There are estrogen receptors all throughout a woman's body, and as estrogen starts to decline, this can lead to a range of unwelcome symptoms (up to 90!), including mood swings, poor sleep, skin issues, weight gain, and hot flashes. While some women have very few symptoms, others have many, and life understandably becomes very challenging. The average age of menopause is 50 and perimenopause can start up to 10 years prior.

The good news is that many of these symptoms can be eased or eliminated through simple lifestyle changes that I will guide you through. I also work in partnership with doctors or gynaecologists when necessary.

Another complicating factor at this time in our lives is that many psychological issues that we may have been able to ignore for a long time start to come to the fore. This is compounded by the stress we experience just from the perimenopausal symptoms themselves, as well as the fact that many women at our age are either taking care of children or ageing parents, or both.

My coaching approach is informed by IFS (Internal Family Systems) which is a great way to get to know the different inner parts of ourselves and to help them be less polarised and work better as a team.

Many times when we say we want to lose weight, we really mean we want to be loved or accepted, or that we want to be liberated from self-loathing or shame. I do not believe in perpetuating the damage that has been done to women by the media and by the weight-loss industry machine.

Weight management can also be very challenging as there are often different parts of us in conflict about what we want when it comes to food and eating. Finally, our weight can be impacted by hormonal changes.

My approach is always to look at changing what and how you eat by focusing on mental health, internal physical health and building a strong body by using food as medicine, and finding ways for you to eat what you love without shame.

I will also help you to find movement that you enjoy and help you create strong, new exercise habits so you can take better care of your bones, muscles, heart and brain. .

So many of my clients are experiencing high levels of stress or anxiety, and taking care of this aspect of our health cannot be neglected.

I help you find ways to reduce stress and anxiety in both your external and internal worlds, because they are both important.

Internally, I work with the parts of you that are anxious or the parts that want to be constantly busy, the parts that overwork and the parts of you that want to take care of everyone but yourself.

Externally, I work with you to look at what can be simplified in your life, what can be streamlined, and what new habits you can implement that will satisfy all the inner parts of you.