County conference to MBrace the menopause offers support to individuals and employers

Shropshire’s first menopause conference has been organised by Angela Loughlin of Mbrace from Shrewsbury - a county based menopause training and support provider.

The event, at the Ashton Theatre at Shrewsbury School on Sunday October 16from 9.30am-4pm, will bring the menopause training company Talking Menopause to Shropshire.

The experts will include GPs, physios, nutritional therapists and coaches as they come together to support those going through the menopause, along with employers and managers who want to learn how to improve the support for their employees.

Angela, who founded Mbrace following her menopause journey and is a qualified menopause holistic coach and qualified menopause advocate trainer within the NHS, said the event was a whole-day celebration which would support and guide people through the journey.

Sessions include menopause in the workplace; the importance of nutrition, bone health and your menopause vision.

Angela said: “This full day celebration is about empowering people to take control of their menopause journey and for employers and line managers to better understand what their staff are going through at that time, and the support they can offer.

“The conference team will be able to offer the tools to help people minimise the impact the menopause has on their work, their family and their whole lifestyle.

“For employers and line managers they need to learn the best ways to support their staff going through menopause - we say “hot flushes in the boardroom should be fanned not shamed” - but it is more than hot flushes, more than night sweats and people need to be able to recognise the much wider symptoms and the impact they have someone’s family life and working life.”

Lynda Bailey, who launched the nationally recognised Talking Menopause in 2017, will be one of the guest speakers. Her passion is born out of her own experience of menopause whilst working as an Inspector in West Midlands Police.

She said like so many others her symptoms were overwhelming leaving her struggling to understand how she could continue to carry out her role. She was fortunate to have a supportive manage but Lynda was driven to set up a menopause support group at work and her work continues today across the force and she won the West Midlands Police diamond award for diversity for her menopause work.

In February Lynda was invited to give evidence to the Women and Equalities Select Committee menopause inquiry.

The second speaker will be Claire Callaghan, a Chartered Physiotherapist for over 25 years, who specialises in physical activity and women’s musculo-skeletal health.