Trauma-Informed Counselling for Menopause: Navigating Perimenopause, Menopause & Postmenopause
- Nina Isabella
- Nov 27
- 3 min read
Menopausing - It’s a Verb
Menopause isn’t a single moment - it’s a journey. While the word implies a fixed moment in time - “a pause,” the reality is a transition that can be at times feel steady, smooth, intense, or volatile. Experiencing menopause doesn’t have to mean suffering. Often, suffering arises when we resist the sensations, symptoms, and emotional shifts, or when we get entangled in the stories our minds create about these changes.
I walk with women through this process, helping to normalise the experience and uncover the depth and breadth of womanhood waiting on the other side of the change.
Navigating Your Journey of Menopause
Perimenopause and menopause are not linear. Each woman’s experience is unique: some glide through with minimal discomfort, while others feel like they’re on a hormonal rollercoaster. Common symptoms include:
Sleep disturbances and insomnia
Hot flashes and night sweats
Mood swings, low mood, anxiety, or irritability
Fatigue and brain fog
Wandering libido
Changes to hair, skin, nails, and bone health
Every cell in the body has oestrogen receptors - so it’s no wonder that “the change” can affect every aspect of life.
When Matrescence Meets Perimenopause
Hormonal changes of perimenopause can start as early as the mid-thirties. For women birthing in their thirties and forties, the emotional and hormonal challenges of early motherhood can intersect with perimenopause, creating a decade-long journey of compounded transitions.
This is a particular focus of my work - supporting women navigating the intersection of matrescence and perimenopause, helping them find clarity, resilience, and empowerment during this amplified life stage.
Menopause and Chronic Health Intersections
Menopause does not occur in isolation. Many women navigate perimenopause or menopause alongside chronic health conditions, including endometriosis, autoimmune disorders, or persistent fatigue syndromes. For others, neurodivergent traits - diagnosed or undiagnosed - can amplify challenges in emotional regulation, sensory processing, and fatigue. Past trauma may also resurface, affecting both physical and emotional responses to hormonal changes.
Holistic, trauma-informed counselling can help women understand these intersections, offering tailored strategies that address not just hormonal shifts, but the whole-body and mind experience of menopause. This integrated approach promotes self-compassion, energy regulation, and emotional resilience, even when multiple layers of complexity are present.
“I’m Not Depressed - I’m Angry!”
I often hear women say they feel irritability or anger during perimenopause. These emotions are signals, not failures. They can indicate:
The need to set boundaries and prioritise your needs
Emotional release as a form of self-protection
Shifts in relationships and personal dynamics
Menopause is a time to listen to your body and your feelings, rather than suppress them.
Womanly Counselling for Menopausal Mental Health
My practice integrates trauma-focused counselling with somatic psychotherapy and womanly yoga techniques. This approach provides:
A safe space to be fully seen and heard
Breath awareness and subtle somatic movement to ease physical and emotional tension
Tools to cultivate self-compassion, kindness, and curiosity
By recognising that mental health during menopause is inseparable from the body, women naturally experience benefits such as:
Greater emotional resilience and energy reserves
Improved circulation and metabolism
Better sleep and immunity
Healthy emotional boundaries and stress regulation
Holistic counselling helps transform the narrative around menopause, moving from struggle and suffering toward acceptance, integration, and empowerment.
Gift Yourself Holistic Support
Menopause is a profound life transition. By engaging in trauma-informed, somatic, and womanly yoga practices, you can illuminate the transformative potential of this stage, creating space for healing, vitality, and a deeper connection with your body and mind.
About Nina Isabella - Womanly Counsellor
I have a Master of Counselling; Advance Diploma of Therapeutic Yoga; I am a somatic movement practitioner; Trauma-Focussed Acceptance and Commitment Therapist. My practice is holistic, with over twenty years of experience in empowering women during their significant life transitions.
My compassionate practice is affirming and inclusive, centring the voice of women and gender-diverse individuals. I combine person-centred counselling with somatic psychotherapies including mindfulness, breathwork, and therapeutic yoga, creating a unique and relational approach to support women and gender-diverse individuals in their journey towards wellness.
