Anyone who knows me fairly well will have noticed 2 things about me over the last few months:
1. On a daily basis, I will lose words. Yesterday I described a hip-flask as ‘the small square thing’ and the day before I couldn’t think of the word for magic and instead came out with the rather fabulous ‘witchery’: the joys of word-blindness, which now peppers my conversations… sometimes making for an amusing moment, but ultimately really frustrating given that communication in its many forms is essentially what I do for a living.
2. I’ve been banging on fairly constantly about a project I’m working on with the wonderful Laura Shuckburgh of https://www.marvellousmidlife.co.uk , developing two Menopause Awareness training products that help both individuals and businesses to better support people experiencing the menopause transition.
So if you have any knowledge about the menopause (and it’s okay – lots of people, including women, really don’t), you’ll have made the connection between those two things. At 47, I’ve been in peri-menopause (the phase of time when a woman’s hormone levels begin to change, ahead of the actual menopause – the day when you haven’t had a period for a year) for I think, the last couple of years. It creeps up on you – or at least it crept up on me. I guess I was expecting that my periods would just stop, or at least stop putting in such a regular appearance, and I’d have some hot flushes, maybe night sweats .. and that would be it. What I hadn’t anticipated was the mood swings (at any time of the month), the insomnia, the vertigo, the new exciting allergies (attractive swelled up eyes from inhaling leaf-mould spores anyone?) the feeling of losing oneself… that has all been a big surprise.
But it’s not because I’m having a lived experience of this that it’s become such a big focus of my work lately. Towards the end of last year, we noticed that increasingly in our drama-based Inclusion, Equality & Diversity training, learners were asking questions about whether the menopause was a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 (it’s not), and whether there’s been any legal cases based on discrimination around the menopause transition (there has, finding in favour of the claimant on grounds of Gender, Age, and even Disability discrimination). Listening to our learners is what we do, so we realised that this was clearly an area where people wanted more information.
Fast-forward a few months, and menopause is a hot topic (pun intended) right now. With Davina McCall making massive inroads in raising public awareness with her Channel 4 programmes, Dr Louise Newson clearing up myths about HRT on This Morning, and many celebrities and public figures from Lisa Snowdon to Nicola Sturgeon talking about their experiences, the Menopause is finally on the way to becoming less of a taboo topic, at least in the media.
But what about at work? How many people feel comfortable talking to their line managers about peri-menopause & menopausal experiences? How many businesses realise the impact on talent attraction and retention of not being menopause-friendly workplaces? It’s these challenges that our training seeks to address. For me, an essential element of this project was making sure we spoke to people about their menopause transition. Reaching out through our networks, Laura & I secured the support of a wonderful group of women happy to contribute and share their experiences. The result is some incredibly honest video footage where individuals talk about their symptoms, how it’s impacted their lives, and the support they did or didn’t receive in the workplace…. the first time I watched them all, it made me cry (hormones!) … not because I was upset, but simply a raw emotional response on being confronted with the reality of this life stage that every woman, and many trans & non-binary people will go through. I shared some of the videos in our weekly team meeting, & they prompted a wonderful, open discussion about the menopause – something that a year ago would never have happened without a lot of awkwardness on everyone’s part, and a subject that even I, in the midst of experiencing it, would have found difficult to raise.
As such, this footage now forms a really important part of our training, its impact is immediate and provides a jumping off point for everyone to open up about what they know, what they don’t know, and perhaps even to talk about their own experiences. We use it, along with our bespoke drama scenes, to create an environment where it’s okay to ask questions, share ideas, practice communication skills and learn what we can all do to improve our own awareness, encourage openness, and put in place ways of working that support everyone in their menopause transition.
If you want to retain the experience, skills and knowledge of your female employees, create an inclusive working environment for all, and demonstrate your commitment to the wellbeing of your people, talk to ted about our Menopause Awareness courses today … you can read about the content of the courses, and download more information at
https://www.tedlearning.co.uk/introduction-to-menopause-awareness-training/
https://www.tedlearning.co.uk/menopause-awareness-for-leaders-training/
Roxy Hooton
Roxy is the Group People Director for Squaricle Group & the Learning Director at ted Learning. She is a fundamental part of our team ensuring that our people are looked after and that our delivery is tailored to the clients needs and is ‘on-brand’.
