Menopause Bootcamp

What is the name of your intervention?

Menopause Bootcamp at North Somerset Council

Health and wellbeing category

Women’s Health 

Why did you choose this area of focus for your staff? 

We have a staff population that is 75% female and of these a high proportion are in the over 40 category meaning that peri-menopause and menopause will be affecting this group of staff.

Description of intervention

Alongside our monthly menopause café we have been running a 4 – 6 week menopause bootcamp that is available to staff (outside of core hours) that offers women a full range of health and wellbeing support linked to menopause.  

The programme contains, emotional support, access to health advice, physical health support, buddying and social support.  

How did you involve your staff in the intervention? 

The menopause café (virtual group of 30 -40 women affected by menopause) made a suggestion for more intense support for women who may be new to their menopause journey, or for people who were feeling overwhelmed by their symptoms. 2024 is the third year we have offered this, and the programme is adapted according to feedback from participants.

How engaged were senior leaders in the intervention? 

The People Strategy Board have been supportive of this, allowing a small budget to support access to health advice to attendees as part of our Occupational Health Contract. Our Chief executive offers a virtual input, to show her commitment to supporting menopause symptoms across the organisation.  

Attendees are from a breadth of the organisation, including managers.

How did you promote and raise awareness of this intervention to staff

We advertised this heavily in both our quarterly health and wellbeing newsletter but also through The Knowledge which is our weekly staff information newsletter.  

What has been the impact of this intervention for staff? 

Evaluation feedback from this session, indicates that this intervention has really helped women understand more about menopause and how they can support themselves through their journeys.  

Feedback: 

“I’m at the beginning of my menopausal journey. I really welcomed all the information we received about menopause. I found it extremely interesting and beneficial to listen about Calcium Vitamin D and Bone Density – vit.D made a huge difference in my mood swings  since I’ve been taking it. I had no idea how important it is to look after my bones during the menopause process. Meeting together was so very valuable.” 

How do you plan to continue with this intervention in the future? 

We plan to continue to offer a more intensive support programme for those women who would like to. We also plan to review our current menopause café offer, given more emphasis on information sessions so that women can access support and information that they need.  

What have you learned from developing this intervention? 

To be flexible on when interventions are delivered. Women really valued the sessions being in the evening when they felt they had more time and space to focus on themselves.  

Can you offer any advice to other organisations thinking about developing this kind of intervention? 

Have a look at your staff and where interventions may be best suited, for us menopause is a key factor so it makes sense to have this as one of our focusses. Ask questions about what people want in a programme and just go for it.