Striking a balance for working parents

Juggling a career with parenting and trying to avoid burnout is a challenge most working parents will experience or recognise. When we looked a little closer, we found it to be one of the biggest mental health challenges faced among our 300 Parent Network members.

At Sanctuary, we’re committed to being a diverse, inclusive organisation and our Parent Network aims to support our colleagues at all stages of parenting to thrive at work, obtaining a good work-life balance.  

Proudly flying the flag for mental health, our Parent Network set to work on their 2025 flagship campaign, Parent Mental Health Week. With the chosen campaign theme, ‘Balance Vs Burnout’, we lined up a range of activities, events and resources to help people balance busy minds and lives.

Keynote speaker and bestselling author, Leanne Spencer, joined us for a webinar and talked to more than 200 of our colleagues (not just the parents among us) about her ‘Cadence’ approach. This included some solid advice for us all to take away on how to make small changes for big impact.

We got physical with yoga instructor, Hilly Hannken, who brought us a lunchtime yoga session and an online movement and meditation session. We invited participants to donate to Mental Health UK, our Charity of the Year for 2025, giving our support to mental health more widely.

We also relaunched our Buddy Directory, with a video introducing a handful of open-minded mums and dads who’d be willing to have a chat with any of our colleagues who need to talk.  Their lived experiences range from IVF to anorexia, and everything in between.

During the week, colleagues opened up and shared their stories, and we celebrated our imperfections with a discussion about why we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others on social media.

Wherever our colleagues might be on their parenting journey, we hope there were slivers of balance, community and recovery to be found during Parent Mental Health Week.