Is this going to be another blog that skirts around the tough stuff and practicalities of being menopausal and working?
Those of you, who have already worked with me or have followed me for a while, will already know that’s just not my style. There is nothing that winds me up into a menopausal rage than contrite vanilla advice that says, “seek support from your employer and request reasonable adjustments”.
Many of the marvellous menopausal women that I work with are in technical and leadership roles with well-regarded or great employers. They are at the forefront of their respective industries and changing the future of work for their industry sectors. They already have menopause policies, line manager training, employee training, employee support networks and menopause cafés etc.; but are missing the variety and depth of different solutions and coping strategies to allow menopausal women to perform at the very best whilst at work, ya know, the ones that come from having lived experience of it.
What are the real-world coping strategies that I can use?
Like all things, there is no one size fits all solution, and the strategies that you employ will depend on your menopausal symptoms. It’s great that you’ve recognised that your body is changing, and it’s important to honour and respect those changes. Here are some top tips that might just help you out:
Many of those suggestions are about ME making a change
Yes, many of the suggestions above are about making a personal commitment to you and your health, and sowing up for you each day. The key to marvellous menopause is doing many small things consistently, as together; they have a huge cumulative effect.
It is important to carve out time for radical self-care, no doubt you are excellent at looking after others, but now is the time to start to put yourself first – without guilt. This may even mean having a self-care conversation with your line manager. Recognise the things in life that recharge you and do them as often as you can, it could be a long walk, a bubble bath, listening to music or meeting friends.
How can working together help me through peri-menopause and menopause?
As we, transition into peri-menopause and then menopause we often lose the sense of our familiar self and some of our self-confidence as we go on a hormonal roller coaster of a ride.
Working together, I can help you understand how to restore the delicate balance of hormones, supporting you with a combination of nutritional advice, supplementation, and effective stress management tools & techniques.
I can help you make sense of what is going on for you and your body allowing you to flourish rather than flounder. I can find patterns between in your symptoms flaring up and what has gone on with your life choices and behaviours and help you change your behaviours.
I can also help you prepare for when the time comes to talk to a health care professional about your menopause journey so that you go to your appointment armed with empirical evidence that can be easily reviewed by your GP.
A bit about me & my background
Claire is a Health, Wellbeing and Rehabilitation Specialist at Restoring Balance; a sports scientist and Coach who is also a multi-disciplined therapist specialising in person-centred care. Claire has also held a number of senior leadership roles in high-profile safety-critical industries, where she has championed workplace health and wellbeing and is menopausal herself.
Claire’s work is very different to many therapists – working with you as a whole person using a unique combination of mind, nutrition and movement to overcome both physical and emotional blocks; not just where you feel pain or have dysfunction, allowing you to live life again. Claire can help you with:
- Balancing your hormones
- Understanding your cycle and how to work with it and not it against it
- Peri-menopause and menopause coaching
- Improving your pelvic floor function
- Calming your stress & anxiety
- Improving your digestive health
- Changing your mindset and emotional health
- Relieving pain
- Increasing mobility, balance, stability, co-ordination
- Post-operative rehabilitation
- Post-operative scar care
I work both online and in person from my home-based clinic on Hayling Island, Hampshire.
