Mind Australia has held a peer-led retreat designed specifically to support the mental health and wellbeing of women experiencing perimenopause.
The two-day retreat in Mackay had an educational focus designed to provide accurate and evidence-based information to women about perimenopause and how to effectively navigate this stage of life, know what to expect, and how to manage symptoms with a holistic approach.
Mind received funding for the perimenopause retreat, held in May 2025, through the Investing in Queensland Women grants program – a Queensland Government initiative that supports the development of events, resources or projects that benefit women and girls across Queensland and help to achieve gender equality.
Mind’s grant submission centred on the understanding that women experience mental health challenges in different ways to men, with factors such as biology, psychology, and social circumstances playing a significant role in a woman’s health and wellbeing.
“We know there’s a knowledge gap in the healthcare system about how we can support middle-aged women who are experiencing menopause-related depression and anxiety that is related to the hormonal changes of menopause. We saw an opportunity to prevent, or at least alleviate, co-existing mental health conditions during this stage of a woman’s life, and improve community awareness of menopause,” Mackay Step Up Step Down Team Leader and perimenopause project co-lead Kristie Bull said.
“Through the perimenopause retreat we were able to promote education around menopause life stages, and create a safe space for women to connect, increase confidence as well as their overall social and emotional wellbeing.
“We understand that the retreat was for a small group of women, but for them it has already made a big impact on their wellbeing, their lives and their futures.”
The retreat included presentations from dieticians, nurse practitioners who specialise in women’s health, naturopaths and exercise physiologists. Topics covered in these presentations included: understanding what happens to your body during menopause, nutrition to support women undergoing menopause, stress management, coping skills and strategies, building confidence and resilience, journaling and gratitude and physical movement and exercise during menopause.
The retreat also included self-care and team bonding activities to help participants form meaningful connections with each other for an ongoing support network beyond the two-day retreat.
“To ensure we had a holistic approach to women’s health we also invited Mind qualified community mental health and peer practitioners who have their own lived experience of perimenopause,” Kristie said.
“Staff shared their experiences in self-care, as well as advocacy tips to create independence in seeking support for perimenopause symptoms and co-occurring mental health challenges.”
The 10 women from the Mackay and Whitsunday region who participated in the retreat all said they had a better understanding of perimenopause, and how they can better support themselves, as a result of attending the program.
“I really enjoyed every session of the retreat. It made me feel validated and appreciative of being a woman. It was good to meet women who made it through the perimenopause journey and it gave me hope for the future,” one participant said.
“It has been one of the most rewarding self-learning experiences I have ever attended,” another participant said.
Mind General Manager Queensland Operations, Megan McDonald, said this project has laid the foundation to improve the way we think about, and support people experiencing, perimenopause.
“We understand that this is just the beginning of starting these conversations and providing better care and support systems to women in this stage of life. Our future focus for this program is to continue to share the information of this research to hopefully bring innovative implementations of this conversation throughout our services but also in the wider community,” she said.
“This may include future development for management, support for staff and service users going through this stage of life, and better early education for all staff to support others during perimenopause.”
Mind thanks and congratulates Kristie, Gayle Clifford (Mackay Step Up Step Down Service Manager and perimenopause project co-lead), Jaime Pick (Mind Learning and Development Business Partner), Lindy Bishop (Mind Peer Practitioner) and Rachael Sunderland (Mind Community Mental Health Practitioner) on this fantastic work.