WellbeingInclusion & DiversityWorkplaceThe menopauseBloss

Hi everyone, I’m Corinna Borodoli and I’m the co-founder and director of Cocorio Creative Childcare. I’m also the London coordinator for the Daisy Network Charity, it’s charity supports women with premature ovarian insufficiency or premature menopause.

And I organize me tops, fundraising events, and just offer general support. I’m also a menopause awareness advocate and coach with Bloss.

The reason why this is so important to me is that I was diagnosed with premature menopause or the age of 15. So I’ve got over 15 years experience, really living with the symptoms of the menopause. And I’ve had to really do my own research, find the right support, so there wasn’t much information at the time. Right now, things are looking a little bit better, but there’s still not enough information for people, especially when they’re diagnosed young or if they don’t have the right support system.

So what I’m doing is really just helping by spreading the knowledge that I’ve gathered for my own personal needs in the past to other women to as many as possible really. And I can do this informally, obviously, if someone requires support through the charity, but also to employees and employees in the workplace.

The reason why things are so important is that menopause is a social issue and it really impacts so many people, half of the population directly, and the other half indirectly. We all work, live with, have menopausal women as possible, our families and friends, and it’s really important that we can help them, and facilitate a conversation.

So really within the workplace, 9 out of 10 women say they consider the menopause is affecting their work. And almost one third considered leaving the workforce, which is terrible. It’s something huge, it’s an incredible problem.

And the issue is that there isn’t enough information among the general public nor the medical community and GP’s at all. And this makes me extremely angry, and I really want to make sure that as many people as possible can have enough information to navigate through this really challenging time, getting the right support they need when they know that they’re going through the menopause, but also spotting the symptoms really early on.

So in my menopause awareness workshops, we’ll be talking about really what the menopause and the perimenopause are, making sure that people can spot the early signs and really understand what support they may need and how they could help other people may be going through it, but also what adjustments they may need to take in the workplace to ensure that everyone really has a wonderful environment to work in.

So for employers, this is great because hopefully less people will leave the workplace during the menopause and also staff will feel more supported and more productive. Thanks to this.