menoPAUSE: Real & Raw Stories of Midlife & Mental Health

Sheree Clark is a Midlife Courage Coach, television show host, inspiring speaker and accomplished author. Sheree has written and presented on topics ranging from finding your passion to overcoming career burnout. Her Fork in the Road coaching practice keeps her busy working with clients one-on-one and in groups on creating an authentically fulfilling life. In her personal time, Sheree and her cat Lotus work on their yoga poses. 

This episode with Sheree Clark is such a gold mine of wisdom, including:

Laura Feeney is a yoga teacher and movement educator who is passionate about helping pre-to postmenopausal women navigate life with ease. Through yoga and mindful movement, she supports women to build strength, maintain and improve mobility, sleep better, and manage stress through her classes, workshops and retreats helping women connect to their bodies with positivity and love.

Laura is originally from the US and I’m also a mom of four grown kids, a business owner, a bookworm, and a jewellery maker. She’s been teaching yoga and movement in rural Ireland since 2004 and opened a movement stud...

Aline McCarthy is a leading expert in Cellular to Holistic Health guiding midlife women to thrive. As a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, Cellular Health and Nutrition Coach she guides women in midlife in transforming their health from the inside out so they can finally feel back in control, comfortable and confident in everyday life.

Aline overcame her own chronic back pain, gut health, anxiety and inflammation issues by addressing the underlying causes and making appropriate lifestyle changes. When the mainstream medical system did not provide any satisfactory answers for her, Aline decided to learn from t...

Sandy Davies is the Queensland-based formulator and founder of HappyPause™ Balm. She’s a bit of a rebel who struggles taking ‘No’ for an answer, which is how she came to turn the lack of a simple, preservative-free natural solution for intimate dryness into her mission. The creation of HappyPause™ is Sandy’s ‘Yes.’ Don’t suffer in silence. A tiny pearl of HappyPause™ and you’ll have a spring back in your step.
Dryness caused by perimenopause, chemotherapy, endometriosis, Type 1 Diabetes, harsh working conditions, endurance training, postmenopause or other issues should never be a death knell to doing the active thing...

Revealing the Richness of the Rose with Dee Light

Dee Light has the gifted knack of seeing the biggest picture, and distilling it into sizable, easy-to-digest steps. Her capacity to take a dilemma and uncover the way out, is an everyday challenge she sees as part of her role in these dynamic times. For Dee, there is always a solution. A path forward. Dee has studied and applied many modalities over the last forty years and has distilled them down to the basic steps that get results. So, you can respond to life, not react; e...

Relational Rupture and Repair with Thea Baker

Thea is a counsellor and body-based (somatic) psychotherapist with special interests in all aspects women’s health, trauma (PTSD, C-PTSD) and couples/relationship therapy. She works collaboratively with her clients to find a place of healing and recovery.; and she's in it for the long-haul and doesn’t give up easily. Thea is not the kind of therapist that is ok with “feeling better” if better is still a long way off being truly well.

Wellbeing is about much more than the absence of disease or illness...

After recording episode 1 of this season of the podcast about my Mental Health challenges, I thought it was high time and came and gave you an update after almost 6 months. 

In this chat I speak about:
- the decision to use medication to help with mood and mental health challenges back in April, and how this has opened up space in my life for true honest introspection
- being in the Separation psychological phase of Perimenopause and the pruning of relationships, habits and patterns that have happened in this autumnal phase
- chronic pain a...

E2S22 The Medicine of Me with Kerri Hummingbird

Kerri Hummingbird, Medicine Woman, Mother and Mentor, is the Founder of Inner Medicine Training, a Mystery School that shares potent ancient traditions from the Andes and Himalayas for owning your wisdom and living your purpose.  She is the #1 international best-selling author of "Inner Medicine: Becoming One with Mother Earth for the Survival of Humanity" (int'l bestseller for 23 weeks), "The Second Wave: Transcending the Human Drama" (int'l bestseller over 217 weeks), and "Love Is Fierce: Healing the Mother Wound" which describes the most direct path to self-realization. As the host o...

Get ready for an empowering episode that dives deep into the realms of resilience, strength, and revolution! 

We sat down with the phenomenal Strong Coach Mary, founder of Strong Formula, and discussed her remarkable journey from a civil engineer to a beacon for women over 40. 🚀

Mary shared her compelling journey, navigating through life's challenges to transform not just her own life, but those of many women facing menopause. 

We explored how lifestyle changes, including switching to natural foods and an alcohol-free life, contributed to her transformation. 💪🍏🥦

We also delved into the critical role...

S12E20 Metabolism, Sleep & Energy: The Midlife Trifecta with Lisa Walker

Lisa is Eir’s co-founder and resident left-brain thinker/big-picture planner. She crossed paths with Eir co-founder Kate working in marketing, and water-cooler chat became a friendship, glued together by their ability to find hilarity in (almost) every situation that comes with feeling constantly foggy/fatigued/frazzled and managing the mental load. The idea for Eir simmered in the background, but eventually the two decided to create a solution for the issues they—and all their friends—were silently battling with.

The kn...

I reached out to MC McDonald after reading her book Unbroken: The Trauma Response is Never Wrong (And Other Things you Need to Know to Take Back Your Life) which I found pivotal in unravelling my own trauma response over these past few months.

 MaryCatherine McDonald, PhD, is a research professor and life coach who specializes in the psychology and philosophy of trauma. She has been researching, lecturing, and publishing on the neuroscience, psychology, and lived experience of trauma since completing her PhD in 2016. She’s published two academic books and many research papers, and is the cre...

Patrice is a nurse with 39 years of experience working in a variety of specialties such as critical care, women's health, and geriatrics. After 15 years, she left clinical practice to teach nursing. As an award-winning educator at a top ranked university, she found her passion for mentoring new nurses and continues to teach abroad.

She recently returned to clinical work and in addition to writing her recently released book, The View from the Clinic: One Nurse's Journey in Abortion Care, she has returned to working in the abortion world caring for post-abortion patients via telemedicine.

 This w...

What if the signs of perimenopause were staring you right in the face and you didn't even know it?

Get ready to unpack the unfamiliar terrain of perimenopause with our guest, Maria Doyle, as she shares her journey of awakening to her own symptoms, the challenges she faced due to the global pandemic, and the positive changes she made in her life. Maria's story is not just an enlightening look at perimenopause but also a testament to resilience, authenticity and self-care.

Maria's life, split between the sun-soaked beaches of Perth and the snowy landscapes of...

Nikki Parkinson, 56, is a former journalist-turned blogger, author and now fashion designer. At the core of all that she does is her love of helping and supporting women to find greater confidence through their everyday style and the life they lead.

 In 2019, Nikki launched her own fashion label, Styling You TheLabel, offering Australian-made, non-boring wardrobe basics that take the stress out of the what-to-wear question. She has long advocated for a disruption in the way that fashion is marketed to women. Styling You The Label is the first label globally to invest in showcasing its designs on e...

Join us for an unforgettable conversation with the one and only Lois Blackburn.

Lois, a gifted artist, shakes up the art world with her textile masterpieces and a fervour for challenging the status quo. A true rebel at heart, Lois is not afraid to take on intimidating art galleries and the underappreciation of textile art. Get ready to see art in a whole new perspective as we delve into the tactile experience and the importance of making art accessible to everyone.

Drawing from her work with Arts and Health, we venture into the power of...

Motivated by her own debilitating & lonely experience with PMDD, Heidi is on a mission in her clinical practice to support other PMDD peeps to regain power over menstrual mood cycles, get off the emotional rollercoasters and balance body & mind naturally so they can feel calm, confident and empowered in themselves, in relationships, work and Life.

Having been reading about the link of ACE (Adverse childhood experiences) and increased risks of significant mental health episodes, risk of MDD (Major Depressive Disorder) and PMDD (premenstrual Dysmorphic Disorder) I knew there was going to be so many a-ha moments for...

Deb Benfield has helped hundreds of women heal their relationship with food, eating, and their bodies in her 35-year career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist specialising in preventing and treating disordered eating.

She brings her wisdom, passion, and lived experience to the intersection of pro-aging and body liberation, and her work is rooted in helping her clients shift their body relationship from their life’s project to their life’s partner.

In this deep conversation, we cover:

An internationally recognized expert on ageism, Ashton Applewhite is the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. She speaks widely at venues that have included the TED mainstage and the United Nations, and is at the forefront of the emerging movement to raise awareness of ageism and to dismantle it.

Here’s an excerpt from her website home, which hit me smack between the eyes, and was a spectacular leaping off point for our chat:

"It’s not HEALTHY to go through life dreading our futures.

It's not being women that make...

After being over medicated with HRT 2017, Somatic and Cognitive Psychotherapist Paula Rastrick joined the dots between childhood trauma, being a highly sensitive person and the mental health impacts her experience when multiple life stressors and perimenopause collided. She is on a mission to raise awareness and empower women to understand the links between childhood trauma, nervous system sensitivity and menopause transition.

This was such an enjoyable chat, and confirmed a lot of the dots I have been forming in my own personal history and perimenopause experience. We cover:

- Paula's own experience of being overmedicated...

Dr. Aimie Apigian, MD MS MPH is the leading medical expert on how life experiences get stored in the body and restoring the body to its best state of health through her signature model and methodology, The Biology of Trauma™. 

Dr. Aimie truly is the physician who healed herself.

Join me as I sit down with Dr. Aimie in this enlightening discussion about the often overlooked impact of trauma on our lives, especially in midlife.

We speak about:

- her journey of becoming a foster parent and adopting her son, Miguel, who...

Lori Saitz is the founder and CEO of Zen Rabbit and host of the podcast “Fine is a 4-Letter Word.” An award-winning author, speaker, and broadcaster, Lori is on a mission to teach the world to be calm and grounded no matter what’s going on.

High achievers come to her because they have a strong drive to be productive, but at the end of the day never feel accomplished enough. As a nationally recognised gratitude and meditation expert, Lori guides those entrepreneurs and business leaders from stressed and chaotic to peaceful and focused and shows them how to...

Over the past 25 years Rebecca Sparrow has earned a living as a travel writer, a television publicist, a marketing executive, a magazine editor, a TV scriptwriter, a radio producer, a newspaper columnist and as an author.

She is the author of three best-selling novels The Girl Most Likely, The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay and Joel and Cat Set The Story Straight (co-authored with Nick Earls). Since 2009 Rebecca has focused on writing non-fiction books for teenage girls to help them navigate those tricky high school years.

In episode 25 of season 1, we met author Emma...

France Forde is a Craniosacral Therapist, Intuitive Channel and Facilitator who provides her services In person (London, UK) and Worldwide (via Zoom). Fran happens to also be neurodivergent and coming to us from the "other side” — yes indeed people, Fran is post menopausal!

Fran generously gifted me a craniosacral session with her prior to our interview and you can tell from my voice just how chilled my nervous system as a result. The session felt to me the perfect blend of the anatomy and straight science behind the nervous system and the intuitive woo woo side that Fran...

Libby Stevenson is a certified as a pregnancy, postnatal and menopause yoga teacher because of her lived experience of journeying through those stages without support, advice & knowledge. These are transformational stages of womanhood. Yoga can be very anchoring and centring at a time in life that is different to the one we have lived so far. 

Libby’s is so motivated to help make all women’s journeys through these powerful portals a healthier and more informed and listening to this chat will give you so many golden a-ha moments on how to do exactly that.

We...

Samantha Nolan-Smith believes we can reshape the world when more diverse voices and perspectives are shared and heard. She knows that as we break through the silencing influences that have been plaguing women for millennia (hello patriarchy), new ways of living, working, and relating to one another and to the planet, will become apparent. What she also knows is that we cannot do this individually. The collective voices of women must be expressed.  It's time for us to speak up.

Our rich conversation covers:

- Samantha’s shift from a 20 year old high functioning, type A y...

Dr. Kelly Teagle is a GP in Canberra specialising in Women’s health. She is the founder of WellFemme, a ground-breaking Telehealth menopause service. She graduated in Medicine from the University of Queensland in 2001 and worked in the Royal Australian Air Force as a Medical Officer until 2010. 

Hold onto your hats perimenopausal people - this is a long and rich conversation covering so many meno-essentials:

- Kelly’s own menopause experience when symptoms hit at 42 (and collided with being mama to a one year old and a serious relationship breakdown)

- the “threshold” Kelly use...

As CEO and Founder of Powerful Steps, host of podcast Powerful Stories and founder of brand and communications agency Torstar, it comes as no surprise that Tory Archbold has met some of the world’s most influential celebrities, entrepreneurs, and CEO’s.

But the reason for Tory’s long-lasting connections is not for the many accolades she has under her belt. It’s because of her authenticity and genuine care she shows for others. Through sharing her story of survival, of being a single mother determined to succeed, she has encouraged others along the way.

I found...

Amanda Thebe is a Fitness and Women’s Health Expert. She is the author of the Amazon best-selling book, Menopocalypse: How I Learned to Thrive During Menopause and How You Can Too! With nearly 30 years of experience in the fitness industry, Amanda is a highly-regarded expert on women’s fitness and health.

She is Canada’s first menopause workplace educator. Through menopause advocacy and education, Amanda provides on-site or virtual presentations in the workplace to improve productivity, retention and attendance for female employees. Helping companies to normalise the conversation around menopause and provide support which impacts 100% of their...

In our first episode of Season 2, I explain the reasons WHY behind our new look and name - and my deep personal story behind why I have decided to slightly tweak the direction the pod is headed in. 

In this episode, I speak about:

- Our change of name, the why and how this will impact the reach of the podcast moving forwards, and therefore how many women’s lives will be profoundly impacted by telling these real, raw stories. 

- A super personal story behind this tweak in direction and how the I fo...

What you would do if you walked into a room and a baby is shrieking with distress alone in its crib. 

Your VERY NATURAL response is going to be:

- Pick the baby up and snuggle it close

- Use your voice to soothe and calm

- Cuddle / rock / sway / change movements to settle

- Respond to actual physical needs - hunger, thirst, nappy change

- If it’s in an environment which cool be uncomfy (too loud, hot, cold, exposed) move to somewhere new

...

Tracey has been a close friend of mine for over a decade and I wanted her to share a very freaking difficult journey through Perimenopause - a lot of what she went through was harder due to not understanding what to expect and how it could show up. Her gift always has been Creative Abundance, and some of the ways this is expressed is the labels of Artist, Designer, Deep, Deep thinker, Human Design and Astrologer, Healer and Keeper of the Keys. In truth, this woman is less about labels and more about a flow of feminine fierceness and...

Libby Tozer is a photographer, writer, founder of the She Is Seen Movement. She lives, works, and surfs on Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna Country on the Fleurieu Peninsula of SA where she is also raising her daughter.

I was looking forward to this interview so much. I came across Libby through a friend of mine who took part in the She Is Seen festival last year. I met her just after she had literally walked down the street in her black knickers and bra with about 180 women. She was so lit up by the experience of body positivity...

Sara Smeaton is a certified professional coach and facilitator who runs online groups for midlife women and works privately with clients in Canada, the US and the UK.

Oh my stars, Sara is a woman with SPARK - a deep and never-ending curiosity and a lifelong ability to sense the boundless potential of everyone around her, which makes her the perfect coach for women who find themselves discombobulated by the shifts occurring in midlife.

We speak about: 

Ezzie Spencer’s vision is a world in coherence. She started as a human rights lawyer, and completed her Ph.D in therapeutic jurisprudence for women subjected to abuse. Over the past decade, she has created a body of work in the trilogy of Power, Love and Peace — with a touch of magic - and yes our chat is just as delicious as all of that sounds.

We speak about:

- A huge Universal curveball at the age of 22, and the recovery process which led Ezzie to study many different forms of alternative healing including Vipa...

Sophie Fletcher is a bestselling author and has been a hypnotherapist and coach for over 17 years. She has worked with hundreds of people and thousands have benefitted from her courses, training and books. Sophie is trained to notice shifts in language, certain phrases and body signals that indicate a block or challenge that is unconscious, then uses the magic of imagery suggestion and other forms of hypnosis to gently tackle those blocks so her clients can move forward to their goal without anything, including themselves, in the way.

This delightful human spoke to us on the eve...