Mother Discovers Passion Through Confidence-Building Program

A mother has reported discovering her life’s passion following her graduation from a program designed to enhance the confidence and skills of young mothers. Emma Parson was among six women who completed the More Than Mum program, an initiative managed by the Future Female Society (FFS) in Ipswich, Suffolk. The Future Female Society (FFS) was established in 2017 by Kim Trotter, who described the program for mothers as its “flagship” offering. Ms. Parson stated that the program enabled her to “learn a lot” about herself. Ms. Parson became aware of the program through her friendship with Ms. Trotter’s nieces. She recounted attending a coffee morning and maintaining her involvement with FFS thereafter, prior to her participation in the More Than Mum program 10 weeks ago. “I really learned a lot about myself,” she explained. “I lost a lot of confidence when I had my son, he’s now eight.” She continued, “I’ve been out of work for probably about four years, I got made redundant, and ever since then I’ve been a stay-at-home mum.” Ms. Parson added, “I completely lost my confidence, didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, so coming on the programme it has really helped me see what other people see in me.” She concluded, “I’ve actually made the decision to go into event planning so it has helped me find my passion and what I want to do.” While participating in the FFS program, Ms. Parson enrolled in a course focused on event planning and management. Two weeks ago, she successfully achieved a Level One accreditation, earning a 100% pass mark. She is currently seeking employment opportunities. Jwan Mustafa, another mother participating in the program, discovered the initiative on Facebook and joined alongside a friend. “It was a really good experience – we learned a lot from each other and for me especially to get more into the society,” she stated. She added, “We have now lots of friends, we share our experience.” Ms. Mustafa indicated her intention to continue her English language studies, in addition to pursuing further qualifications and employment. The six women who participated in the More Than Mum program celebrated their graduation at an event conducted at Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich on Tuesday. Ms. Trotter elaborated that the program aims to guide mothers through a process of rediscovering their identities. “I always tap my chest when I talk about More Than Mum because it’s about finding yourself, finding your identity, and trying to work out what are your next steps,” she commented. She further expressed, “They are part of a bigger picture and when we see that happening, which we do on every single course, it just makes me cry normally. I just love it.”