Menopause cafe hosted in Saddleworth to break stigma

Jenny Eastwood is director of Calm Ahead, a community interest company in Oldham which offers training and advice on mental health and emotional wellbeing. 

She came up with the idea to open what she believes is Saddleworth's first menopause cafe after wanting to learn for herself what options and treatments were available before she became perimenopausal. 

The first event was held at the Rec Room in Uppermill on World Menopause Day (October 18) and will be hosted monthly. 

November's cafe will be held on Thursday, November 14, at the Rec Room from 6-8pm.

Jenny said: "My sister had breast cancer twice and I have two aunties that have also had breast cancer, and it made me decide that before I became perimenopausal, I wanted to get my facts straight around menopause and what I'd be able to take in regard to hormone replacement therapy. 

"It inspired me to do the training originally and then offer the services to women.

Jenny Eastwood was among other health experts giving talks at the first cafe (Image: Supplied)

"We know that suicide increases for women of that age group, and a lot of them leave their careers and the workplace and a lot get divorced.

"So we know it's really affecting them in a huge way and there's been a lot of talk around perimenopause and HRT, especially with celebrities speaking out now it's become sort of trendy. 

"We wanted to take away that myth, but believe it's something to talk about because I believe it's similar to mental health in the way it's been stigmatised for many, many years."

Jenny said that now the world is in a 'new time', with changes and new things being opened up about. 

She added that she believes that conversations around menopause should be normalised and that's what the cafe events will do

The Menopause Cafe brand is a national organisation and Jenny chose the event and brand for a special reason. 

She said: "A lot of the time with the services that we provide as a company, people will ask how else they can access them, for example we work in schools and people will ask 'if you're not in our school, how can we access this?'

The cafe's are not only a chance to learn, but to talk and relate to others' experiences (Image: Supplied)

"So that's what the cafe is, we wanted to do that in the community and for everyone to be able to access our information and services and that's not always possible depending on income and things like that."

The Menopause Cafes are free to attend and are held in local cafes, with the idea being that attendees would purchase things from the host cafes, such as a coffee or drink. 

However, this isn't a requirement and all of the information from the event is free to anyone. 

There is only one other Menopause cafe in Oldham, hosted in Royton, which Jenny said is also quite a new set-up.

The event will always be free but Jenny says that people may need to book online in order to make sure they keep to safe numbers. 

Calm Ahead are also looking to provide training within the workplace as they feel it is something that is lacking. 

Jenny said: "Menopause affects every single woman, that's 50 per cent of the population that will go through this at some point in their life.

"It's also affecting your work colleagues, your partners and your children. 

"We feel it's also really important that men have the training as well- men's hormones stay the same throughout their lives after puberty until their testosterone very, very slowly decreases in midlife. 

"Whereas women's hormones are constantly fluctuating, through pregnancy, our periods, our menstrual cycle, if we breastfeed, they change all of the time."