Dreading the Question: ‘So, What Do You Do?'
Photography Albane McGuinness
Losing your badge: who are you when you leave the NHS?
When I left the NHS, following restructure and redundancy I thought the hardest part would be the practical stuff – finances, contracts, “what will I do next?”
It turned out the hardest part was something I hadn’t expected at all:
Who am I without my badge?
For years, my answer to “What do you do?” was simple. I could name my role, my team, my organisation. People understood it immediately. There’s a lot of comfort in that.
Then one day, you hand in your badge or log in for the last time, and suddenly that neat little identity disappears. You’re still the same person, with the same experience and values – but it can feel like you’ve been cut loose.
I feel for those colleagues now faced with similar as consultations documents are being circulated, some want to start something new and I hear "I'm done. its time for me to do something new"
On paper you’re still in the same job – same badge, same team meetings – but inside, something has already shifted. You’re curious about doing your own thing, wondering what else might be possible, and noticing that the old role doesn’t quite fit in the same way.
Psychologist William Bridges talks about three phases of transition:
Endings – when you begin to loosen your grip on an old role or identity, even if you’re still in it.
The Neutral Zone – that in-between space where you haven’t left yet, but you can’t quite imagine staying forever either.
New Beginnings – when a new sense of direction and identity starts to take shape.
Most of the people in my first 6-week programme were exactly in that Neutral Zone. Still “Nurse” on their email signature, but already asking themselves, “Could I be a business owner? Could I do this differently?”
It’s an uncomfortable place to be, but it’s also a hugely creative one – and that’s the space the programme was designed to support.
From job title to value
One of the biggest mindset shifts is moving from:
“I am my job title”
to
“I bring a set of skills, experience and values that create real value for specific people.”
In the public sector, our identity is often wrapped tightly around the organisation: the uniform, the email signature, the team. When you step out on your own, all of that falls away – and you’re left with you.
That can feel exposing. But it’s also where your credibility and depth of understanding come from.
When you learn to talk about your NHS or public sector experience in a different way – not as “I used to…” but as “Here’s what I learned, and here’s how it helps my clients now” – something important shifts. You stop apologising for leaving, and start building on what you’ve lived and learned.
The mindset shift to entrepreneur
In the 6-week Starting Your Own Business programme I ran this autumn, we explored some of these shifts together:
From serving the system to designing your own service
From waiting for permission to backing your own judgement
From seeing money as awkward to seeing pricing as part of your impact
From hiding behind a logo to standing in your own name and story
Each week we combined practical input – hearing from experts in areas like branding, finance, marketing and insurance – with mindset work: space to reflect, be honest about fears, and imagine a new identity beyond the badge.
The feedback has been great:
Fit and relevance: 100% of participants said the programme met them where they needed it, in terms of their current career or business choices.
Balance: Everyone said the mix of practical advice and mindset worked for them. some wanted longer or the mindset work and so I've tweaked it for next time.
A couple of people put it like this:
“By the end of the 6 weeks I felt energised, excited and had a more realistic view of starting a business. The mixture of meeting experts, sharing practical tips and being with like-minded people was what I needed.”
and
“I am still in the planning stages towards having my own business and this perfectly helped with that… The course was really useful and I would recommend it to anyone leaving the NHS and looking to start their own business.”
Finding the middle ground
For me, the goal isn’t to reject our NHS or public sector identity. The badge mattered. The work mattered.
The work now is to find a middle ground:
where we can honour our experience
let go of the parts of the identity that keep us stuck
and repurpose everything we’ve learned into work that feels aligned, sustainable and ours.
That’s what I’m trying to create space for.
What’s next
I’ll be running the next 6-week Starting Your Own Business programme in January, again combining:
practical advice from guest experts, and
mindset support around identity, confidence and taking the next step.
We’ll also be having bi-monthly catch-ups for alumni, so people don’t have to do this on their own – they stay connected, supported and accountable as they experiment and grow.
If you’re in or around the NHS/public sector, thinking about starting something of your own – and maybe feeling a bit wobbly about who you are without the badge – I’d love to hear from you.
Get in if you’d like to know more, or if you just need a sounding board about your next steps.
