Is it knowing the common signs & indicators?

Understanding the menopause transition?

Knowing something about HRT?

Being able to signpost someone to their GP?

Those things may all form part of your knowledge. But being menopause aware and knowing how to bring menstrual health and menopause support appropriately into the work you already do aren't quite the same thing.

For many therapists, coaches and holistic wellness practitioners, there's another step between knowing and doing.

It starts with feeling confident enough to open the conversation.

The conversations that aren't happening

Think about what your clients already talk to you about.

Sleep. Skin. Stress. Energy. Aches and pains. Digestion. Changes in their body. How they're coping with life.

Perhaps they'll tell you they're perimenopausal or mention menopause in passing.

But would they think to tell you that their menstrual cycle has changed?

Would they mention that their periods have become heavier, their cycle rhythm has changed or something simply isn't following the pattern they've known for years?

Probably not.

Why would they know that's something they can talk to you about if you've never invited the conversation?

And you may not invite it because you're wondering:

Can I ask about that?

What should I ask?

What do I do with the answer?

Is this within my scope of practice?

Do I have enough training to do this properly?

That's the gap between being aware of menopause and feeling equipped to support someone through it.

Menopause-informed doesn't mean turning everything into menopause

It doesn't mean becoming a clinician either. It's about understanding when menstrual health could be relevant, feeling confident enough to open the conversation, knowing what to ask and recognising where the boundaries of your role sit.

Menopause day is one point in a much longer story of ovarian ageing and menstrual health. If we only start asking questions once someone identifies themselves as perimenopausal, we may be missing years of useful information that they hadn't even realised was relevant.

So what should we be asking?

A useful menstrual health history can tell us much more than when someone had their last period. In this short video, I'll show you what I mean and some of the questions we can start asking.