Conversation

A problem shared is a problem halved. Sometimes just saying out loud how you feel can make it feel like a weight has been lifted, especially if you feel like people often don’t really understand how you feel.

We offer 'menopause mentoring' appointments. A menopause mentor can understand because they have their own lived experience of the menopause. She can offer you a friendly listening ear with sympathy, support and signposting (to resources or services you might find useful)

Book your mentoring appointment by clicking here

What will my appointment be like?

Before your appointment

• We will ask you when you book to decide if you would prefer face to face or online.
• We will ask you to complete a questionnaire about how you are feeling.
• We will send a reminder 24 hours before your appointment

During the appointment

• If your appointment is online, you can have your camera on or just have the audio on. Your coach will keep her camera on (unless there are connection issues).
• Your mentor will introduce herself and review your questionnaire 
• You will be invited to talk about the main symptoms and the way they area impacting your life
• Your mentor will have a conversation with you about self-care and your plans to move forward positively
• If you want to book another appointment with your mentor you can do this during the session, or later.

After the appointment

• Your mentor will send you any personalised signposting resources from your conversation by email.
• You will be invited to complete an evaluation of the session – it is really useful to us if you can spend a couple of minutes completing this so that we can make the service as useful as possible.
• We will confirm your next appointment if booked or ask if you would like to be reminded to book again in the future. 
• We will keep your details on our database and let you know about ChangeXtra services and special offers.
• We may contact you to invite you to find out more about becoming a menopause mentor yourself. We would like all mentors to have experience of the menopause, and of having a mentoring appointment, so after your appointment you meet these criteria.

Menopause Mentors – What, Why, Where and When?

What?

Mentors use the ChangeXtra mentoring model to have a conversation with you based on their knowledge and experience. A lot of their role is listening and understand how you are feeling.

The role of our mentor is to:

• Listen to you and your life experiences
• Help you to identify gaps in your knowledge
• Share their knowledge and experiences
• Support, encourage and empower you in your development and self-care

Why?

Some women don't have anyone to talk to about how they really feel, or feel embarassed to talk about ALL the things happening to them in peri or full menopause. We are here for you. Peer mentoring is having discussion about your experience with someone who has been in your situation and can understand, empathise and support you.

There are many proven benefits of mentoring, including the following:

• Sometimes just talking to someone who understands makes you feel better
• Someone objective can help you to understand your strengths 
• Feel less alone
• Feel inspired and motivated
• Health and relationships improve
• Positive behaviour changes last longer
• Positive changes become enjoyable
  

Where?

We piloted face to face appointments but people preferred online. (Plus we can reach everyone that way!) So we hold online appointments over zoom or teams or most video platforms if your choice. If you prefer to use audio or just a phone call rather than video that is fine.

When?

Currently available to book six days per week