Mother's Day Archives - Gateway Women

‘Calm After the Storm’ and other treasures to support your childless heart on Mother’s Day

May 9, 2023 Jody Day 0

Here we go again – like Groundhog Day, it’s Mother’s Day again this weekend – this time for Europe, Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, amongst others. Although, thanks to the [cough] genius of social media, those of us in the UK & Ireland get to experience it all over again! * Snark aside, for those of you who are feeling that creeping ‘uh oh’ feeling as Mother’s Day gets closer, I really hope that some of the events and resources below feel nourishing for you. And if it’s not ‘your turn’ for Mother’s Day this month, please know […]

Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen on ‘Mothers & Daughters’

March 21, 2023 Jody Day 0

In this session of ‘Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen’, Jody Day (founder of Gateway Women) and her #NomoCrone panel (Nomo=not mother + crone is not an insult!) discuss the sometimes challenging topic of mothers & daughters – a tricky relationship for many of us, and with a unique flavour if you are childless not by choice. Recorded on the March 2023 Equinox; a time of turning away and turning towards, depending on which hemisphere you live in; and falling the day after Mother’s Day in the UK & Ireland, this felt like a poignant moment in the wheel of the […]

Getting through Mother’s Day as a Childless Woman

March 18, 2023 Jody Day 0

UK and Ireland have their version of ‘Mothers Day’ (it’s called ‘Mothering Sunday’) on March 19th 2023. With International Mother’s Day coming up in May, we hope this helps you too. Both of the recording below were offered from our hearts in the hope that by sharing the strategies that we’ve each developed over the years, we can help you to naviage the complex emotions and triggering situations of this very multi-layered holiday with more ease. As this is one of the most difficult days of the year for many childless not by choice women, over the years we have […]

Mothers & Childless Daughters – a very hot topic for our next free Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen webinar

March 15, 2023 Jody Day 0

Register free at this link, the recording will be sent out the next day to all who register. Hope to see you there live, the chat is moderated and is usually pretty lively too! Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen is a series of quarterly webinars that I host with an inspiring panel of childless elderwomen in their late 50s, 60s and 70s. They are public, free, open to all and you are welcome to join us whatever age you are! We meet each Equinox and Solstice and our next one is coming up soon on Monday 20th March – Spring […]

How do we help our friends who are mothers to become ‘mother-allies’ to us? Jody Day interviewed on ‘A Certain Age’ Podcast by Katie Fogarty

May 11, 2021 Jody Day 0

Listen or share the 3-minute clip from the show above. Click here to listen to the full 38-minute interview. See below for a full written transcript below. It was such a pleasure being interviewed by Katie Fogarty for her ‘A Certain Age’ podcast which ‘celebrates life 50+ in all its sexy, smart, funny, fabulous, weird, sometimes unsettling, yet profoundly liberating glory.’ What I appreciated most deeply, apart from Katie’s warmth and humility was her genuine desire, as a mother, to understand more about what it means to be a childless woman, and how to become a better friend and ally to […]

How Do I Cope with Mother’s Day When I’m Childless?

April 27, 2021 Jody Day 0

Although the UK has already had its ‘Mothers Day’ (it’s called ‘Mothering Sunday’ and was back in March), we recognise that for many of our readers, members and followers, one of the most difficult days of the year is coming up soon on Sunday May 9th. With that in mind, we are offering TWO free GW Masterclass Webinars to support you this International Mother’s Day (and all are welcome, whether it’s Mother’s Day for you or not!) For our first free webinar of the day, I was joined by Judy Graham (Womenhood Counselling) and Sarah Roberts (The Empty Cradle) both […]

Celebrating the highs and the lows of 10 years of Gateway Women with The Full Stop Podcast [April 2021]

April 10, 2021 Jody Day 0

For Gateway Women’s 10th Anniversary in April 2021, I was thrilled to be interviewed by Berenice, Sarah and Michael of The Full Stop Podcast on what those ten years have been like, what has changed for me, and for the childless community in that time, and what my hopes and dreams are for the next decade. This is a very honest episode in which I reflect on some of the behind-the-scenes challenges of creating Gateway Women, and why turning it into a financially and culturally sustainable organisation that will outlast me is so important to me. You can find the […]

2 free webinars + 1 Podcast + 1 Instagram Live + Free Tickets to Childless Collective Summit + Support for UK Mother’s Day + Tutum Quarterly, a new journal for the childless community

March 12, 2021 Jody Day 0

Goodness gracious me it’s been a bit busy around here! There’s an old saying that says ‘be careful what you wish for’ and one of my dreams has been that the work of Gateway Women and the subject of involuntary childlessness is something that would begin to get more mainstream, serious recognition… and these last few weeks I’ve been working my socks off on a couple of really important projects that totally fit this. The first one was to create a video training series for COSRT (The UK College of Sex and Relationship Therapists) on ‘The Impact of Involuntary Childlessness on Sexual […]

Free Gateway Women Masterclass Webinar: ‘Coping with Mother’s Day’ – Recording now available

March 2, 2021 Jody Day 0

Hosted by Jody Day, psychotherapist, founder of Gateway Women and author of Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Life Without Children (Bluebird/PanMac) with special guests Karin Enfield, Yvonne John, Sarah Lawrence and Melanie Dagg. With the public messaging around the pandemic still focusing relentlessly on the needs of ‘families’, it can be harder than ever to be childless on Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday as it’s known in the UK and which falls on Sunday 14 March) For this Gateway Women Masterclass Webinar, Jody Day, the Founder of Gateway Women, psychotherapist and the author […]

Coping with International Mother’s Day as a Childless Woman

May 6, 2020 Jody Day 1

To watch this one-hour recording, click the image above or this link Whatever stage of your life you’re at as a childless woman, Mother’s Day can be a complex one to navigate. And for my international readers, it’s coming up this Sunday 10th May. For this video chat, I invited four childless guests to explore how they cope with Mother’s Day. Each of them has a unique viewpoint and I hope this conversation begins to represent a few of the less discussed ways that Mother’s Day and childlessness can intersect… As well as discussing their stories, we also answered questions […]

When the title of your book becomes the same as the news… ‘Living the Life Unexpected’

March 19, 2020 Jody Day 13

Today the 2nd edition of my book, Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children is published and the incredible global blogtour of my book that’s been going on since March 1st comes to a close. And yet, celebrating that feels like a crass thing to do right now, in the opening stages of a global pandemic that will change all our lives forever… Even though we’re in the run-up to UK Mother’s Day this weekend, normally a very anxiety-provoking time for British childless women, my website and inbox are almost silent on the […]

Coping with Mother’s Day as a Childless Woman

March 17, 2020 Jody Day 3

To watch this one-hour recording, click the image above or this link Whatever stage of your life you’re at as a childless woman, Mother’s Day can be a complex one to navigate. For this one hour chat, I invited four childless guests to explore how they cope with Mother’s Day. Each of them has a unique viewpoint and I hope this conversation begins to represent a few of the less discussed ways that Mother’s Day and childlessness can intersect… As well as discussing their stories, we also answered questions from our viewers, which included some topics that perhaps you can […]

#LTLU Living the Life Unexpected (2nd Edition): World Blogtour, 1-19th March 2020

March 1, 2020 Jody Day 45

I’m so proud to announce that the fully-revised and updated 2nd edition of my much-loved book, ‘Living the Life Unexpected’ is being published by Bluebird (PanMacmillan) in the UK on 19 March 2020. With fifty (I know, fifty!) prestigious endorsements inside the front and back jacket, a lovely new cover, a new subtitle, How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children, and new content, (including a new introduction from me which outlines what’s new), I hope you’ll find it exciting whether you’re a returning reader or a brand new one. 25+ chances to win a personally dedicated […]

Salt Water & Honey by Lizzie Lowrie: a powerful new memoir of childlessness and faith

February 28, 2020 Jody Day 0

Lizzie Lowrie is a Christian clergyman’s wife in the UK and one of the writers behind the popular, frank and earthy Christian blog about miscarriage and involuntary childlessness, Salt Water & Honey. Although what remained of my own childhood Christianity was eviscerated by the grief of childlessness, my spirituality survived and has returned to what was there before Sunday School – a deep sense of connection to the natural world; but that was hard-won too as there was a time when even that felt denied to me, exiled as I sensed I was from the natural cycles of birth and […]

Celebrating the childless on Mother’s Day

March 31, 2019 Jody Day 26

Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK – our version of ‘Mother’s Day’ and I’d like to take a moment to celebrate the childless. Yes, today isn’t meant to be ‘our day’, but it could have been, and so today we honour the children that live only in our hearts. Maybe that sounds ghoulish, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ve made friends with my ghosts now and they live in a tender, wistful part of my heart – so much so that when I see a child dancing whilst her father looks down lovingly upon her, my shadow daughter […]

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