Lori Mihalich-Levin is the Founder and CEO of Mindful Return, a movement that helps new parents navigate the uncertain terrain of working parenthood. Currently, 92 employers offer the Mindful Return program to support employees in their transition to working parenthood.
Additionally, Lori is the author of Back to Work After Baby: How to Plan and Navigate a Mindful Return from Maternity Leave and created the Mindful Return Maternity Leave E-Course. She also co-hosts the Parents At Work podcast and is a healthcare lawyer in private practice at her own firm, The GME Group, PLLC. Lori’s thought leadership on issues related to working parenthood has been featured in publications including Forbes, The Washington Post, and New York Times Parenting.
As a working parent of two boys, Lori understands the need for a supportive community of working parents — especially when you’re first transitioning from parental leave. Her mission is to help parents feel empowered to make thoughtful choices and be present both with their babies and in their careers.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- What inspired Lori Mihalich-Levin to create Mindful Return?
- Lori describes some of the challenges parents face as they return to work
- What has improved for working parents in the last generation?
- Lori explains the importance of encouraging both men and women to take parental leave
- How employers can destigmatize parental leave and retain talent
- Lori’s strategies to help working parents deal with guilt
- The new Mindful Return program that gives experienced parents the support they need
- How parenting can enrich your career — and vice versa
In this episode…
Working parents wear many hats and often struggle to find the support needed to thrive in both their personal life and professional career. After transitioning back to work after parental leave, numerous parents deal with the guilt of leaving their children, logistical challenges of finding childcare, and a lack of confidence that they can show up the way they used to at work. Can new parents find success in both areas of their life without sacrifice?
When Lori Mihalich-Levin was a new mom transitioning back into her legal career, she found many resources focused on the baby but nothing about personal and professional identity transition. Desperate for help as a working parent, Lori created her own program, Mindful Return, which helps new parents gain support from other working parents and find the resources needed to grow in all areas of their life. But Mindful Return doesn’t stop with the parents — Lori and her team are on a mission to help employers retain new parent talent and keep their employees’ careers on an upward trajectory.
In this episode of The Lawyer’s Edge Podcast, Elise Holtzman sits down with Lori Mihalich-Levin, the Founder and CEO of Mindful Return, to talk about working parenthood and parental leave. Lori discusses the importance of destigmatizing parental leave for both men and women, how employers can help new parents navigate the transition, and how Mindful Return is helping both new and experienced parents succeed in their personal and professional life.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Elise Holtzman on LinkedIn
- The Lawyer’s Edge
- Lori Mihalich-Levin on LinkedIn
- Mindful Return
- Parents At Work podcast
- Back to Work After Baby: How to Plan and Navigate a Mindful Return from Maternity Leave by Lori Mihalich-Levin
- Working Parent Group Network (WPGN)
- Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky
- Work, Parent, Thrive by Yael Schonbrun
Sponsor for this episode…
Today’s episode is brought to you by the coaching team at The Lawyer’s Edge, a training and coaching firm which has been focused exclusively on lawyers and law firms since 2008.
Each member of The Lawyer’s Edge coaching team is a trained, certified, and experienced professional coach AND either a former practicing attorney or a former law firm marketing and business development professional.
Whatever your professional objectives, our coaches can help you achieve your goals more quickly, more easily, and with significantly less stress.
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