The most powerful version of you began the day you became a mother.

A coaching programme for ambitious women navigating matrescence: the identity transformation of becoming a mother. 

For women in the first three years of motherhood who are ready to rise forward. 

Your child deserves the best version of you. So do you.

61% do not instinctively ask for help.
79% internalised bounce-back beliefs.
84% conceal their real struggle.
90% struggle when returning from maternity leave.
62% feel unlike themselves.
56% expect to have their pre-pregnancy body back in 3 months.
61% do not instinctively ask for help.
79% internalised bounce-back beliefs.
84% conceal their real struggle.
90% struggle when returning from maternity leave.
62% feel unlike themselves.
56% expect to have their pre-pregnancy body back in 3 months.

Sound familiar?

“Once I get more sleep, I’ll be me again.”

I am not a natural mother. What if I somehow damage my baby?

I am on a hamsterwheel and I cannot get off. I am exhausted.”

“Everyone else is blazing ahead but I’m stuck.”

“I don’t connect with my partner like I used to”

“I can’t ask for help. Everyone will see I’m failing.”

Biology might be to blame

What you are feeling has a name. Matrescence: the neurological, psychological, and biological transformation of becoming a mother.

The disorientation, the strangeness, the sense of not quite recognising yourself, is exactly what this kind of change feels like from the inside. This is evidence of how real and how complete the transformation is.

Understand where you are in your motherhood transformation journey. 

What if you didn't have to figure motherhood out alone?

You don’t need to be fixed or to bounce back. You need to be met, exactly where you are, and given the tools to understand what is happening to you, and who you are becoming as a mother and as a woman.

3 ways we guide you through the identity transformation of becoming a mother:

A reading meter with a gage and 5 stars above it

Identify the gap: what’s keeping you stuck

Take the Rise Up Scorecard and find out exactly where you are in the most significant developmental shift of your life and what you need next to rise forward.

A book icon in yellow outline on pink background

Understand where your perception of motherhood comes from

Discover how Western society shaped your perception of motherhood and change the way you mother, the way you speak to yourself, and the way you rise.

Up written in capitals and with an exclamation mark

Rise into your most magnetic self: Rise Up Mastermind

Twelve weeks group mastermind. Built on matrescence and original research, designed for ambitious mothers. The rigour your transformation deserves.

Stop bouncing back.
Start rising up.

Understanding matrescence changes the question from “What is wrong with me?” to “What do I actually need right now?”

That question, asked honestly and with the right framework, leads to the same three things every time.

Capable. Unshakeable. Connected.

  • You know who you are even though everything has changed.
  • You know your child, how to be their mother and guide them in their foundational years.
  • You make decisions from a rooted place instead of from exhaustion.
  • You ask for help without guilt, have the honest conversation with your partner, and let others carry some of the weight.
  • You have stopped shrinking, apologising, over-explaining. You walk into a room and own it.
  • You have built a strong group of women around you, who support each other and cheer each other on.

This isn't a phase to push through.

This is matrescence: a neurological, psychological, social transformation

and you are living it without a map.

85%

of mothers report a significant shift in identity in the first three years. Most receive no support for it.

0

Mainstream healthcare appointments dedicated to the mother's identity transformation at any postpartum check.

The compounding value of doing this work on your relationships, your children, your career, your life.

Start where you are.
Rise from there.

The Rise Up Scorecard is free and takes less than five minutes. 

The result is a personalised picture of exactly where you stand across all four pillars of motherhood: Self, Child, Connection, and Ambition.

Learn something true about yourself, and leave with a clear view of the most important actions you can take right now.

Free · 20 questions · 5 minutes · No call required to get your results.
YOUR GUIDE

Mags Salton

Matrescence Specialist · Founder of Mabbatical

Mags Salton is a mother of three, early childhood development specialist, Montessori educator, and matrescence specialist. She founded Academicus, an early learning community supporting expatriate families in Zurich, and Mabbatical™, a programme and movement repositioning early motherhood as the most significant developmental transformation of a woman’s life.

Mags draws on neuroscience, developmental psychology, applied linguistics, and her own experience across three pregnancies. She guides ambitious mothers through matrescence with real research and honest tools. Her framework is built for women who are done shrinking and ready to rise.

Through her writing, coaching, and advisory work, Mags partners with mothers, organisations, and thought leaders who understand a simple truth: when the mother is well, the child is well. Investing in the maternal transition is one of the highest-leverage decisions a family, company, or society can make.

AMI-Certified Montessori Educator
MA Applied Linguistics & Education
Founder: Academicus
Researcher: The bounceback survey
Author: The Phoenix Report
Mother of three