Tag Archives: northern ireland

menopause yoga mental health
AMH News

How yoga can help during the menopause

With October marking Menopause Awareness Month, we’ve been speaking to various women who are all raising awareness of the menopause and helping other women navigate this significant stage of their lives. Having previously featured Dr Siobhan Kirk, along with Roisin Hillman from the Menopause Together charity and Siobhan Kearney from Menopause NI, our final blog as part of Menopause Month is with local yoga instructor, Lisa Copeland. 

menopause mental health

Specifically trained in menopause-specific yoga – and with 20 years general yoga teaching experience – Lisa explained how yoga can help to alleviate perimenopause and menopausal symptoms, both physical and mental.

“I think yoga always helps women – it helps everybody,” she said. “It has certainly been the anchor I needed. What the menopause yoga course does is it gives women the tools that they need to manage each stage of the menopause.”

According to research carried out by Abiç and Yilmaz Vefikuluçay (2024), the psychological, somatic and urogenital symptoms of menopause may be reduced by yoga. Their findings came from a randomised control study which focused on menopausal women aged between 40-60 years old who completed 60 minutes of yoga twice a week for 10 weeks.

Meanwhile, Petra Coveney, whom Lisa trained under and who created the world’s first accredited yoga and wellbeing programme for women experiencing menopause in 2013 – Menopause Yoga™️ – says the following on her website:

“Yoga is scientifically proven to reduce stress and inflammation, which exacerbates many menopause symptoms such as anxiety, hot flushes, joint and muscle pain. Yoga may also help with sleep, digestion, fatigue, general mental health and may help prevent falls and fractures by developing posture, balance (proprioception), inner sensory awareness (interception) and muscle tone.”

With yoga for menopause increasingly popular amongst women, Lisa pointed out that it wasn’t something which would magically solve all menopause-related issues, but was best used alongside various lifestyle changes. These include things such as diet, weight training to increase bone density and potential HRT use – with regular reviews of what you’re doing the key to ensuring a holistic and more effective approach to managing symptoms.

“It’s important to consider the effect that low oestrogen has on the body during menopause,” she said. “According to the Royal Osteoporosis Society, one in two women over the age of 50 will break a bone due to poor bone health and replacing oestrogen, as well as making lifestyle changes, can help reduce this statistic. Cardiovascular health can also be affected during the menopause, as well as mental health.”

While the feedback has been incredibly positive from women who have attended Lisa’s yoga sessions, she said her initial motivation to become a menopause yoga teacher was very personal.

“I’m 55 years old now and I was going through the perimenopause in my late 40s but didn’t realise I was,” she said. “I hadn’t even heard of the word ‘perimenopause’. My own experience of this journey called menopause has been challenging and difficult. Yoga for menopause is a very specific course and Petra Coveney approaches this from a scientific and clinical basis, so when I saw the opportunity to do the course I just went for it.

“I came to it when I was post-hysterectomy, so I had been going through a very rough time, both physically and mentally. It was another aspect of my menopause journey. I did the course for myself first and then I thought I could decide if I wanted to share it. It was so beneficial to me.”

What to expect during menopause yoga classes

With the course for menopause yoga comprising four weeks, each session takes women through the key stages of the menopause journey, incorporating discussion, breathing techniques and modified yoga poses. There is also mindful meditation, while Lisa always signposts women to useful sources of information at the end of sessions, as well as providing healthy snacks and nutrition information.

She said that one of the first things women said about yoga for menopause was that it offered an inclusive and welcoming space where they felt safe and able to share aspects of their own journeys. Indeed, classes typically comprise 10-12 women and always begin with a shared conversation session, where attendees can discuss as much as they wish about their own peri/menopause experiences.

“It’s very helpful, that protection aspect of it, which helps with feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion,” said Lisa. “I’ve found that many of the women who come to me are absolute beginners and have never come to yoga before. They’re attracted to it because it’s specific to menopause.

“They’ve maybe felt in the past that yoga wasn’t for them and that you had to be really fit and flexible. So, when it’s specially tailored to their needs, it’s more appealing. They get the information they need – with take-home techniques and tips that are easy to put into their day – and leave feeling empowered and enlightened.

“It’s been a real eye-opener for me, for the need for women to get into a space like that. And then, of course, it’s great fun as well.”

In week one, women receive an overview of the menopause journey and what they might expect throughout this, although of course, it’s very much a unique experience for each person. Lisa added that the cooling breathing techniques incorporated into the sessions helped with feelings of overwhelm and anxiety, which can often cause the heat to rise.

“The mental health issues can also really rear their head during menopause,” she said. “For example, a fear of driving. There are grounding and relaxing techniques I teach on the course to help with this, which again are easy to use and access in the moment.”

Adapting sessions to suit the needs of the room at any given time, Lisa rounds off the four-week programme with “a lovely class in the final week where women are encouraged to find their ‘second spring’ and find that they’ve come full circle.”

She added: “A lot of women come back for another four weeks. There’s such a need for this. I remember one woman, who had never done yoga before, said at the end of the course that it had been an eye-opener and that every woman should do it, as it looked after both your body and your mind.

“I think the compassion element is really interesting. Women can be very hard on themselves. From a mental health perspective, that’s the worst thing you can say to someone – to pick yourself up and get on with it. But we often do it with the menopause. For me, it’s always about meeting women where they are and teaching from my personal experience.”

Also a qualified reflexologist, Lisa provides bespoke treatments for menopausal clients. Again, she teaches techniques that women can then take home, as part of her mission for educating and empowering women.

For anyone considering coming along to a yoga for menopause class, she said there were multiple benefits, not least in the fact the sessions created that safe space where women could share their thoughts and emotions – something which supports their mental health.

“These emotions they’re feeling – particularly that really low mood – is all part of the menopause journey, but the classes show that there’s help there and they can also help themselves,” she said. “Anhedonia – that feeling of nothing being of interest to you anymore – becomes really prevalent in menopause. It can become a vicious cycle.

“For some women, the yoga for menopause classes are the very first time they’ve shared anything about their personal journey. Quite a lot of relief comes with that. It’s a very bespoke programme that has been tried and tested and I just love it.”

Why women love menopause yoga

“Menopause yoga with Lisa was the most fantastic and relaxing shared experience with women at different stage of their menopause journey. It really helped me sleep and my sanity and set me up for the week.”

“I attended Yoga for Menopause and it has been a lifeline for me.”

“Every session was enlightening. I left each class with a sense of calm and inner strength.”

“It’s a beautiful four-week journey which takes you through the four seasons of the change. I never thought positively about menopause before this programme and now I’m embracing my ‘second spring’ with much more understanding and compassion.”

Resources:

book week
AMH News

How trees can teach us to thrive 

With October 21-27 marking Book Week NI 2024, a joint initiative from BBC NI and Action Mental Health partner, Libraries NI, it’s a great time to get re/acquainted with your local library and curl up with a good book.

Dr Ross White, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB), recently published his debut book, The Tree That Bends: How a flexible mind can help you thrive. He spoke to us about why he decided to write the book and why trees are at the heart of it all…

book week
Dr Ross White.

With the rather intriguing title of The Tree That Bends, Professor White’s book is one which, at first glance, requires a second glance – something which the author said was done purposefully. Described on the cover as being ‘both a manifesto and a research-based programme for developing psychological flexibility to thrive,’ the book ultimately grew out of a desire to communicate helpful information to the public in an accessible way, said Ross. He added that people often asked him for book recommendations and that, while he had some to give, he’d realised it might be useful to write a book which allowed him to contribute his own individual perspective. As for the tree metaphor which gives the book its title, that all stemmed from a Tanzanian proverb – ‘The wind does not break the tree that bends.’

“I was in Sub-Saharan Africa and Uganda, doing work on the idioms of wellbeing and this Tanzanian proverb was mentioned to me,” he said. “I think it really inspired me in putting the book together. I was curious as to how we might map psychological flexibility onto the anatomy of the tree. I was basically coming at it from the angle of us being like trees and how we can learn a lot from trees about what it takes to thrive.

“Interestingly, the publisher wasn’t that keen on The Tree That Bends as a title. I just felt quite passionate about having the centrality of the tree there, though. And there was something about adding a little bit of intrigue as well.”

With more than 15 years’ experience as a clinical psychologist, Ross specialises in providing mental health and wellbeing support to people working in high-performance environments, alongside his lecturing responsibilities at QUB. Currently halfway through a one-year career break from QUB, however, he has spent some of that time focusing on his passion for communicating psychological information to the public in an easily digestible way, hence the publication of his book.

Indeed, with social media rife with mental health quotes and tips, he said it was important that people be discerning about where they access their information.

“I think that’s really important – to be a discerning consumer of information and to question the sources that people are basing their claims on,” he said. “I think we as a profession (psychologists) have a responsibility for helping to educate the public around that. To help people understand what’s credible.”

Split into three sections, The Tree That Bends was written, said Ross, to empower the “smarter, more flexible versions” of who we are. “It’s about breaking through without breaking you – taking care of yourself so you can continue to take care of business,” he added.

Indeed, the book explores how to find that balance between doing what matters to you while also stepping back when needed to allow yourself time to reset and rest. Using the terms ‘Get,’ ‘Threat’ and ‘Reset’ to describe three distinct motivational modes or systems in our lives, Ross writes about how having a flexible mind can help us navigate these better and therefore look after ourselves.

‘Get mode’ refers to our more industrious go-getter approach to life (striving), while ‘Threat mode’ (surviving) relates to the various threats we may face along the way. If our ‘Get’ and ‘Threat’ modes are left to operate unchecked, the risk of experiencing burnout increases. ‘Reset mode,’ meanwhile, refers to how we go about reviving ourselves – taking short-term ‘momentary moves’ to help with this, such as practicing gratitude, mindfulness and self-compassion or initiating ‘bold moves’ which require more conscious planning and help us in the longer-term e.g. embarking on a period of travel or considering a change of career.

“The way that modern society operates, it’s almost drawing us away from Reset Mode,” said Ross. “It’s all about ‘do more to be more.’ I think it’s important for us to have all those opportunities for reset, however, even if at times they feel counterproductive.

“A key point for me is the need to be passionate and clear about what matters to you in life. By all means, invest time and energy into realising that. But just like trees, we need periods of dormancy to rest and reset.

“Particularly in the third section of the book, the tree is described across the seasons. Trees have their own ‘Get’ mode, when they are full of industry and growth in spring and summer. They need to endure throughout the year, bracing themselves against storms and protecting themselves from potential infestations from bugs that could kill them – that’s their ‘Threat mode.’ And, finally, trees have their ‘Reset mode’ in autumn/winter – they need that period of dormancy so they can revive again.

“Just like trees, ‘Get,’ ‘Threat’ and ‘Reset’ modes are key points in all our lives.”

Handling burnout at work

With this year’s theme for World Mental Health Day centred on prioritising mental health in the workplace to avoid burnout, The Tree That Bends also addresses this particular topic.

Although not defined as a mental illness, burnout is a very real threat to employees and reflects, said Ross, “the very significant effect that working environments and cultures can have in creating it.” With the classic signs of burnout being reduced energy and increased cynicism regarding the organisation, along with a reduction in the level of effectiveness in the workplace, he added that to effect positive change in this area, it had to be addressed from both sides.

“I highlight in the book that the research evidence suggests that psychological interventions aimed at individuals aren’t sufficient to bring about a shift in the dial in burnout levels ordinarily, because you need to be also working with the culture,” he said. “You need organisational change. When you think about burnout, that’s when our ‘Get’ and ‘Threat’ modes can be very highly active. The ‘Reset mode’ isn’t getting sufficient opportunity to be accessed.”

Working with people in the sports world, Ross said that he also provided psychological support to the staff responsible for various athletes, such as medical professionals and coaches. “Often, in the cut and thrust of sport, they don’t feature enough in the conversations,” he said.

Within the book, meanwhile, Ross also shares parts of his own story – including the fact that he’s presently living out his own ‘Reset’ period, being partway through his career break. Indeed, another point that he said was important to highlight was the idea of adopting a “strong intention, light attachment” approach to life, something he was conscious of doing himself.

“We can be strong in our attitude to realising our sense of purpose but I think we also have to be lighter regarding the notion that there’s a single way of doing that,” he said. “I think we need to take this broader frame of reference, to know that there are other ways and opportunities to realise our sense of purpose. Have your aspirations and carry yourself lightly and kindly in pursuit of them. “No defeat is ever final. When you think about failures – perhaps failures are feedback. There’s a quote from Nelson Mandela that I like as well – ‘I never lose. I either win or I learn.’”

To receive monthly insights and tips from Professor Ross White, check out 5 to Thrive, which is a five-minute read with five tips to help you thrive.

mental health
AMH News

Conference highlights mental health issues in animal welfare sector

Working collaboratively across sectors is the key to creating safer, more compassionate communities for everyone, with benefits including improved mental and physical health in both humans and animals, according to experts in animal welfare, psychology, veterinary science and law.

Representatives from organisations including Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Dogs Trust and animal welfare charity Naturewatch Foundation, joined vets, researchers and a leading psychologist at Stormont on October 2 for Northern Ireland’s second annual animal welfare conference. Organised by Causeway Coast Dog Rescue (CCDR), the conference took collaboration as its theme and was entitled ‘What does collaboration look like to improve companion animal welfare?’ The event audience, meanwhile, included attendees from the PSNI, along with MLAs, various animal welfare organisations, Action Mental Health and the media.

Claire Sugden MLA addressing the conference.

Welcoming everyone to the event, host Claire Sugden MLA, highlighted the links between animal abuse and human violence and said, “The system can’t function if there’s no collaboration.” She added that it was important that anyone who reported an animal welfare issue was then updated about that, as a lack of communication with the public after reporting a welfare concern was a key issue in Northern Ireland.

“This erodes trust in the system and creates a hesitancy to report in the future,” she said, adding that there was also a need “to support both animals and their owners during tough times – for example, with mental health providers and social workers.”

“The emotional toll of working in this sector is huge,” she said. “People working on the frontline of animal welfare are at risk of burnout, trauma and fatigue from witnessing animal abuse. We must also care for the mental health of those dedicating their lives to animal care.”

Recognising trauma in animal welfare workers

Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo from the Human Animal Welfare Alliance.

Protecting the mental health of those working within the animal welfare sector was something echoed by psychologist and author, Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo, who has set up the Human Animal Welfare Alliance (HAWA) to help address this issue. Currently working on developing the UK’s first Emotional Health Toolkit for animal welfare workers, this digital tool will include resources “to help staff manage their emotional health.” The initiative also includes monthly emotional health check-in sessions where staff can speak in a safe space, along with targeted mental health training on vicarious trauma, stress, anxiety, overwhelm and burnout. Meanwhile, staff who need to discuss a particularly traumatic event can also arrange a one-to-one debrief session on the phone.

Discussing her ongoing research into the mental health issues experienced by animal welfare workers, Dr Quinn-Cirillo said that, while trauma was often present, employees didn’t always identify it as such.

“Quite often, there are different factors, where people don’t recognise that they’re going through trauma,” she said. “Trauma shows up so differently and can mimic things like anxiety and depression. Stress, overwhelm and burnout are trending words… but people aren’t being supported to recognise trauma, or they don’t realise you can get trauma from this sort of situation. It’s important to identify trauma because the way I work with that, as a psychologist, is very different from how I work with stress.”

She added that complex trauma was also an issue within the animal welfare sector, where events in people’s personal lives overlapped with those of their working lives to create a more multifaceted type of trauma. Meanwhile, vicarious trauma was another type of trauma experienced by some employees.

“Vicarious trauma is where you’re absorbing other people’s trauma,” said Dr Quinn-Cirillo. “That’s a really massive issue in animal welfare too – as is grief. People often don’t realise that grief isn’t just about loss through death. It’s about the grief that accompanies dealing with animals being handed in to shelters in distressing circumstances and the animals who are then later rehomed – there can be grief around that loss as well, which quite often isn’t acknowledged.”

Psychologist, Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo, pictured with Claire Savage from Action Mental Health and Christine Alexandra from Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary.

Dr Quinn-Cirillo is now beginning to work with animal charities across the UK, providing free online Monthly Emotional Health Sessions as part of the HAWA. Speaking to Action Mental Health after the conference, she said that anyone in Northern Ireland working in animal shelters could access this support and that she was in the process of recruiting more psychologist volunteers onto the project to help deliver it. Her long-term goal, she added, was to create bespoke toolkits for individual rescue organisations, to help address the specific issues they faced, alongside the more general mental issues experienced within the sector as a whole.

“What I really want to do in the long-term is to come up with a model of mental health support they can implement themselves, as each rescue might have slightly different needs,” she said. “The Human Animal Welfare Alliance isn’t a tick box project. We have a survey on the website that animal shelter workers can fill in and let me know what they’re feeling. The Monthly Emotional Support Sessions then give them a space to be heard – as do the telephone debriefs for key incidents. It’s not therapy or counselling, just straightforward debriefing, which is so important.”

Links between animal and human abuse

Also speaking at the conference was Animal and Human Nurse, Helen Ballantyne, who discussed One Health and what that means in terms of collaborative working. “The human-animal bond needs reframing,” she said. “There’s a lack of understanding about how animal welfare links to human welfare.”

Referencing the Independent Investigation of the National Health Service in England (September 2024), she said the evidence showed the nation’s health was deteriorating and that “our companion animals are a barometer for our own public health.” Dr Paula Boyland, BVetMed MRCVS Chair of The Links Group and Veterinary Director of Dogs Trust, also discussed the crisis link between animals and people and gave an example of a domestic abuse incident involving first a pet dog and later, a baby. On both occasions the reason given for injuries sustained was that they fell down the stairs – first the dog and, on the next occasion, the child. Dr Boyland said this was a case where the animal abuse had clearly preceded the human abuse, adding that, “this link between abuse of animals and abuse of humans is being more recognised.”

Mark Randell, Naturewatch; Dr Paula Boyden The Links Group and Dogs Trust; Helen Ballantyne, One Health.

Indeed, research conducted by the Links Group in 2021 found that nine out of ten domestic abusers also targeted pets. Dr Boyland further outlined how domestic abusers also sometimes gave pets to their partners as presents, letting them bond before exhibiting coercive control over the other person. She added that, not only did any emotional and physical abuse inflicted impact upon the person targeted, but it also adversely affected the pet. Indeed, a real-life video clip played at the conference clearly showed how distressed a dog became when witnessing its owner being physically hurt.

“Domestic abuse has a massive impact on the dogs as well,” she said. “Specific pet foster services can help. There’s a huge need for pet fostering services in Northern Ireland, so we’re hoping we can get a service here.”

She added that pets could also be a barrier to someone leaving a domestic abuse situation, as they wouldn’t leave their animals at the mercy of the abuser, something also highlighted in a Belfast Women’s Aid article in 2017. The article stated: “Many women will simply not want to leave their pets in a volatile and dangerous home and at the hands of an abuser who will utilise every means possible to establish and maintain power and control over his victim. He is not afraid to harm. Unfortunately in Northern Ireland, Women’s refuges do not have the means or facilities to temporarily home these pets.”

Reiterating the overall theme of the conference, Dr Boyland said that collaboration with animal and human welfare groups was therefore key, along with vet training for the entire protection team involved in such incidents. Meanwhile, providing mental health support for those involved in such work was also a crucial element of this.

Former senior police detective and current campaign manager for Naturewatch Foundation, Mark Randall, addressed the conference in a similar vein. He said that taking crimes against animals seriously would ultimately protect people too – both physically and mentally. Indeed a key part of his work now revolves around training police and others on recognising the importance of animal welfare and abuse within relationships, family units and communities.

“When you see that red flag, you need to do something about it,” he said. “Protecting animals isn’t ‘extra work.’ It helps keep relationships and communities safer, reduces abuse and violence towards people… issues that are always public protection priorities.”

mental health
Tara Cunningham from Causeway Coast Dog Rescue.

Tara Cunningham, manager and lobbyist at Causeway Coast Dog Rescue (CCDR) said the charity’s objective with the conference had been to be “positive and productive.”

“CCDR is like many charities in Northern Ireland, we rescue and rehome unwanted dogs, to ensure they have a second chance with a caring and loving family, free from abuse and neglect,” she said

“We look at animal welfare from a different perspective than any other charity, which is through legislation and governance, identifying the gaps and implications on the services being delivered. We look to ensure that there is accountability and transparency included by the three government service providers responsible.”

She added that they were “calling for the ministers of DAERA to support the movement and oversight of legislation and enforcement” in Northern Ireland and for councils to “fulfil their legislative remit.” Only in this way could the ongoing animal welfare crisis – which impacted upon both animal and human physical and mental health – be addressed. Ultimately, collaboration between organisations was key.

menopause
AMH News

Menopause, mental health and the workplace

With October marking Menopause Awareness Month, there’s no better time to get talking about the perimenopause and menopause.

For the third of our menopause-related blogs this month, we’ve subsequently spoken to Siobhan Kearney, founder and CEO of Menopause NI, an organisation which raises awareness of the menopause and delivers training to workplaces, communities and the statutory sector. Established in 2020, Menopause NI draws on evidence-based research for all of its workshops – currently delivered by Siobhan – with clinical insight and support provided by Dr Gwyneth Hinds.

Siobhan Kearney of Menopause NI.

Having spent more than 25 years working in senior leadership roles across the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland, Siobhan was a CEO within the mental health sector when her own experience with the menopause began. As is the case with many, however, when she began feeling low, anxious and overwhelmed in a job she had hitherto been managing just fine, the menopause didn’t even cross her mind.

While there are a variety of both physical and mental health symptoms associated with the perimenopause (which occurs in the lead-up to menopause itself), Siobhan said that the mental health symptoms could be particularly hard to identify and understand. Indeed, along with other menopause symptoms, they can often cause people to reduce their working hours and even leave their jobs altogether. 

“When I’m doing presentations to workplaces it seems that the common physical health symptoms of menopause are easier to talk about,” she said. “When it comes to the mental health impact, however, I don’t think people fully understand this. The menopause is also still really stigmatised. It can still be very difficult for people to talk about it, let alone talk about the mental health side of things alongside that.”

Although Menopause NI is now helping to increase awareness and understanding of the perimenopause and menopause, when Siobhan started her own menopause journey, she didn’t understand what was happening to her. “That’s why I do what I do now, at Menopause NI,” she said. “I thought to myself, ‘Here I am, a chief executive and I’m feeling anxious with hot flushes and palpitations’. I didn’t know it was the perimenopause. When I began to understand, however, I then thought – why did I not know this? It actually contributed to me leaving that job.”

Impact of menopausal mental health on careers  

Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD, 2023) found that, in a survey of 2,000 employed women aged 40-60, more than half said they had been “unable to go into work at some point due to menopause symptoms.”

They further found that two-thirds of the women (67%) reported their most common menopause symptoms as being “psychological, such as mood disturbances, anxiety, depression, memory loss, panic attacks, loss of confidence and reduced concentration.” Meanwhile, approximately one in six people (17%) had considered leaving their job “due to a lack of support in relation to their menopause symptoms,” with a further 6% having actually left work.

“It’s important to get the recognition that perimenopause can have a real impact on your mental health and wellbeing,” said Siobhan. “Things like anxiety, loss of confidence, low mood, depression, feeling overwhelmed, having difficulty making decisions… For myself, I remember thinking – where did the real Siobhan go?”

She added that depression associated with menopause was hormone-related but that many were still being prescribed anti-depressants by their GPs, instead of being offered HRT. Indeed, the NICE Guidelines state that there is no clear evidence that anti-depressants such as SSRIs or SNRIs ease low mood in menopausal people who have not been diagnosed with depression.

Meanwhile, for those who may have pre-existing mental health issues, Siobhan added that it was important to discuss this with GPs, so extra steps could be taken. Having GPs who were attentive to the perimenopause was key, she said, in supporting those navigating this transitional period of their lives.

“Menopause happens at a very very busy stage in our lives,” she said. “So, maybe you’re not thinking about the menopause at all. Perimenopause can last anywhere for up to ten years, however. So, when you think about experiencing these mental health symptoms for up to ten years, perimenopause can be the most challenging time for women.”

Reflecting on her own menopause experience, Siobhan said that, once she began to understand what was happening to her, she was able to take back control and better manage her symptoms. She did this through a combination of lifestyle changes and HRT, working on herself in terms of reassessing her diet and exercise. She added that, while HRT was “very helpful” for her own symptoms, the menopause was a “very individual journey for every woman” and that each person should find what worked for them.

“The good news is that symptoms tend to diminish over time,” she said. “A lot of people who are post-menopausal say things have got back to a new normal. For me, I’m a different version of myself now. I’m a stronger person – and more confident. I no longer care what people think about me.”

Realising that there was an obvious deficit when it came to awareness about the menopause and how to handle it, Siobhan decided that someone needed to do something about that.

“That’s why I started to develop menopause awareness programmes and workshops and looking at clinical governance,” she said. “My main programme was 12 hours, so then it was all about tweaking that for workplaces. I knew it needed an identity of its own.”

Tackling menopause in the workplace

Keen to create a culture in workplaces shaped around understanding menopause and supporting staff who are menopausal, Siobhan said that being able to have conversations at work about these issues was key – and “so empowering.”

“To have an understanding manager on the other side of those conversations is so important,” she said. “It’s all about having that balance. The statistics support the fact that the mental health symptoms of menopause are some of the most common symptoms reported by women and yet, they’re the most difficult to talk about. 

“When I speak to companies, a lot of them want me to speak to their management team first and also, to consider what legislation is in place to protect staff experiencing menopausal symptoms. When speaking with the staff, however, that requires a more proactive approach, looking at how to build up the confidence to have that conversation and to look after yourself.”

With the feedback from women who have attended Siobhan’s workshops overwhelmingly positive, there is now an increasing demand for these. She added that many men attended them as well, talking about their wives or partners and how they had changed due to a loss of confidence or anxiousness resulting from menopause.

Siobhan also shares her own menopause experience at the events, using humour to help ease people into the conversation.

“I’m doing all this for the generation coming behind me,” she said. “We need to talk about the menopause with confidence and competence and understanding. That’s a legacy I would like to leave – that women are confident about the menopause. It’s not embarrassing. There’s no shame attached. We need to educate about it and provide access to good information.”

Resources: