Specialist support that understands the emotional realities of stepfamily life.
Life Reclaimed
When Stepfamily stress has taken over more of your life than you want
Life Reclaimed is a 1:1 coaching programme for Stepmums who want their life back, without hardening, disappearing, or holding it all together quietly.
If you’re a Stepmum who feels constantly on edge, either because something in your family isn’t working, or because you’re always watching, adapting, overthinking, and managing yourself, this is for you.
You might look capable on the outside, but inside you’re tense. You think carefully before you speak. You scan the room. You adjust your reactions. You try to be reasonable, flexible, and “easy”, even when it costs you. You may care deeply about your partner and the children, and still feel like you don’t fully belong, don’t quite have a place, or don’t have the same permission to feel frustrated, upset, or overwhelmed as other people.
Perhaps your life no longer feels fully yours. You’re in a family you didn’t build from the start, living with rules you didn’t set, and emotional expectations you’re meant to meet quietly — even when they don’t feel right for you.
Over time, this erodes something essential.
You may start to doubt your instincts, minimise your feelings, or feel quietly ashamed of thoughts you don’t feel allowed to say out loud.
Life Reclaimed is for women who are tired of disappearing inside the Stepmum role. Not because they’re failing, but because the role itself often demands constant adaptation, emotional restraint, and self-silencing.
This work helps you understand why stepfamily life can feel so destabilising, loosen the shame around how you really feel, and reclaim your sense of self, agency, and choice, without needing to harden, detach, or stop caring.
This Is For You If You:
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feel anxious or tense before handovers or contact time
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tread on eggshells in your own home
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monitor yourself constantly to avoid being “the problem”
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feel you don’t really have the right to your feelings because “others have it worse”
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hold a lot in because you’re ashamed of how you actually feel
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struggle to be fully yourself around the children or your partner
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feel guilty for wanting space, rest, or time that’s just yours
From the outside, things may look fine. Inside, it can feel lonely, and hard to fully relax or be yourself.
Life Reclaimed Helps You To:
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understand why stepfamily life can feel so destabilising — and why your reactions make sense
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reduce anxiety, overthinking, and emotional vigilance
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stop shrinking, self-editing, or performing “best behaviour” to keep the peace
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loosen shame around your feelings, so you’re not carrying them silently or turning them against yourself
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set boundaries without collapsing into guilt or self-doubt
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feel safer being honest, human, and yourself
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reclaim a sense of choice, agency, and ownership over your life again
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interrupt spirals and steady yourself in the moment when something activating happens (for example, when a message lands)
Not because everything around you changes. But because you understand what's really happening and you’re no longer carrying it all alone.
How The Programme Works
Life Reclaimed is a focused, three-month coaching programme designed to help you step out of survival mode and back into your own life
It includes:
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6 × 75-minute 1:1 coaching sessions
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Sessions held fortnightly (approximately)
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Online
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Clear written summaries after each session, so you aren’t left holding everything in your head once real life kicks back in
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A clear direction to the work, so you’re not stuck talking about the same pain on repeat
Life Reclaimed Is...
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psychologically informed coaching grounded in real stepfamily dynamics
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a space where difficult, conflicting feelings can be spoken without judgement
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support for when you’re tired of holding everything together quietly
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work that helps you stop doubting yourself and second-guessing every reaction
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structured support that helps you move forward, rather than circling the same pain
This work is led by Katie - a stepfamily specialist, so you don’t have to explain, justify, or translate your experience for it to make sense.
There is no judgement and all your feelings are welcome and valid.
Life Reclaimed Isn't...
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therapy or crisis support
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ongoing emotional holding
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advice on how to manage children or ex-partners
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a promise that family life will become instantly easy
The focus is on what you can change, and on gently releasing responsibility and overthinking for what you can’t.
What We Work On Together
Life Reclaimed unfolds over six focused sessions.
Each one is designed to reduce how much stepfamily stress is taking up your life, not by fixing the family, but by changing how much of you, (both practically and emotionally) it takes up. The session content will be unique to your situation, but will follow the broad pattern below.
Session 1 — Why this feels so hard (and why it’s not you)
We make sense of the stepfamily dynamics you’re living inside, so you can see what’s influencing how you feel and respond. This helps reduce confusion, self-blame, and the sense of being constantly on edge, and explains why this role can quietly start to take over your time, energy, and life.
Session 2 — Guilt, anxiety, and the pressure to get it right.
We look at the patterns that keep you tense and self-monitoring, so you can ease the background anxiety and stop second-guessing every reaction. This includes understanding why messages or contact from the other household can feel so activating — and how to steady yourself when something lands, instead of spiralling.
Session 3 — Eggshells, self-silencing, and shrinking to keep the peace
We explore how much you’re managing yourself — what you say, don’t say, feel, or hide — so you can start to relax and be more yourself at home. This session focuses on releasing the constant vigilance and learning how to stop disappearing inside the system.
Session 4 — Boundaries that don’t leave you wracked with guilt
We focus on protecting your time, emotional energy, and practical space in ways that actually hold. This helps reduce resentment and exhaustion, and supports you to stop carrying things that were never yours to manage in the first place.
Session 5 — Reclaiming agency and choice in your own life
We shift the focus back to you — what you want, need, and are allowed to prioritise — so your life stops revolving around stepfamily stress. This session is about having a real say in how your home, time, and future feel.
Session 6 — Carrying this forward into real life
We bring the work together so you leave feeling steadier and clearer, with a stronger sense of self-trust. The aim is not perfection — but feeling more able to handle what comes up without spiralling or losing yourself again.
Each session is shaped around what’s happening in your life at the time. This is a supportive structure, not a rigid formula.
After Completing the Life Reclaimed programme,
Women Describe:
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feeling less anxious about Stepfamily life
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feeling calmer and less reactive
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understanding why things felt so hard (without blaming themselves)
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feeling less ashamed of their internal experience
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trusting their instincts more
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carrying less guilt and emotional labour
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feeling safer and more grounded day to day
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being able to show up more honestly in their life and relationships, and take up more space without apologising for it
Not because everything around them has changed, but because they are no longer carrying everything alone, silently, or by default.
Investment
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£1,900
Includes:
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Six 75-minute 1:1 coaching sessions across three months (evening sessions available)
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Clear written summaries after each session, to help you keep your footing between sessions
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Bespoke, stepfamily frameworks and tools
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Personal playbook at the end of the programme to keep you on track
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(Payment plan available, please email Katie to arrange this)
Jane, Manchester
Working with Katie helped me stop living on edge all the time.
I’m still a stepmum, the setup is still complicated, but I’m not constantly second-guessing myself or putting my life on hold anymore. I feel more like me again.
Jess, Sussex
My sessions with Katie helped me stop living in a constant state of anxiety and waiting for the next thing to go wrong.
For the first time, I stopped organising my whole life around the stepfamily and started making decisions based on what I needed without feeling guilty for it.
I feel more confident about my boundaries now and less reactive. I’m not putting my life on hold anymore, waiting for things to ‘settle’ before I let myself live it.