Invincible 🫶 March

My profession for the last twenty something years has been in construction, with a particular focus on the social, affordable, and accessible housing sector, and now through my personal experience of Peri-Meno, I have started to join some dots between the growing homeless cohort of generation X women and Meno.

I believe there is a real and clear link, where a few changes in circumstances (relationship, employment, and health status) because of Meno, are having an unfavorable impact on us and this is contributing to homelessness amongst us. And it is simply not being spoken about as a factor! Yet 70% of us will divorce during Meno, there is growing evidence that domestic violence increases during Meno somewhere in the vicinity of 35% in Australia. 27% of us will retire under the age of 55 (15% of this is related to illness, some of which can be attributed to Meno), so if you have already been out of the workforce and were either underemployed or not paid at the same rate of your male counterparts, you are at a significant financial disadvantage and finally 60% of us will have both physical and mental symptoms as a result of Meno, which impacts all aspects of your life.

Approx. 80,000 women per year start their Meno change in Australia. By 2030 the world population of Meno and Post Meno women will increase to 1.2 Billion, with a continued 47 Million every year starting their journey. It’s time we start talking about the bleeding obvious!!

Positive Purpose Actions March

Each month I will update you on what I have been doing to raise my voice and bring light to this topic. It is only by raising our voice that we will get the much-needed changes and if you are doing something to raise your voice, please let me know. I would love to share what you are doing. Big or small, every whisper and shout will become a melody when we join together!

So here is what I have been up to………

Catherine House

I had a fabulous meeting with Jaylee Cooper, Manager – Philanthropy and Engagement, Catherine House. Jaylee and I have agreed to collaborate going forward and while I do not have $$ to donate right now I can help by raising their profile and the work that they do. The reason I have chosen Catherine House, is because they specifically support women experiencing homelessness. Offering crisis, longer term accommodation and support services for women over the age of 18, unaccompanied by children. They service the whole of South Australia and are the only dedicated women’s homelessness service in the State.

In January 2021 Catherine House joined the Housing Choices Group of Companies to become part of Housing Choices South Australia. The merger combined their decades of experience in transitioning women out of homelessness, with the significant capacity of a capable and efficient community housing provider. Providing the women, Catherine House supports with increased housing options.

Because of the merger between Catherine House and Housing Choices Limited I see a strong alignment of values with the positive purpose behind why I am doing what I am doing. I look very forward to supporting funding in the future towards much needed support and housing outcomes for women.

If you would like to support Catherine House, you can do so here

Shout, shout, let it all out, the Senate has been waiting for a girl like you!

I have submitted my Peri-Meno story to the Senate Inquiry into Menopause in Australia. It took me around 20-30mins and I had a response for each of the terms of reference. If you have not done so already, please make your personal submission if you feel comfortable doing so. You can use this template. You don’t have to answer every question, just the ones relevant to you.

I am leading the submission with the Australian Menopause Experts Group (MEG) Champions, whom I completed my Menopause Coaching training with, on a joint submission to share our experiences as certified Menopause Champions. If you would rather have your experience included confidentially as part of this submission, please reach out to me via the contact page and I will touch base to ask some questions.

I attended the Online Town Hall: Menopause Senate Inquiry where Senator Larissa Waters and Associate Prof Erin Morton discussed the upcoming Senate Inquiry into Menopause and took us through the reasons behind this inquiry, specifically acknowledging that far more work needs to be done to understand menopauses health impacts and its economic impacts on women and people who menstruate, and the impacts on our economy. Senator Larissa waters and Associate Prof Erin Morton reenforced the importance of hearing from individuals, health professionals, employers, and experts about what federal funding and policies need to be developed to support women in this phase of life. If you missed it, you could see the full recording here

I have registered for the Menopause & Perimenopause Community Forum on March the 5th, being hosted by Senator Marielle Smith and Ged Kearney MP here in Adelaide.

Remember that the inquiry gives the opportunity to hear from individuals, health professionals, employers, and experts about what federal funding and policies need to be developed to support women in this phase of life. Anyone can make a submission and it can be as small as a sentence, or paragraph. It’s very clear that volume of responses is what the Inquiry needs!

They have extended the submission date to the 15th of March so don’t wait.

You can track the inquiries progress or make a submission here

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