Welcome to Menopause Anxiety Freedom

My name is Shirley Billson. I'm now known as The Menopause Anxiety Freedom Coach. I'd like to say I planned it, but honestly, I stumbled into it. It was only when I got to the end of my menopausal anxiety nightmare, that I made any connection between the dramas I had been experiencing and the change in my hormones.

I stumbled from success to failure, self doubt, inadequacy, anxiety and chronic sadness. I thought that I was losing my mind or had early onset dementia. Some days I didn't want to go on. I lost all confidence and forgot how to laugh and how to smile. There wasn't anything to smile about.

Fortunately (though I would not have said so at the time), I was forced to find my own way through, compelled to use every resource and shred of inner strength and knowledge I had in order to claw my way back to myself. 

Through bloody mindedness, grit, determination and immersing myself in better understanding the way we tick, I turned this traumatic journey into a success story of my own making and on my own terms. 

No HRT involved.

There will be no gentle wind down to retirement and care homes for me (which was what I feared!). Instead this has become the start of the next thrilling chapter of life - the beginning of the next 40 years. 

Examples? I'm building on over 25 years' diverse leadership experience in NHS, public, charity, SME & creative agencies and an additional decade helping 1000's to overcome anxiety, using clinical solution focused hypnotherapy. I've become a mental wellness author for a global educational publisher, have become a podcaster and guested on other leading mental wellness podcasts.

Currently, I coach women (and some men!) to rescue incomes, lifestyles and sanity. My big picture ambition is to change the conversation on menopause, diversity, personal potential & mental health, to enable outstanding outcomes, eliminate glass ceilings and to prevent unconscious marginalisation and exclusion.

It’s estimated that more than 1.1b billion women in the world will become postmenopausal by 2025. That includes you and me.

More than half of us will experience anxiety to the extent that we take time off work, leave jobs, fail in business and think we are no longer competent or capable. 

It is NOT TRUE.

And yet many of us remain convinced that we have no choice but to sacrifice our entire future earnings, our business plans and everything we have ever planned for or dreamed of.  

Extended life expectancy means our generation will have as many working years ahead of us as behind us. 

This network isn't just about consoling you with a 'there, there'. It's about re-igniting passion, lighting fires and discovering more about yourself and what's really possible, HRT or no HRT. 

We aim to deliver:

1. uplifting, confidence-inspiring stories of personal experience
2. a place to explore a powerful, spiritual or creative side of yourself you might struggle to express anywhere else
3. a place to grow and share that growth with others on the journey knowing you are not alone.

Join us this year.

• One year from now, you could be optimistically choosing your future, instead of staying powerless and crushed.
• Each month will be themed differently to stimulate creativity, build courage and increase self-belief. 
• Every week, there's an informal virtual cafe, hosted by-and for-members. Drop in for a chat, listen only, or even host a conversation.