Supporting parents and carers: Identity, loss and wellbeing at work

About this event

Understanding the emotional strain and identity changes parent carers face, with real experiences and practical ways to cope.

Being a parent or carer brings immense rewards, but it also comes with unseen challenges, including shifts in identity, experiences of loss, and increased emotional and practical pressures.

These challenges can impact both personal wellbeing and workplace performance, yet they are often invisible in professional settings.

In this interactive workshop, we will explore the hidden impact of parenting and caring responsibilities on staff.

Participants will gain insight into:

• The different types and stages of grief, including loss beyond bereavement
• How identity and self can change through caring responsibilities
• Strategies to support wellbeing for parents and carers in the workplace
• Practical tools for people professionals and managers to create supportive, inclusive environments

This session combines lived experience, professional expertise, and practical guidance, providing HR leaders and managers with the knowledge and tools to understand and support parents and carers effectively.

Who should attend:

People professionals, people managers, and anyone responsible for supporting staff wellbeing and engagement in the workplace.

About the speakers

Hansa Raja

Hansa Raja helps organisations rethink how they support parents and carers at work. She believes it’s not just about policies or benefits. It’s about understanding the everyday realities people face, creating space for connection, and building peer support that really works.

Using her lived experience and years of leadership across the voluntary and charity sector, Hansa knows what it’s like to balance work with caring responsibilities and the quiet ways this can affect confidence, belonging and performance. She brings both practical insight and human understanding to her consultancy, helping teams and leaders see what’s often invisible.

Hansa is also the Founder of Holding Space, an award-winning charity delivering parent/carer peer. She combines storytelling, reflection and simple frameworks to help organisations create workplaces where parents and carers feel truly seen, connected, supported and able to thrive.

Gayle Rowcroft

Gayle Rowcroft is committed to breaking the grief taboo and helping organisations create workplaces where conversations about loss and the emotions of grief, are met with confidence, compassion, and practical support.

She normalises grief as a natural human experience and strengthens understanding of how it appears in everyday working life. Drawing on her personal story and extensive coaching and training expertise, Gayle brings warmth, clarity, and emotional safety to every session.

She equips people with practical tools and grounded insight to better support colleagues who are grieving. Recognising that every grief experience is unique, her approach is tailored, respectful, and rooted in kindness. She ensures people feel seen, heard and understood. Importantly, she also highlights that grief is not limited to bereavement. It can arise from many forms of change and loss, all of which deserve acknowledgment and support within the workplace.

Please note:

1. Webinar joining instructions will be sent to you again one day before the event, with a further reminder, 30 minutes prior to the event starting.
2. The session may be recorded and shared with people afterwards. Please bear this in mind and have your camera off if you do not wish for your image to be shared.
3. The chat function will be used for participants to engage with the webinar, so just be mindful of the login name you use and ensure you are happy for other people to see this.
4. For security reasons, it is requested that participants join the live session 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and with the same name as registered on Eventbrite as not doing so may cause a delay or non-admittance to the event.
5. This event may include an external speaker who has prepared their own presentation. Any views or opinions expressed by the speaker are their own and do not reflect those of the CIPD.
6. If you require any reasonable adjustments to enhance your experience, please get in contact with us by responding to this email and we will do our best to accommodate.