The BPS North West Branch - Peri-Menopause and Menopause Online Event
A review of our recent women’s health event.
04 September 2024
On 03 July 2024 the British Psychology Society Northwest of England branch held an online event for Perimenopause and Menopause.
Our host was the lovely co-chair Lorna Mills, and we had four brilliant speakers Sara Beattie, Sam Beal, Nigel Denby, and Amanda Harcus, who shared their authentic experiences, considerations and research on how to be kinder and supportive towards yourself through the stages and changes of Menopause.
People who attended offered positive feedback, they were grateful of the knowledge that was shared from our speakers and felt reassured that there is an ongoing and growing support towards women when they approach this stage of their life, from professional coaching, books, to a menopause support website.
Our first speaker was Sara Beattie who is a Positive Psychology Practitioner and Coach.
Sara shared her sensitive lived experiences on how powerful the many Menopause symptoms are, one that she spoke openly about was suicidal thoughts, how she gave herself permission to think about those thoughts, by having the strength to control the time and space- as she walked down a certain street.
Sara spoke about how there are over twenty other symptoms that effect changes to a women's mental and physical health during this part of a women's life. Sara spoke about how important and powerful a coaching approach is for supporting women transitioning through Menopause.
Every menopause experience is different and often coincides with other stressful life events. Sara's experiences motivated her to study menopause and brain fog for her Masters which revealed three main themes of Isolation, Acceptance and Agency. It also pointed strongly to the benefits of a group coaching approach that includes elements of mental flexibility and how to use inner resources to support women at this time.
You can find out more about Sara and her work on LinkedIn.
Our second speaker was Sam Beal, who is a well-being and life couch.
As part of her MSc Sam carried out research into the experience of 1:1 coaching for women in midlife and menopause. Sam highlighted the importance of coaching women during this midlife stage using developmental coaching strategies through the INSIGHT framework.
She spoke about how every woman's Menopause is experienced differently, from the symptoms to the duration. Sam spoke how this transition in life affects many levels of change to a woman's wellbeing - a bio-psycho-social- cultural transformation.
She also spoke about how a woman can be perceived when in Menopause and what Menopause means in different cultures, and how negative stigma on Menopause and Menopause uncertainty also correlates with the severe symptoms it causes.
To find out more about Sam visit her LinkedIn profile or go to her website, Sam Beal Coaching
Our third speaker was Nigel Denby, who is a specialist menopause dietician with Harley Street at Home.
He shared his insights on the psychological and physical changes that the Menopause effects, and spoke about nutrition and the importance of healthy eating.
Nigel also spoke about how the metabolic changes effect an increase in weight gain - particularly in areas where women lose their womanly figure, their tummies and waistlines change - and about how this effects women psychologically as they no longer recognise themselves when looking in the mirror, along with the challenges women must face of finding an acceptance to these physical changes.
Nigel spoke about how Menopause causes significant changes on the production to women's hormones; he spoke about the importance of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to help support a woman when transitioning through Menopause.
For more information you can find out more about Nigel on LinkedIn or visit the Harley Street at Home website.
Our final speaker was Amanda Harcus, who is a HR and OD senior leader and also a menopause coach.
Amanda shared her insights on the importance of supporting women with a holistic approach and through a coaching framework. She also highlighted the importance of working environments to better support women in Menopause.
She spoke about how things have changed and that employers, Human Resources are beginning to listen, but there is still much more that needs to change to support women during this stage of their life.
Amanda spoke about how women need to feel psychologically safe and have no judgment towards them when transitioning through Menopause and shared the women's right organisation Fawcett Society.
All our speakers shared valuable and important insights about understanding the changes and the impacts these changes have when transitioning through Menopause.
Each of them highlighted the importance of coaching and also shared additional resources and tips to research this topic further.
We also give thanks Lorna Mills for organising this remarkable event.
We have other events planned for this year so please do check on the BPS North West Branch webpage or on Facebook or LinkedIn. If you have any ideas for further events, then please do get in touch.
Our events allow chance for members to network and to learn about key areas of psychology.
Our next event
There is another event organised by The British Psychology Society on the Menopause on 17 October.