In September 2022, WHISE delivered a webinar titled "Hot topic: A free public webinar on menopause and how to manage," in partnership with the Victorian Women's Health Network, the Women's Spirit Project, the Victorian Women's Trust and the Epworth Hospital. The event received over 250 registrations and over 150 people attended the webinar live, exceeding our expectations and demonstrating significant community interest and need in this topic. WHISE subsequently reached out to partners and stakeholders, as well as people with lived experience of peri- and menopause who attended the webinar, inviting them to register their interest in a working group on peri- and menopause.
The inaugural menopause working group meeting was held in November 2022, and resulted in the ideation and development of two key projects for delivery: a case study examining the impact of policies introduced by employers to support people experiencing peri- and menopause in the workplace, and community-based information sessions designed to increase participants' knowledge of peri- and menopause and their confidence to navigate the healthcare system for symptom management. The case study was published in October 2023 and features qualitative data from interviews with Modibodi and Future Super. The information sessions, of which we initially intended to deliver four, were scheduled from June to October 2023, and in total 19 sessions were held with over 340 participants.
WHISE has subsequently also delivered a webinar on "Your Mind on Menopause", examining the impact of peri- and menopause on mental health and wellbeing and supported the professional development of our menopause working group members through presentations from key knowledge experts such as Wendy Tuohy from The Age, Professor Amanda Vincent from Monash University, Dr Andrea Binks from Wollongong Hospital, Dr Karin Stanzel from Monash University and Dr Alex Hawkey, Western Sydney University.
An article published by Wendy Tuohy contains some of the key topics and areas discussed in the above meetings - Menopause and perimenopause: women advocating for more open discussion of this major life change as a way to end the stigma at work (smh.com.au)
Further, we delivered a submission to the Senate Inquiry on issues related to perimenopause and menopause, and appeared before the Committee for the Inquiry. WHISE was also successful in securing funding through the women's support group grant from the Department of Health, to deliver a community-based program for people with lived experience. Our program, Mastering Menopause, is underway with 13 local participants joining us for participatory health promotion information sessions, facilitated discussions and enrichment activities designed to increase participants' self-efficacy and self-confidence. This program will run until June 2025, with a second group of participants due to begin in July 2025.
