Really Useful Conversations

Sleep and Menopause – One of the most frequently raised concerns 

(This is Episode 3 and is part of the 6 Lifestyle Levers: Small Shifts, Big Impact mini-series)

If you are tired but cannot switch off, wide awake at 3am, or constantly running on adrenaline, this episode is for you.

If you have been feeling low, sluggish, or struggling with sleep during menopause, this episode will help you understand why movement really is medicine for the mind.

In Episode 2 of my mini-series, 6 Lifestyle Levers: Small Shifts, Big Impact, we look at how physical activity supports mental health, hormone balance, and em...

If you’ve been feeling flat, foggy, or wired but tired, it might not just be stress or perimenopause. It could be what, and how, you are feeding your brain during this chapter.

In this first episode of my new mini-series, 6 Lifestyle Levers: Small Shifts, Big Impact, we focus on Nourish: how nutrition shapes mood, energy, and emotional balance during menopause.

Y...

October hosts both World Mental Health Day and Menopause Awareness Day and is indeed Menopause Awareness Month. The theme this year is Lifestyle Medicine and so I am focussing in this podcast episode on the impact that menopause can have on our mental health, and sharing a basic understanding of what is going on that is causing the low mood, anxiety, brain fog and other cognitive and mental health challenges that some women experie...

In the last episode, recorded for World Suicide Prevention Day, I spoke specifically about the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours for midlife women, given the statistics show that the most female deaths by suicide tend to occur in midlife. I promised that I would follow up to talk about how when navigating perimenopause we might be at more risk and more importantly, what we might do to keep ourselves safe. 

As a qualified sui...

This week is World Suicide Prevention Day and hopefully there will be lots of media coverage in encouraging a "Change in the Narrative" - to make conversations about this issue more commonplace. This in turn helps to reduce the stigma and smash the silence and makes it easier for people to ask for help. 

You may have seen media coverage in recent times talking about the high number of male suicide deaths and men's mental health in ...

*This episode talks about suicide and I hope will be useful to women, their friends, family, support network AND their employer*

The coronor confirmed that the lady had indeed taken her own life, following perimenopause then menopause causing her mental health condition to have worsened - and tragically this situation is more common than you might think. 

Often people think of menopause symptoms as just the hot flushes or night swe...

Yesterday I received the devastating news of the loss of an incredible woman - strong, confident, bold, kind, wise, caring and funny as heck! I thought she was invincible and when she got her cancer diagnosis I would have bet my house on her surviving. 

Yesterday made me realise that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I know we say it all the time that life is too short but sometimes when you lose someone who really was so amazing, you re...

If you have ever had the experience where your mind just will not switch off - perhaps going to bed and you struggle to sleep, maybe you sit down for a rest and your inner voice reminds you of all the things you SHOULD be doing, when relaxation is almost impossible as you just cannot disconnect ... this episode is for you. 

You are doing all the things that those self-care folks tell you to do - bedtime routine, switching off digit...

Values - those things that we all have, often no idea where they came from, but tend to reflect the things that matter most to us. Are you living in alignment with yours?

We all have a little internal book of rules - rules that we have been creating for ourselves since we were first born and my little book will be different to yours. Those rules then guide our lives, our decisions and the people that we choose to be around - these ...

Having recently been nominated in the Merseyside Women of the Year awards I suddenly found my little inner critic throwing a party - as I read through the bio's of the other women who are also finalists, I could hear that little voice getting louder - "Who are you to be included in that? Look at what she has done! Oh she is amazing! Achieved so much more than you!" and before I knew it, the joy had dissolved into doubt and shame .....

This week in the UK is Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme this year is "Community" and in this episode I am talking specifically about the importance of community for those of us who are midlife women.

A chapter in our lives when hormones are shifting, which can indeed negatively impact our mental health, but often also a very busy chapter with lots of juggling of priorities, perhaps older children or grandchildren needing ...

Back in February I hosted "Actually, she can!" - which was a fantastic day of personal growth and professional development, by women, for women, fundraising for future female talent in Halton Borough and it was an absolutely amazing day! 

With over 200 women in the audience and 12 professional speakers, authors and coaches taking to the stage and hosting workshops, sharing insights and expertise that had the audience scribbling not...

Our final guest speaker interview is with the wonderful Rachel Foord and at the Actually, she can! event on 27th February, Rachel will be hosting a workshop entitled "Thriving Beyond Barriers; what empowers and challenges neurodivergent women" - and it is sure to be a very popular session.

Whether you are attending Actually! as a neurodivergent woman yourself, or as a mother, sister, manager or HR leader, Rachel will be sharing so ...

Before Christmas I really enjoyed chatting to another one of our guest speakers, Valerie J Ritchie, who is hosting a workshop for us at Actually, she can! in February to help people harness their inner strengths and turn challenges into opportunities.  Valerie is a midlife empowerment coach, an advocate for the crone goddess, and helps women to step into the wise, powerful, authentic self so that they can live life to the full. 

In...

Meeting up with someone that you instantly have a connection with and knowing they share your values in wanting to make a positive difference is not something that happens every day and so when Michelle Atkinson, HRD from Suttons International and I chatted about Actually, she can! and the difference we want to make in our local community, I could see she was as enthused and keen to make that difference too! 

We are very grateful i...

Ex corporate girl Susie Sprigg believes that connection, communication and conversation are critical to all of us, and that we can build relationships with cheerleaders and people who will check in on us too, all through the power of networking.

Networking is not just for people who run a business looking to sell their services to others, but also for people who work within an organisation who might need to build their network for ...

A favourite guest on the podcast Michelle Minnikin joins me again this week but to talk this time about her contribution at Actually, she can! 

There is no way we could have organised a day of personal growth and professional development for women, by women without including the powerhouse that is Ms Minnikin! 

A professional speaker, author of the fabulous "Good Girl Deprogramming" and workshop facilitator, Michelle helps women to...