1/2 Its not just you! Schools are full of people like you!

The weird stuff happening to your memory and your mood?
The strange aches and pains?
The sudden need to get to a loo?
The mad bleeding events?
The hot flushes?

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/4 Sometimes when I'm in a school and we're talking about the health challenges women face with in perimenopause and menopause, I get a confused 'they should just go to the doctor' or 'surely you just take the medicine and get better'.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

It's true. No-one has ever told me to shut my menopausal cake-hole. These day, in polite society, people silence women by implying that they're making a fuss. It usually starts with 'yes, but...'
#Edusky #EduskyUK
helenclare.substack.com/p/the-subtle...

1/4 Imagine your brain went to bed when you did
Imagine it didnt randomly decide to switch bits of itself off
Imagine it knew where it had put the words you needed to remember
Imagine it remembered how to manage your mood

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/3 Just a reminder to give yourself a break if you are struggling with perimenopause.

It's tough. Your brain is struggling to adjust to hormonal swings - that's where things like mood swings, memory loss and brain fog are coming from.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/4 I work with schools. I've always worked in and around schools. I've done it so long my body still manages a half term lurgy even when I've mostly been working online!

That means I understand the specific challenges faced when teachers,

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/4 When it comes to dealing with menopause in school, eventually everything comes down to a conversation (or several conversations) between the staff member experiencing perimenopause or menopause and the leader who is able to offer the right support.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/2 There are so many of us perimenopausal and menopausal women carrying on as normal, masking our pain. Different kinds of pain are linked to our hormones - and the way our nervous system deals with pain is also affected by our hormones.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

helenclare.substack.com/p/menopause-...

1/3 One size does not fit all with menopause.
One size does not fit all with menopause treatments.
One size does not fit all when it comes to supporting school staff.
One size does not fit all when it comes to menopause policy.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/2 Got to love a good fart joke - but this can be a perimenopausal thing. Our bowel function is affected by our hormones.

Oestrogen has a tendency to push things along. Progesterone can slow things down. So when we're in perimenopause and menopause things can get a bit weird!

#Edusky #EduskyUK

What do you think has the biggest impact in supporting school staff through perimenopause and menopause?

- raising all staff awareness
- training managers
- support groups
- reasonable adustments

#Edusky #EduskyUK

Possibly the perfect Sunday afternoon. Live music. A good single malt and my partner taking candid photos of me. What's not to like!

Did you manage to chill out this weekend?

#Edusky #EduskyUK

Perimenopause in school is tough. It's not just one tough day, one tough week or even one tough term. It's an additional burden every day for weeks and months and years that can wear away at us until it all feels just too hard to do.

The right support stops that happening.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

Forgetting what you were going to say. Walking into a room and walking out again without doing the thing you came for. Things you were supposed to do, places you were supposed to be slipping your mind.

helenclare.substack.com/p/memory-hac...

#Edusky #EduskyUK

Menopause in Schools Menopause Mentoring Groups change what school staff know about menopause and how to survive it, but more importantly they change how those people feel about perimenopause and menopause. You can't bottle that!

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/2 Perimenopause and menopause can stop an experienced teacher in their tracks. Suddenly they're forgetting what they're doing. Or they're struggling to 'run the room'. Or crippled by fatigue or insomnia,

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/2 You know those days when your brain won't work and it feels as if every word and action happens through treacle? Try this!

Find the colleague who will make you laugh. The one who says the things that no-one else will, with the supply of bad jokes or who is just plain silly.

#Edsky #EduskyUK

1/2 We take our vaginas and vulvas to work. When they're uncomfortable it affects sitting, walking, and bending and the constant discomfort or pain affects our focus and our concentration.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/3 Between you and me, I'm not unflappable. I left my handbag on the train on the way to a job on Thursday. I flapped then, I can tell you. But then I went about sorting it out - talking to customer service on the train and blocking cards on my phone.

#Edusky #EduskyUK

1/2 How should schools support staff through menopause and menstruation? If you have more than 250 staff then it's all about the new law in April. If you have less, then it's still a good model.

But there's also the British Standard.
helenclare.substack.com/p/british-st...

#Edusky #EduskyUK