Meet the Northampton graduate who has used her probation experience to pen a help book for mums

A woman who lived and studied in Northampton has penned a book to help new mums based on the experience she has working in probation.

Sarah Edwards studied at the University of Northampton beginning in 2007, before going on to work in probation at Northampton Crown Court.

The 32-year-old always wanted to work within criminology and psychology after studying the subjects, as well as always having a dream to write a book.

As lockdown hit and Sarah had a bit more time on her hands, her dream to write a book became a reality, as last month she released ‘Success on probation: A step by step system to reform your life and release yourself from your mental jail’.

The book is aimed at mums who want to shift their mindset, give themselves goals and restore their confidence.

Sarah, who has been working in probation for ten years and now lives in Luton, said: “Writing a book has always been an idea I’ve had in my head. I always just thought ‘I’ll do it one day', but now is the time.

“I have all my experience from working with offenders so I thought I would use what I know works for them, which is mainly setting goals, to help mums too.

“I couldn’t see anything else out there that was similar, so I wanted to bring both together.”

Sarah, who has two children aged four and two and now also runs a tutoring company, wanted the book to be relatable for mums, so it consists of anecdotes from her own parenthood.

At the end of each of the nine chapters there is then a step-by-step guide that can help mums to change how they feel about their own lives and mimics how Sarah changed her own mindset after struggles.

Sarah added: “As a mum you don’t stop to think about changing your life and it’s easy to fall back into old habits.

“It’s similar to offenders having that sense that people can change and their life is not stuck.

“If a mum is at home with two children, she might feel like her life is stuck on this hamster wheel of changing nappies and not getting any sleep.

“But if both mums and offenders are in the right mindset they can change.

“I wanted to give back and show people that there is a pathway for change, that even with a ‘regular’ life you can achieve your goals and think big.

“I hope the book empowers and broadens confidence.”

An independent publishing company, DVG Star publishers, which favours new authors, published Sarah’s book last month after she received positive testimonials.

The book is available to buy from Sarah’s website.

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