Sometimes I struggle to recognise the old me: a driven, ambitious lawyer working on billion dollar deals on the male-dominated trading floors of the world’s biggest investment banks. What followed was not the international career I had always imagined for myself but a long, unplanned and often stressful career break, towards the end of which I barely knew who I was.

Returning to the workforce after time away is tough. Returning after caring for kids, parents, or after an illness is tougher still. It can leave you feeling isolated, despondent and lacking confidence. So how do you pick yourself up again and look forward? How do you reclaim your career and, possibly, yourself?