Menopause-supportive mental health and couples work is something I’m excited to be specializing in starting in 2026.

Women typically go through a years-long process of perimenopause and then spend almost half of their lives in postmenopause. AND, they are facing changes in the brain that impact mood, sleep, sense of self and relationships long before their periods stop.

Entering this phase of life myself, I realized how much I didn’t know — how much so many of us didn’t know. I not only wanted to be a better therapist but I wanted to do more in the community.

Recently I launched, with certified sex therapist Julie Labanz, The Menopause Care Collective (www.menopausecarecollective.com), an interdisciplinary team focused on the mental, sexual, physical and relational shifts women face in midlife.

Along with two medical professionals — all women, all members of The Menopause Society — we go into the community to offer free conversations about menopause to help women thrive in what, statistics show, can be the most joyful years of our lives.

Both in the community and in my private practice, I like to let women (and their partners) know that there are more resources at our disposal than ever before to understand what’s going on and what our options are. Not all are in my (mental health) wheelhouse, but many are.

For starters, I think it’s essential to know that perimenopausal symptoms show up neurologicallyas early as a decade before menstruation stops, according to Dr. Mary Claire Haver, author of “The New Menopause.” These can include depression, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, headaches, brain fog, dizzy spells, difficulty concentrating, and worsening or onset of certain mental health disorders.

Why is this important to know? Because, according to Dr. Haver, if we learn these conditions are caused by a decrease in estrogen versus something else, the treatment options will be different.

Mental health will keep following us through perimenopause as our periods get weird. We’ll be adjusting to symptoms like hot flashes, lack of sleep, unexpected flooding, hair loss, weight gain, partners who may or may not “get it.” There are evidence-based CBT and couples therapies specifically designed for this.

As we transition through perimenopause (which can take years) into menopause and post-menopause, more mental health (and let’s hear this as wellness) topics can come onboard. We often are encountering larger-life issues at this time of life too. Not only are we coming to terms with our aging bodies — how they function, how they feel, how they look — but our kids might be leaving, our parents negotiating their own health, and smack-dab in the middle may come our own existential questions: “Who am I? What do I want?”

We might be tired of caregiving, unhappy in our marriages — or jobs. Or we may just be ready for the leap we’ve planned for our entire lives — into retirement, our second act — and have questions about that transition. We definitely want life to feel like it has juice, meaning, purpose. As my friend Michelle pointed out: “Because we’re Gen X, we realize we’ve earned the right to ask for help.”

This is when many women turn to therapy — sometimes for the first time. They’ll say, “There’s [this-thing]. And I want to work on it.” Yes. We each will have our own “this-thing.” And rather than “work on it,” I’d like to say let’s reframe it as “I want to give myself permission to do whatever I want about it.” The goal being: we want a more peaceful, pain-free, joy-filled life.Like my own therapist once told me, when I got there, “Give yourself permission to feel alive.” Why does that sound so radical? My very wise therapist answered: “Because most women constrict themselves their whole lives.” Hhmmm.

But that is not the end of the story. Our generation is writing the end of the story right now — as we’re living it. There is an explosion of women asking for more, putting information out there, writing books, sponsoring research, starting clinics, getting certifications, asking for the science, educating each other — saying our bodies and minds matter, and our second half of life really, really matters.

We grew up as the generation who were told we were equal to men, and acted like it. So we’re saying we want to continue to have a voice, power, sex, fun, good relationships, independence, healthy (as possible) hearts/bones/skin/mental health, and live into a vibrant future. And the good news I’ve discovered as I’ve jumped heart-first into all-things-menopause is that we can. And that’s not just fluff, that’s based on what the data shows.

So, as you can see, I’m 52 and right there, walking the path. I have a vested interest — and belief — that this truly can be a new menopause — which really just means, a new way to live a stretch of years — for our generation and those after us.

Please reach out if you’d like to talk.