Leading With Clarity and Courage – Exclusive Interview With Bianka Kuhn-Thompson

Bianka Kuhn-Thompson is a Dramatherapist, Systemic Leadership Consultant, and contributor to Brainz Magazine and the award-winning anthology Taboo Stories That Can’t Be Told. With over 15 years’ experience leading services, designing programmes, and supporting complex organisational change, Bianka brings a rare blend of creativity, clinical insight, and strategic clarity to her work with purpose-driven teams and leaders.

Alongside her leadership practice, Bianka specialises in supporting women, especially during menopause and professional transitions, to sustain impact and self-trust in high-responsibility roles. She brings a distinctive, people-centred approach to service design, cultural transformation and executive support, drawing on both her professional expertise and extensive experience in the charity sector.

Through her consultancy bravely.B, Bianka offers a bold, emotionally intelligent approach that blends systemic insight, creativity, and practical leadership tools to help women lead with clarity, confidence, and calm. She holds a First-Class Master’s in Dramatherapy, a PGCert in Psychodynamic C Systemic Consultancy, and is a trained Four Seasons Behavioural Profiling Practitioner.

Bianka Kuhn-Thompson, Dramatherapist and Systemic Leadership Consultant

Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to the work you do today.

Just before Christmas in 2021, my wife was diagnosed with hormone-receptive breast cancer. Thankfully, it was caught early and treatable and she’s now doing really well. But while we were surrounded by support during the cancer treatment itself, what shocked me was how little existed around the side effects of that treatment, specifically, the sudden and intense onset of menopause.

Her body changed practically overnight. The emotional and cognitive shifts were just as profound as the physical ones. And all of this was happening while she was continuing her professional leadership role in the NHS, parent our child, and manage a million invisible loads. There was plenty of support around “coping with cancer,” but very little around navigating menopause especially in professional contexts.

That contrast stayed with me. I write more about this in Taboo Stories That Can’t Be Told, because I think we underestimate how much silence and shame still surround the menopause transition, particularly for women in leadership.

That moment reshaped my work. It brought together everything I’d learned from years of service design, organisational leadership, and therapeutic practice, and it gave it a new direction. It was the beginning of bravely.B a space to offer practical, systemic, emotionally intelligent support for women navigating major transitions in complex roles.

What drives you in your work and what do you wish more people understood about it?

What drives me is the possibility of creating spaces where women can stop holding their breath. Where they can show up as they are foggy, fierce, frustrated, or on fire and still be met with respect and clarity.

I want women to know they don’t have to fix themselves to be effective. That you can be brilliant and burnt out, capable and struggling and that neither cancels out the other. We’ve internalised this idea that leadership means being consistent, polished, and endlessly productive. But real leadership, especially during (peri-)menopause or identity shifts, is messier and more human than that.

What I wish more people understood is that menopause isn’t just a health issue, it’s a leadership issue, a workplace issue, a systems issue. The internal shifts women go through don’t happen in a vacuum. They happen in boardrooms, in teams, in Zoom calls, in a thousand tiny moments of performance and pressure.

And when we don’t create structures that reflect that reality, we lose more than productivity; we lose presence, confidence, and the full contribution of incredible women. That’s what I want to help change.

How has your own experience of leadership shaped how you support others through professional transitions?

I’ve led through restructures, budget cuts, service redesigns, and periods of intense organisational pressure. I know what it’s like to be the person others look to for answers, even when you’re holding uncertainty yourself. Leadership doesn’t stop at the end of the working day; it follows you home, into your sleep, into your relationships. The demands are emotional, not just strategic.

That’s why I focus so much on building resilience that’s real, not just performed. I’ve seen how easily we can fall into the trap of pushing through, staying composed, overdelivering until something gives. So when I work with women who are transitioning in their careers, often while navigating menopause or other life shifts, I support them to stay connected to themselves while staying in their power. I don’t offer glossy solutions. I offer structure, strategy, and space. We look at what supports are missing, what systems need rethinking, and how to keep their integrity and power intact even when everything else feels in flux.

It’s not about doing less, it’s about doing differently. More strategically, more sustainably, and with more compassion for the human behind the leader.

What do you believe organisations get wrong about supporting women in leadership, especially during menopause or identity shifts?

Most organisations are still focused on providing ‘patch-ups’ over sustainable and enabling infrastructure. They might sign off a menopause policy or host a wellbeing webinar, but they struggle to redesign the actual systems that shape a woman’s daily experience at work. The meetings that run too long. The expectation to be “on” all day. The silent bias that creeps in when someone’s energy dips or their physical symptoms surface.

There’s also a tendency to treat menopause as a purely medical or personal issue, rather than a workplace culture issue. Yes, there are physiological changes, but there’s also shame, identity disruption, and the emotional cost of invisibility. When a woman starts to doubt her competence, struggles with memory or emotional regulation, or begins to withdraw, we need to look at what’s happening around her, not just within her.

And then there’s the loneliness. Menopause can already feel isolating. Leadership can too. Put the two together, and it’s easy for brilliant women to start shrinking from their roles or social supports. That’s why I believe we need to shift from a compliance mindset to a connection mindset. Social health. Psychological safety. Flexible systems. These aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re essential leadership infrastructure.

What is bravely.B, and how does it support women navigating menopause or professional change?

bravely.B is a space where women don’t have to pretend everything’s fine. It’s where we get honest about the cognitive fog, the emotional volatility, the disrupted sleep, and the identity shake-up that menopause can bring, especially for women in senior or high-responsibility roles.

But it’s not about fixing anyone. It’s about helping women reconnect with their competence and understand that just because they may no longer feel like the leader they once were, doesn’t mean they’ve lost their edge. It means they’re transitioning into a new phase of leadership, one that’s just as powerful, but often needs new scaffolding.

bravely.B blends systemic insight, emotional intelligence, and practical tools to help women lead with clarity, confidence, and calm. I help women map patterns, design supports, challenge assumptions, and explore what leadership looks and feels like from the inside out. It’s not just about symptom management, it’s about rebuilding trust in yourself, your decisions, and your presence.

You describe yourself as a thought partner rather than a coach. What does that look like in practice?

My work isn’t coaching in the traditional sense, and it’s not therapy either. As a Dramatherapist with a background in psychodynamic and systemic leadership consultancy, I bring creative methods, strategic insight, and emotional depth into a space where real thinking and transformation can happen.

Thought partnership, to me, means co-creating clarity, with the emphasis on creating. It’s a relational process where we explore patterns, test out possibilities, and uncover what’s really going on beneath the surface. I draw on dramatherapeutic tools to help clients step outside their habitual responses and see things with fresh eyes.

We might look at a team dynamic using the Four Seasons behavioural model, unpack the impact of systemic pressures, or use storytelling to explore internalised narratives. It’s experiential, reflective, and practical all at once. The aim is not to give advice, but to journey together with curiosity, courage, and the right mix of rigour and imagination.

What are some of the most common themes you see in the women you work with and how do you help them move forward?

A few themes come up again and again: the creeping sense of self-doubt, the exhaustion from having to work twice as hard to feel half as sharp, and the quiet fear that they’re becoming invisible or replaceable. Many are masking, putting in extra effort to maintain the level of professionalism and sharpness they’re used to, while inside, they’re dealing with forgetfulness, brain fog, emotional unpredictability, and a deep sense of anxiety.

And it’s not just psychological. A brain that’s been running on oestrogen for decades doesn’t just adjust quietly when that supply shifts. It affects memory, focus, verbal fluency, confidence, and more, all while women are still expected to lead, deliver, and hold everyone else steady.

What I do is help explore what’s happening without pathologising it and then build structures that support who they are now. Sometimes that means rethinking workflow, meeting culture, or time management. Other times, it’s about rewriting internal scripts or carving out spaces where they can lead without performing. The work is holistic but focused, creative, compassionate, and rooted in helping them return to themselves.

What do you think needs to shift in how we think about leadership during menopause?

We need to stop framing menopause as something that temporarily “disrupts” leadership, as if it’s a detour on an otherwise linear journey. Leadership doesn’t pause during menopause; if anything, it becomes more nuanced, more values-driven, and more anchored in wisdom. But to unlock that potential, we need to stop treating menopause as something women need to push through quietly or manage privately.

The current narrative still holds women to pre-menopausal standards of output and presence, while ignoring the very real cognitive, emotional, and physical changes taking place. That’s not only unrealistic, it’s unfair. It also forces women to waste energy masking or compensating, rather than leading with the clarity and depth they’ve earned over years of experience.

We need to reframe menopause as a leadership transition, not a crisis. That means shifting away from “accommodations” and towards systems that recognise evolving needs and emerging strengths. It means valuing emotional intelligence, lived experience, and adaptability just as much as stamina and decisiveness.

In short, we need to design leadership cultures that honour the whole person, not just the persona. When we do that, women don’t have to disappear. They get to evolve and bring everyone forward with them.

What does success look like for you now and how has that evolved over time?

Success used to be about impact, reach, and recognition. Now, it’s about alignment. It’s about doing work that reflects my values, supports others in meaningful ways, and allows me to show up fully without burning out or bending myself out of shape.

I want to build spaces inside organisations, conversations, and systems where women can stop holding their breath, where they can lead with integrity and bring their whole selves, where they don’t have to apologise for needing support, or explain away their capacity.

And honestly, success is also about joy. I’m at a point in my life where I want my work to feel energising and meaningful. I want to feel proud of how I lead, not just what I achieve. And I want the women I work with to feel the same.

For women reading this who feel overwhelmed or invisible, what would you want them to know, and where can they begin?

First: you’re not failing. You’re adapting. And that’s an entirely different story.

Menopause, career transitions, identity shifts, they don’t make you less of a leader, less competent, or "less" anything for that matter. They make you a leader with even more depth, more complexity, and more wisdom. But you don’t have to navigate it alone.

Begin by noticing where you’re putting in extra effort just to appear “fine.” Ask yourself what would change if you gave yourself permission to be supported not because you’re weak, but because you’re human. And brilliant. And worth the investment.

If you’re ready to feel more anchored, think more clearly, or find a way to lead that actually fits who you are now, not just who you were five years ago, I’d love to walk alongside you.

You can start by visiting bravelyb.co.uk, where you can access a free two-week leadership journal designed to help you reflect, reset, and reimagine your path forward. Sometimes the smallest acts of self-recognition spark the biggest shifts. You’re not alone and you’re not done. This is just a new chapter.

Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

Read more from Bianka Kuhn-Thompson