The Story of Wax and Wane
Wax and Wane is born of fire, intrigue and audacity.
The fire of my menopause transition and the fire quest that I undertook to mark it. A vision from the embers, co-created with nature, spirit, my fellow questers, the facilitators from Live Wild and the village that supported us.
A vision of community, of vibrant elderhood and of stepping up to offer the skills and experience that I have in service to Sisters navigating this stage of their moon path or medical menopause. A vision that as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist offering CBT for children and young people felt beyond my capacity to birth. Haha who knew?!
I expanded my capacity to meet my vision by training in CBT for menopausal symptoms and CBT for insomnia. Partly out of curiosity about why it was being recommended by NICE and also to see if I could learn any strategies to lean into myself and in turn share them with others. My main take away was that our thoughts and beliefs about ageing and our ability to cope with stress can affect our experience of menopause.
I did manage to birth a beautiful deer drum with the intention and prayer that drumming would help me listen to my heart and all those who heard her to listen to theirs.
My heart whispered of a long ago calling to herbal medicine that fell by the wayside when the course that I enrolled on in Manchester was changed to London and I ended up taking a different path. These whisperings led me to a native power plant retreat with the Seed Sistas to celebrate my initiation into menopause and what a perfectly aligned celebration it was.
6 moons passed and still I didn’t feel ready to birth my vision. My wise heart told me that I first needed to reconnect to my energy and led me to the Mineral Woman container held by Aiste and Joel Gazdar, the founders of Wild Food Café, to learn about the 7 kingdoms of regeneration and mineral nourishment. I really enjoyed dipping in and out of this at my own pace and vowed to revisit each kingdom in more depth at the end of the 6 weeks when I had more time. That old chestnut!! Then when (a) I had lost the weight that I gained (b) I was a shiny healthy role model for natural menopause and (c) I had completed the content for my website, I would be ready to birth my vision.
I got more than I bargained for when they invited me into their subsequent 21 day Paradise Activation challenge for visionary creators! I hadn’t signed up for it because (as you may have guessed) I didn’t feel ready to birth my vision. Yet here I am a few weeks later doing their Paradise Maxxing challenge and showing up whilst steps (a) and (b) are still very much a work in progress. The audacity!! I am deeply grateful to them for their invitation and for sharing their medicine and magic with such generosity. And to everyone else who has supported me through my fire quest, my menopause transition and in birthing my vision; my husband, my stepdaughters, my close friends and community.
My herstory
In addition to Aligned CBT for your menopause transition I offer CBT for children and young people and adapted CBT for neurodivergent children and young people based at the Children’s Rooms Psychological Therapy Service in Poynton www.thechildrensrooms.co.uk . I am on the Private Practice Register and a recognised provider with Axa Healthcare, Axappp, WPA, Aviva and Bupa. If you would like to book in with me to see your child or young person there please contact Elaine Mayall Director at the Children’s Rooms on 07715139600.
I have extensive experience of working with children, young people and their families as well as offering condition specific CBT for depression, anxiety, panic, specific phobias, post traumatic stress and obsessive compulsive disorder, both in the NHS and in independent practice.
I worked in the NHS Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) from 2002-2021 most recently as a CBT Lead and also as CBT Therapist/ Supervisor and registered Senior CAMHS Practitioner. For many years I was part of the CAMHS Multi Disciplinary Team offering neurodevelopmental assessments and behavioural interventions for neurodivergent children and their families including post diagnostic parent training. I have undertaken post graduate training in adapting CBT for young people on the autism spectrum.
Techniques are adapted for children and young people and their developmental level helping them to connect their thoughts, feelings and behaviours, challenge negative thinking and worry and develop practical coping skills. With consent I encourage parents/carers involvement, especially with younger children to reinforce skills at home.
My background is in Social Work. I have been a registered Social Worker since 1998 and completed foundation training in Family Therapy, therefore I am familiar with seeing adults (especially women and mothers) as well as young people. It feels like a natural transition to create a new offering for women bringing together my skills and experience in health and social care and my lived experience of menopause.