Linda Hodgson

Hello! I am Linda Hodgson. I have spent many years working in multi-national advertising agencies, and was responsible for making sure that the ‘consumer voice’ was heard within the youthful, fast and edgy world of advertising agencies. I also was involved in setting the communication strategy for brands such as Flora, Tampax, Sure, Mr Muscle and Andrex, to name but a few.

My job took me from London, to Siberia, to Moscow, Milan and the States. All exciting stuff, but positively exhausting, particularly as a mother of two young children. So I moved to Brighton, gave up the corporate day job, and set about doing my own thing, at my own pace. Now I freelance, conducting focus groups, and facilitating workshops.

I was also determined to take my skills into the community to help make things happen. In 2004, after participating, along with my teenage daughter, in a piece of CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) service user research, I set up the CAMHS parents group, to provide a support for parents with young people who are users of CAMHS, and as a result, became part of the core group of parents involved in developing the Brighton & Hove Parents’ Forum.

I care passionately about the plight of many teenagers today, who I believe often get a bad press. They are facing tremendous pressure to succeed in a rapidly changing world and it is up to us as parents to understand it. At the same time I also think it is increasingly hard to ‘parent with confidence’, with so many conflicting ideas, messages and responsibilities being put before parents.

Quote on parenting:

‘The teen years can be difficult and challenging for the whole family, but now and again you catch a glimpse of the wonderful individual spirit that will take them into adulthood, then, it is truly rewarding”