Welcome to Pause & Unite

Welcome to this new blog space for Pause & Unite - here you will find a growing collection of various perspectives, experiences and information relating to many different aspects of the Menopause. 

Whether you are Peri-Menopausal, Post- Menopausal or completely unsure, we’ve found that bringing women together to share experiences and individual discoveries helps empower us all to take action and to make the decisions right for us at any given moment on our individual journeys.

We are - Alicia and Michelle, two friends based in the UK who've discovered exactly how much we didn't know about this stage of our lives and in realising we're not alone in this - we are now wanting to bring our discoveries to you. 

Earlier this year we started a local private facebook group, initially to transfer a group What's App chat into a space where we could easily share research as well as discuss all things menopause with more local women. As word spread and the group grew, we very quickly realised that women were feeling confused and overwhelmed by the information or more often, lack of information available to them. 

The range of topics discussed in the group are vast yet whatever is mentioned there are always women who seem to understand or have relevant experiences to share. We're sure you will resonate with at least one of these common themes coming up in conversations...

• Many women are experiencing challenges when approaching medical professionals, sometimes being dismissed completely or being misdiagnosed, resulting in women having no choice but to live with symptoms or fight for treatment.
• Some women do not want or have been advised not to take HRT - it is hard to find information to help women understand exactly what is happening inside our bodies and which specific lifestyle changes could truly make a difference
• Some women have considered leaving or have left their jobs due to symptoms, many avoid approaching the subject for fear of being seen as unable to continue in their role.
• Women often share that they are still experiencing some symptoms even post menopause or after starting HRT or they develop new ones ... the medical model is not always able to support women in working out what is going on.
• Feeling isolated, wondering if you are going mad, increased anxiety are commonly experienced by women during peri-menopause and menopause. 

Roll on the Specialists..... 

 We wanted to help group members find the information and the answers to questions being asked from trusted sources, so over the weeks that followed we connected with businesses and professionals, mainly local to the group, who specialise in working with different aspects of menopause. The specialists appeared Live to our members and helped to clarify, dispel myths and provide useful tips/tools to assist women in exploring their next step. 

Pause and Chat ..... 

There is nothing more empowering then hearing from others who have experienced what you're going through and have come through the other side .... we have also chatted to women live in our group, learning from eachother's experiences and supporting one another with recommendations. 

Over 1000 members later... What's next... 

Our group has grown very quickly and remains a private and localised group, what we did not expect was the amount of people discovering it from other parts of the UK and internationally too. We've also had requests from women who do not use social media but have heard about our sessions and would like us to be much more accessible... 

So Here We Are ... creating a website which allows the valuable content currently experienced by a few to reach many more women.

Whilst we work in the background to develop a space for the information, tips, tools to be easily accessed and also an exclusive community space for members -  we will also gradually be adding content to this blog page - the easiest way to keep up to date and hear of new content and developments is to subscribe to our mailing list using the little form below.

This blog is where you can join us on this journey … where we will share discoveries from the different localised groups and where we will showcase some of the specialist speakers and experts. 

We’ve found that every woman is on a unique version of this Pausal Journey and society is only just catching up with what women need.

We look forward to sharing what we discover and to hearing from you too ! 

Together we can encourage change in all the right places!