In a sea of perimenopause and menopause medication and well-being advice, two Brisbane positive psychology practitioners are offering midlife women a new program focussing on the psychological side.
Fluxx founders Berni Cooper and Nicole Border say The Midlife Reframe is an eight-day online program for women in midlife and perimenopause. It takes about fifteen minutes a day and focuses on the psychological side of the transition: confidence, identity, emotions, relationships, values, strengths and what women want to build next.
Fluxx co-founder Berni Cooper
Fluxx co-founder Nic Border
Before and after the program, participants complete the Fluxx Midlife Pulse, a measure of how resourced and equipped a woman feels to move through the midlife transition in five dimensions:
- Seeing midlife differently
- Working with your emotions
- Knowing yourself
- Feeling connected
- Handling what comes
‘There is a lot of advice being sold to women in midlife,’ Ms Border said. ‘Some of it is useful. Some of it is medical and necessary. Some advice is just another version of telling women to fix themselves.
The Fluxx founders say not all women going through midlife are seeking to be ‘fixed’. IMAGE Polina Kuzovkova
‘We wanted to know whether a short, psychologically informed program could help women feel less alone and more equipped.’
Ms Border said while women were talking more openly about hot flushes, sleep disruption, brain fog and hormone therapy, they were also flooded with social media advice about supplements, protein, weight training, diet and anti-ageing products.
She and Ms Cooper kept noticing, in their own lives and in the lives of the women around them, that the inner experience of midlife was still often left unnamed.
The inner experience
Women they were surveying were not only saying, ‘I can’t sleep’ or ‘I’m having hot flushes’.
They were saying, ‘I don’t feel like myself.’
Ms Border and Ms Cooper said data from the Fluxx Midlife Pulse, completed by more than 130 women, reflected this pattern.
IMAGE: supplied
When asked to describe their relationship with midlife in one sentence, women answered in the language of disorientation and lost control.
‘Hijacked.’
‘Like something is trying to take over my mind and body.’
‘I feel surprisingly unsure, lacking my usual confidence.’
The Midlife Reframe was designed to respond to these experiences. Ms Border said the program was a structured learning experience: short, reflective and completed alongside other women.
Both founders are trained in applied positive psychology and draw on acceptance and commitment therapy, narrative practice, values clarification, character strengths research and behaviour change theory.
A renovation
Ms Border said the Midlife Reframe program was built around a house renovation metaphor, drawn from neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi’s work on the menopausal brain.
‘Perimenopause and menopause can feel disruptive and messy, but that does not mean collapse. It may also be a period of restructuring and preparation for the next stage of life.’
She said the format was designed to fit into a busy day. Each morning, participants receive a prompt and a direct link. A typical day includes a short visual sequence, video or audio, a three-minute reflection from Cooper and Border and a practical activity. Participants share reflections with the cohort and many said this sharing with others was one of the most valuable parts of the program.
Midlife Reframe also has a built in evaluation and on the final day, participants return to their original ‘Pulse’ results and complete the measure again to test whether a short, research-informed program can help women feel more resourced and equipped.
Ms Border said so far, every participant who completed both the pre and post-program measures improved across all five dimensions of the Pulse.
One participant described the program as ‘strength training, but for your identity’. Another, asked what had changed, wrote: ‘I’m not losing my mind.’
The Midlife Reframe runs through fluxxco.com.au.
IMAGE of redhead woman in green shirt at top of story: Anastasia Leonova
