Own Your Menopause - empowering women

Who am I?

My name is Caroline and I am a perimenopausal woman with 3 teenage boys. I am passionate about raising awareness of menopause and the issues it causes. My boys all know about the menopause and that when I occasionally forget my name or am randomly sweating or feeling a bit ratty, that's why. I am part of the menopause support network at the organisation I work for and I really want to do something positive for my future to make a change for women at this key transition in life

I am passionate about supporting and empowering women to be able to take control of their menopause journey. Too many women are suffering reduced quality of life and diminished happiness because they are going through perimenopause or post menopause.

Why is this?

Perimenopause and menopause bring with them at least 40 different symptoms and amongst those are anxiety, brain fog, depression, difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, loss of motivation, lack of confidence and loss of motivation. This goes hand in hand with all the physical symptoms which can be frightening and overwhelming and means far too many women are suffering unnecessarily at a time when they should be enjoying their lives. Women talk about giving up work because they don't feel well supported and able to cope. Women talk about their relationships and sex lives suffering which is incredibly sad when partners should be able to understand and support. Women talk about having crippling anxiety as they think something is seriously wrong with them - early onset dementia or cancer is a fear many women unnecessarily carry with them because of a misunderstanding of the symptoms of the menopause.

Facebook and other social media sites are full of groups for women seeking advice and support from each other - you read the posts on these sites and there is so much confusion, sadness, hopelessness and despair. Women are being prescribed antidepressants when they aren't depressed - its just that GPs don't always understand symptoms. These groups provide support but they also continue to exacerbate how women are feeling - negative, hopeless and without help.

What will this idea do?

There are some brilliant information sites online already and there are some brilliant healthcare practitioners who are doing so much to support women and to prescribe HRT where it's appropriate and wanted. I am not looking to replicate any of that - they're a fabulous resource and I would be sign posting women to all of those. 

What my idea will do is to provide LIFE COACHING and ACCOUNTABILITY support to women to empower them to own their own menopause. I want to work with women to help them understand what is happening to them, and to explore with them what actions they can take to help them take control. I am a trained coach and mediator and I currently work in an environment supporting people living with Cancer. I would like to offer one to one coaching sessions for women to identify what they can do to make a difference and take control of their menopause to regain a positive quality of life. I would work with them to fill in a custom ACCOUNTABILITY DIARY, and I would offer a period of follow up support sessions to enable them to achieve their goals. Alongside this I will create curated support groups that are positive so that women I am coaching at any one time can come together in a positive space and empower each other.

I will also set up a website to sign post and guide people to existing resources, and to try and explain simple things that people can do to take control. I want to make sure everybody understands how they can take control - I am educated to degree level and beyond through my working career but appreciate that for a lot of people, trying to navigate and find a way through a lot of complex information about hormones and nutrition and support is overwhelming at any time, let alone coupled with some of the psychological symptoms above.

What am I asking for funding for?

Initially, I am asking for funding to undertake some training run by the Menopause Expert Group to become a certified Menopause champion. This will build on my coaching and mediation skills and allow me to build a specific bank of knowledge along with providing assurance for women that I am trained and qualified in the subject. This would also give me access to an expert community so that I can continue to learn and grow and keep updated so that I can support women to the best of my ability. Part of this is also an opportunity to undertake training and certification for a MenoChef license, which will help me promote healthy ways of living for women going through the menopause. This is really important because for a large number of women, weight gain is a key issue which then impacts on body confidence and overall self confidence / self worth. Helping women with simple diet and food choices can have a big impact - and in some instances will help whole families benefit too from making healthier choices.

I would like some funding to prototype and develop a specific menopause accountability journal, which will be full of useful information and tips of things that people can do on a daily basis to make a difference.

I would like some funding to help me set up and grow my website and social media offering through paid advertising to raise awareness of my life coaching offer.

I also recognise that cost of living is an issue for so many people at the moment, and so I would also like some funding to be able to offer subsidised or free life coaching to people for whom the cost would be prohibitive. 

This is very much the first steps for me on this journey - I think this has the potential to be a great business opportunity which will not only help improve quality of life for perimenopausal and menopausal women, but will also have wider benefits to families and employers. Many very capable women give up their jobs during the menopause which is a cost to employers as well as having a knock on economic impact for families. Enabling women to take control will hopefully help more women remain in work and in turn become menopause ambassadors in their organisations.

If any of you are perimenopausal or menopausal and would like to try some of our life coaching sessions we'd love to offer those as a thank you to you for your donation and supporting this fledgling business to grow into something fabulous.