The authors of this ecosystem are Jess Blomfield, Sahnoun Skendri and Georgie Drury.
Setting the Scene: Menopause in the Australian Zeitgeist
Menopause is no longer just a fleeting conversation—it’s transforming into a movement, gaining traction in the Australian public consciousness. Yet, even as awareness grows, many people still don’t know where to turn for reliable help, education, and treatment options. This life stage, often misunderstood or overlooked, is finally getting the attention it deserves, but we’re still facing challenges: a lack of accessible information, inconsistent GP training, a PBS system that needs updating, and a gap in corporate and HR understanding.
While the Senate Inquiry Recommendations focused on training healthcare professionals, and improving access to essential treatments, there’s something we can do now. Women, consumers, HR professionals, and corporates all need a clear direction for accessing the support that’s available today.
That’s why we’ve started to map the Australian Menopause Ecosystem. We want it to be easy for people to find the information and organisations that can help with taking action today.
What We Want to Achieve
We’re aiming for generational change—a shift in how society, healthcare, and businesses approach menopause and women’s health. Here’s what we’re striving for:
- Improved Health Outcomes: We want women to have the information, treatments, and support they need to navigate menopause in a healthy, empowered way.
- Normalised Conversations: By bringing menopause into mainstream discussions in workplaces, homes, and healthcare settings, we can remove the stigma and silence around this life stage.
- Holistic and Accessible Support: A diverse range of solutions is needed—from education and mental health support to personalised treatments, employer awareness, and access to reliable and menopause-trained healthcare providers.
How to Use Our Resources
While the broader systemic changes are in progress, here is our ever-growing ecosystem designed to help you find solutions now:
- For Individuals: Whether you’re navigating perimenopause or menopause, this map will help you discover resources like healthcare providers, educational materials, and supportive communities. You’ll find tools that will guide you in making informed decisions about your health and well-being.
- For HR and Corporates: Menopause is becoming a workplace issue, and more companies are realising the importance of support structures for their employees. This resource can assist HR professionals in identifying policies, programs, and providers that offer menopause support in corporate environments, helping create inclusive and healthy workspaces.
- For Healthcare Providers: Access cutting-edge research, educational tools, and treatment resources that can elevate the care you provide to your patients. This map will connect you to both the clinical and educational elements necessary for improving menopause care in Australia.
- For Researchers and Innovators: We’re collaborating with leaders in the field to develop cutting-edge solutions, from FemTech to hormone therapies. If you’re part of this movement, connect with us to help shape the future of menopause care.
Please use this ecosystem as a starting point. Whether you’re an individual seeking help, a corporate leader procuring solutions on behalf of your people, or a healthcare provider aiming to better understand menopause—there are resources here for you, and we’re expanding every day. Together, we can turn this movement into meaningful action.
Ecosystem Scope
The Menopause Ecosystem Directory is an open source and living initiative that will continue to grow. What is included in the ecosystem directory today is simply version 1, and should be used as a starting point.
What’s included:
- Education: Organisations and initiatives that are delivering peri/menopause education to both medical and corporate communities, as well as the general public.
- Medical: Organisations that are delivering medical care for the treatment and relief of peri/menopause symptoms.
- Technology: Organisations that are leveraging technology to deliver medical care, education and insights using digital health, AI, telehealth and more.
- Research: Academic institutes and projects conducting research on matters relating to peri/menopause.
- Primary Advocacy: Groups that are directly focussed on influencing social change relating to peri/menopause.
- Intersectional Advocacy: Groups that have a different mandate, but have an intersectional overlap with matters relating to peri/menopause. For example, The Butterfly Foundation’s primary mandate is eating disorders, but studies are now revealing a large increase in the prevalence of eating disorders in middle-aged women, and can be exacerbated by peri/menopause symptoms. We want to include these groups to account for the complexity and nuance of the presentation and impact of peri/menopause.
- Consumer Info / Products: Resources that are available direct-to-consumer to provide support, education and community for improved health and wellbeing outcomes through the peri/menopause experience.
What’s not included:
- At this stage, we have not included individual practitioners, coaches, nurse practitioners, naturopaths, and so on. All of these skilled and passionate people are doing great work! And should all be registered with their own organisations, for example with the Australian Menopause Society. We don’t want to replicate lists of individuals that already exist.
Australian Menopause Ecosystem Directory
The directory is the start of a wider list of Australian organisations, initiatives and campaigns that are advancing awareness, education, research, treatment and more when it comes to peri/menopause.
This is an open source, living document, and not exhaustive. If you’d like to have your organisation in the directory, please add it here.
Got a question? Email us at hello@metluma.com