Saorsa Menopause Consultancy

15/05/2026

HR leaders, DEI leads, and business owners…

How are your preparations going for the new voluntary menopause workplace action plans introduced this March?

For organisations with 250+ employees, employers can now publish a voluntary action plan alongside gender pay gap reporting, including menopause support measures. Employers are being encouraged to choose at least TWO evidence-informed actions as part of their plan. (GOV.UK)

So far, have you decided what your two actions will be?

Some examples include:
• Line manager menopause training
• Menopause awareness workshops for staff
• Workplace risk assessments
• Reviewing policies and reasonable adjustments
• Creating menopause champions or peer support networks
• Flexible working considerations
• Improving workplace temperature, uniform, or rest space arrangements
• Building menopause into wellbeing and EDI strategies

The organisations getting ahead now are not just thinking about compliance. They’re thinking about retention, inclusion, wellbeing, and culture.

If you’re unsure where to start, or want to sense-check what you already have in place, I can help.

I support organisations with:
✔ Line manager training
✔ Staff awareness workshops
✔ Menopause education sessions loop
✔ Policy and culture guidance
✔ Practical workplace adjustment support

If you’d like a free mini menopause workplace audit call, send me a message or comment below and I’ll be happy to arrange one.




https://www.gov.uk/

GOV.UK - The best place to find government services and information.

12/05/2026

Something you might not know about hiring me.

I’m a social enterprise. Which means a portion of every fee I receive goes straight back into delivering free menopause support to community groups, women’s organisations, and third sector charities who couldn’t otherwise access it.

Last night I was in Inverclyde with the In The Know organisation. A very lively room. Repeat attendees. Women still finding out something new every session.
That session was funded, in part, by a corporate client who simply hired me to deliver a workshop.

They didn’t do anything extra. They didn’t apply for a grant. They just chose where to spend a budget they already had.

If your organisation has a social value strategy, a DEI commitment, or an ESG remit, this matters. Hiring me means your investment reaches further than your own workforce.

Want to bring menopause workshops to your organisation? Get in touch.

MenopauseSupport WomensHealth CorporateResponsibility MenopauseAdvocacy

12/05/2026

Something you might not know about hiring me.
I’m a social enterprise.

Which means a portion of every fee I receive goes straight back into delivering free menopause support to community groups, women’s organisations, and third sector charities who couldn’t otherwise access it.

Last night I was in Inverclyde with the In The Know organisation. A VERY lively room. Repeat attendees. Women still finding out something new every session.

That session was funded, in part, by a corporate client who simply hired me to deliver a workshop.

They didn’t do anything extra. They didn’t apply for a grant. They just chose where to spend a budget they already had.

If your organisation has a social value strategy, a DEI commitment, or an ESG remit, this matters. Hiring me means your investment reaches further than your own workforce.

Want to bring menopause workshops to your organisation? Get in touch.

Menopause Experts Group Pauline McCombe Nicol

08/05/2026

Last year I was a speaker at the Scottish Pause Summit, sharing my thoughts on Menopause at Work. This year I’ll be an exhibitor. Either way, I wouldn’t miss it.

The Scottish Pause Summit is back on 18 October, World Menopause Day, right in the heart of Glasgow city centre, a two-minute walk from Central Station.

This year’s event is full of incredible speakers, interactive sessions, and genuinely useful takeaways.

But I want to highlight one session in particular: Dr Helen Wall (author of menopause and ADHD) speaking on menopause and ADHD.

Late ADHD diagnosis in women is far more common than many people realise. Oestrogen can mask ADHD symptoms for decades, and as levels decline during perimenopause, those symptoms can surface suddenly and significantly. Dr Helen’s knowledge in this space is outstanding, and this session alone is worth the trip.

Tickets are in the link. Come along. https://app.forumm.to/event/7f75a75d-ab8a-4b14-8acd-1b789f5bcdfa

Andrea Clare Menopause Experts Group Pauline McCombe Nicol

Glasgow's largest menopause event is back — bigger, bolder and bursting with energy! Join women from across Scotland for a day of laughter, learning and connection around the pre, peri and post-menopause. Tickets are live now!

06/05/2026

Why you should hire me.

Not because I have the right qualifications on paper, though I do.

But because I’ve lived it.

I’m a woman where my experience was quietly managed around, not supported. Where nobody named what was happening, because at the time, nobody knew. Not my employer. Not my colleagues. Not even me. We didn’t have the language for it yet. It was perimenopause, and it was hiding in plain sight.

Menopause in the workplace is a risk issue. a legal issue and a retention issue. And for too long, it’s been treated as a personal problem to be hidden rather than a professional reality to be supported.

I know what it costs when organisations get this wrong, the talent lost, the claims exposure, the culture damage. But importantly, I know what it looks like when someone finally says “we see you, and we’ve got you.”

I want to be the person I needed.

The Menopause Champion who brings both the human understanding and the risk lens. Who can help organisations build policies that actually hold up, legally, culturally, and practically.

Who isn’t afraid to have the conversations that others still find awkward. And who, for better or worse, can now spot a perimenopausal woman from a hundred yards. Consider it a superpower. 🦸‍♀️

If you’re building an organisation that takes inclusion seriously, not as a tick-box, but as a business imperative, let’s talk.

Because your menopausal employees aren’t a liability to manage.

They’re experience, expertise, and resilience you can’t afford to lose.

Menopause Experts Group

04/05/2026

Want to hear my conspiracy theory about Big Pharma and HRT?

Bear with me, because the numbers tell quite a story.

Body-identical HRT costs £19.80 a year on the NHS in England. Free in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. A medication that stabilises oestrogen, protects bone density, improves insulin sensitivity, supports cardiovascular health, and reduces all-cause mortality risk in midlife women.

For less than the price of a meal out.

Now consider the drugs that fill the gap when women are not offered HRT. Bisphosphonates for osteoporosis. Statins for cholesterol. Metformin and GLP-1 medications for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Antidepressants prescribed to women in their 40s and 50s whose mood dysregulation is hormonal, not psychiatric. Antihypertensives for blood pressure that crept up after oestrogen withdrawal.

Each generates significant ongoing revenue. Each requires repeat prescriptions, monitoring appointments, and further medications to manage side effects.

HRT, by contrast, is cheap, effective, and preventive.

The wider economic picture rarely gets mentioned either. Menopause symptoms cost the UK economy billions annually through lost productivity, absenteeism, and women leaving the workforce at the peak of their careers. A woman cycling through GP appointments for brain fog, joint pain, and palpitations, each assessed in isolation, is an expensive patient. A woman on well-managed HRT, largely symptom-free, costs the system very little and contributes a great deal. The maths is not complicated. The will to act on it, apparently, is.

So why are we still treating the downstream consequences of oestrogen deficiency rather than addressing oestrogen deficiency itself?

The Women’s Health Initiative in 2002 caused HRT prescriptions to collapse overnight. The headlines screamed about breast cancer and heart attacks. What they did not say was that the trial used synthetic progestins in older women, years after menopause, with findings largely inapplicable to younger women using body-identical hormones at perimenopause. Two decades of under-prescribing followed. Women were handed antidepressants instead of oestrogen. Osteoporosis was managed rather than prevented.

The science has moved on. The prescribing largely has not.

So no, it is probably not a conspiracy.

But it is almost like they do not want us to be well.

29/04/2026

Women live longer than men, but we live longer in poorer health and research shows that we can attribute that to the decline in oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone during perimenopause.

Please save this video as it discusses how women present differently when have a heart attack, you could save someone’s life.

20/04/2026

Monday Walking 121 , with my Branch Redistribution Manager 🐾

Well, today she lived up to her job title in spectacular fashion. Three branches. Not one, not two… three. Apparently one branch just wasn’t going to cut it for today’s redistribution targets. She’d clearly bit off more than she could chew, but she committed to the process.

It got me thinking though… how often do we do the same? We pile on the work deadlines, the family logistics, the social commitments, the never-ending to-do list, and then wonder why we feel like we’re dropping sticks everywhere.

And if you’re navigating menopause on top of all of that? The brain fog, the sleepless nights, the hormonal rollercoaster that nobody warned you about? That is a LOT to carry.

Here’s what she reminded me today: she didn’t manage all three gracefully. She wobbled, she adjusted, one fell out twice. But she kept going, and she looked pretty proud of herself at the end.

So this week, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, maybe ask yourself which branches actually need carrying right now, and which ones can stay on the ground for a bit.

Be kind to yourself. You’re doing more than you think.

What are you putting down this week to give yourself a break? Drop it in the comments.

WomenInBusiness Wellbeing perimenopause perimenopauseawareness makemenopausenatter

20/04/2026

Monday Walking 121 , with my Branch Redistribution Manager 🐾

Well, today she lived up to her job title in spectacular fashion. Three branches. Not one, not two… three. Apparently one branch just wasn’t going to cut it for today’s redistribution targets. She’d clearly bit off more than she could chew, but she committed to the process.

It got me thinking though… how often do we do the same? We pile on the work deadlines, the family logistics, the social commitments, the never-ending to-do list, and then wonder why we feel like we’re dropping sticks everywhere.

And if you’re navigating menopause on top of all of that? The brain fog, the sleepless nights, the hormonal rollercoaster that nobody warned you about? That is a LOT to carry.

Here’s what she reminded me today: she didn’t manage all three gracefully. She wobbled, she adjusted, one fell out twice. But she kept going, and she looked pretty proud of herself at the end.

So this week, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, maybe ask yourself which branches actually need carrying right now, and which ones can stay on the ground for a bit.

Be kind to yourself. You’re doing more than you think.

What are you putting down this week to give yourself a break? Drop it in the comments.

15/04/2026

A medical student spent 6 hours studying the full menstrual health cycle. I spent 30 hours just to become a licensed menopause champion.

Last week I was at a GP appointment when the doctor asked if it was okay for a third-year medical student to sit in. I said yes, and what followed turned into quite a revealing conversation.

When he heard what I do for a living, he lit up. He had just completed his menopause training and sat his exam. I was genuinely pleased to hear it, so I asked him how many hours he had spent studying the subject.

Six hours. And that was for the full menstrual health cycle, not menopause alone.

I did not say what I was thinking in the moment, but I will say it here.
To become an accredited and licensed menopause champion, I completed a minimum of 30 hours of training with Menopause Experts Group. That does not include a full day with Diane Danzebrink, menopause specialist nurse and founder of the campaign, or the ongoing hours I am working through with Louise Newson Newson, Health training.

I want to be clear: I am not criticising this young man. He was enthusiastic, engaged, and clearly committed. The problem is not the student. It is the curriculum.

Menopause will affect every single woman who lives long enough to experience it. That is 51% of the population. And yet the medical training dedicated to understanding it amounts to a fraction of what it takes a layperson to become a licensed champion.

We talk a lot about women not being taken seriously when they present with menopause symptoms. Perhaps part of the answer lies here.

The student was not the problem. The system that trained him is.