Ursula joined the Royal Navy as a rating and transferred to become a logistics officer. She enjoyed a varied career including being the Prime Minister’s personal steward to leading teams on board ships.
But after 17 years, she decided to leave the Navy to have a more stable life for her family. Adapting to civilian life was easy at first and she found a management role for a military contractor, but after a while, her work-life balance was not at a healthy level and and she experienced burnout.
With help from her local NHS mental health service and employment support from The Poppy Factory and STEM Returners, Ursula joined a STEM Returners Programme with Frazer-Nash where she completed a 12-week returner programme, being made permanent as a Tender Support Specialist.
Leadership in logistics
Ursula said: “I joined the Royal Navy as a rating and transferred to become a logistics officer. My last role was First Lieutenant of the naval barracks HMS Nelson. I enjoyed a varied career, which ranged from being the Prime Minister’s personal steward to leading teams on board ships.
“For me, domestic stability ultimately outweighed promotion, because I had a child later in life after 17 years in service. I left the Navy in 2012 having achieved all that I wanted to achieve.
“Adapting to civilian life was relatively easy at first, as I moved over to a senior management role for a military contractor. I became the general manager for eight sites around Portsmouth, delivering retail, leisure, catering and cleaning. I could understand things from both the client and contractor perspectives and find solutions to problems.
Mounting pressure
“Pressures kept building at work and I slipped into working at a pace that simply wasn’t sustainable. I didn’t see what was happening until it was already too late. It went beyond not being able to see the wood for the trees — eventually there was no wood and there were no trees, just the impact of it all hitting me at once.
“Before anything else, Talking Change — the NHS mental health service — became the first place where I finally stopped trying to cope alone. Their clinicians were calm, skilled and deeply compassionate. They helped me understand what burnout had done to me, why I could no longer ‘push through’, and how years of pressure had quietly eroded my sense of self. They gave me space to slow down, to breathe, and to begin rebuilding from a place of honesty rather than fear.
Steady support
“Even after securing my new role, Talking Change have continued to be a steady and essential part of my recovery. Their support didn’t end once I returned to work. If anything, it deepened. They have helped me recognise the patterns that once pushed me beyond my limits, challenge the old beliefs that told me I had to cope without support, and reconnect with the capable, grounded adult I had lost sight of.
“This has been about more than managing stress. It has been about learning to treat myself with the same compassion I’ve always shown others. Their ongoing guidance has helped me find the adult in me who can pause, reflect, set boundaries without guilt, and choose a healthier way forward.
Regaining perspective
“I was referred to The Poppy Factory through Talking Change. My Employment Consultant was nothing short of exceptional. She was calm, steady, genuinely empathetic, and had this gentle but unwavering way of making me feel heard. She didn’t just listen — she understood. At a time when I couldn’t see any light at all, she gave me a sense of hope and helped me regain perspective.
“We worked on my CV together and explored different roles that might suit me. She connected me with STEM Returners after they sent her details of a role at Frazer-Nash. She saw something in me before I could see it myself, and she encouraged me to apply.
“I wanted to step away from senior management and do something that would give me a better work life balance, so things wouldn’t go back to the way they had been before.
A new kind of working
“The team at STEM Returners were brilliant. They helped me prepare for interviews, because I’d spent years on the other side of the table, but I hadn’t been interviewed myself for more than a decade. We worked on different techniques, and they gave me helpful feedback.
“With that support I secured a new job as a Tender Support Specialist at Frazer-Nash. I enjoy the work and when I turn my computer off at the end of the day, I don’t have to keep checking emails or have my phone ringing. My manager is very supportive, and it feels like the company puts their people first.
It’s a totally different lifestyle for me now. I can go to the theatre with my husband, we can plan things together, and when I’m on holiday, I don’t need to check work emails.
“Both The Poppy Factory and STEM Returners were incredibly supportive, each in their own way, and the way they worked together made a real and lasting difference for me. Their partnership wasn’t just effective — it created a level of joined‑up support that genuinely helped me rebuild my confidence and move forward.”
Find out more about The Poppy Factory: https://www.poppyfactory.org/
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