one another.
The Parenthood Experience Survey
How does becoming a parent change who we are?
We talk a lot about how life changes when we have children. Less about how we change.
A UK-wide research project exploring identity, relationships, work, ambition, wellbeing and what we want from life after becoming a parent.
Take the survey
Around 10–15 minutes
Confidential
Personalised results
UK-wide research
The Parenthood Experience
Since becoming a parent, how much has your sense of identity changed?
Not at all
A little
Quite a lot
A great deal
Your Overall Score
20%
Early ParenthoodIdentityCongruenceWorkRelationshipsWellbeing
Early Parenthood
20%
The early days of parenthood may have asked a lot of you before you felt ready.
Your results help bring those patterns into view.
Survey + personalised results
Why we're doing it
Why this research matters
Parenthood doesn't happen one bit at a time.
There is already valuable research into maternal wellbeing, fathers' mental health, work, relationships, childcare and how responsibilities are shared at home.
But none of us lives those things separately.
The bigger picture
How work is going affects home.
How work is going affects home.
How supported we feel affects what we can manage.
Money affects our choices.
Relationships affect our wellbeing.
And becoming a parent can change
what we want from all of it.
We want to understand those connections.
Understand both experiences
See where parents' experiences overlap, where they differ and what we can learn from both.
Give organisations better information
Help workplaces and services design support around the reality of parents' lives.
Turn insight into something useful
Use the findings to improve support, conversations and decisions for parents.
Who we are
The people behind the research
We came to the same question from different directions.
We're Hannah York and Emma Coomber. We're both coaches, both parents, and our work gives us two different windows into family life.
Hannah works predominantly with mums. Emma works predominantly with dads.
What we started noticing
Different conversations. Similar threads.
The details were different, but the same themes kept surfacing: identity, responsibility, work, relationships and where our own needs fit once we become parents.
So we started comparing notes.
The similarities were interesting. The gaps were too. Sometimes mums and dads seemed to be describing very different versions of the same family life. Other times, different words were describing much the same thing.
We want to understand both, and use what we learn to help create better support for parents, families and the workplaces around them.
Two different windows into family life.
Not opposing sides. Different parts of the same picture.
Hannah
Emma
Hannah York
Motherhood, Identity, People & Culture ExpertHannah works with women and mothers around identity, work, relationships, confidence and the changes that can come with parenthood.
Her background in people, culture and employee experience shapes her interest in what happens when family life meets the expectations of work.
Hannah also runs Audacity , a programme for women navigating identity, confidence and change.
Emma Coomber
Fatherhood, Identity & Life Design CoachEmma works with dads around identity, responsibility, work, relationships and the pressure many men feel to provide and keep things steady.
Her background spans small businesses, start-ups, business ownership and several years as a stay-at-home mum, shaping her interest in how work, family, relationships and our own needs coexist.
Emma also runs Next Gen Men , helping dads move beyond simply managing life and towards actually enjoying it.
