Menopause is something that half of the population are likely to experience, and something that we at The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) are regularly asked about. It impacts people differently depending on their backgrounds, lifestyles, health challenges or gender experiences, and this perspective isn’t always at the forefront, or easily available. Because of this we’ve been working to find a progressive, different, and accessible, way to provide information and support.
“Menopause is such a personal journey but often the people part is left out of the information available. By offering this webinar and the support resources live and on-demand for free in our Virtual Community spaces, we hope to help as many people as possible with both our own content and that from a wide number of people-focused sources from across the sector that cover many different experiences of the menopause journey.” Charlie McNeill – TAWS Virtual Wellbeing Project Lead.
We have spent six months reaching out to the communities that we work with to see which menopause-related topics were important to them. This consultation then led to a working partnership with Dr Jacqueline Boden, a menopause specialist GP who runs Lotus Menopause Care to co-create a webinar to empower people with the clinical knowledge, holistic treatment options and all-important lived experience perspective. We hope this webinar will encompass different life journeys and the way that different bodies experience menopause. Alongside the webinar we’ve also created a raft of additional information, and a including lots of other diverse resources for support and guidance. All of this can be accessed here.
“I have been a GP for 30 years, always with an interest in women’s and psychological and emotional health. The more I learned the more I wanted to help to make sure people knew what they might experience – and let them know what help was available and where they might find it – so they felt empowered. Nowadays I work as a Menopause Specialist trying to help as many people as I can to navigate this sometimes tricky part of life so that we can enjoy the benefits of getting older with less of the troublesome bits.”
The webinar is also available on our YouTube channel, so anyone who missed it will be able to watch it back. There will also be a 6-week Menopause Support Course led by our sessional worker Manisha Patel, which has been developed with the same values and goals in mind. Each week will explore a different theme, with the aim being that participants will come away with new skills and knowledge in how to manage symptoms as well as an improved peer-support network. Thanks to Menopause Support, we also have a number of their newly released booklets which will be available in our Share Shacks and Community Cafés.
