Be MEN-opause Ready!
Support the females in your life through their changing hormones!
There’s been a lot of talk about the Menopause in the media and possibly in your workplace, but what does the Menopause mean to you and are you ready to support or understand the process someone you live or work with is going through?
Cast your mind back to puberty! This may cause you to cringe slightly when you think back to the body changes, the spots and the crushes you may have experienced. All this was due to surges in hormones racing around your body a little bit out of control. This was of course also happening to your female counterparts and this ongoing rollercoaster of hormones through puberty is often used to describe the Menopause – the second puberty. The period of time that these hormones are changing up to the point of Menopause is termed the Perimenopause and this can last as long as 6-8 years!
The correct definition of Menopause is the point in time when a woman has not menstruated (had a period) for 12 months. The period of time leading up to this point is when women experience a lot of problems and may not know themselves that they are experiencing the perimenopause. Symptoms can then continue past the point of Menopause when you would be described as post-menopausal but being post-menopausal doesn’t mean that all the symptoms go away. The ongoing symptoms can continue for many years afterwards too.
With such a variety of symptoms that can all affect mood and performance, you may find an alteration in your partner’s ability to manage as many tasks as they used to and along with this there could be some emotional outbursts too! This could initially be put down to being overworked and overwhelmed with life itself and this could escalate if the individual then puts themselves under more pressure because they don’t feel they are performing well enough at all of life’s tasks.
Within this workshop I’ll be discussing some of the signs to look out for if you think the Perimenopause could be one of the reasons that these changes are happening and creating a change to the individual, how to approach the individual in question and then ultimately how to support them to feel more human again. You may be surprised that what you feel is helpful in these situations could result in a full blown meltdown! Allow me to help you navigate your way through what can be a turbulent time.
