How I live ...Menopause made easy ‘I'M CHANGING WOMEN'S LIVES'

In her work as a menopause mentor, Karina Jarnell, 50, of Cambridge believes for a natural treatment of symptoms in hypnotherapy and holistic counselling f

- CLOE WILLETTS

When I put my hand up to receive hypnotherapy five years ago for chronic insomnia, I never expected it’d lead to a career helping women as a menopause mentor.

At the time, I was a newly qualified therapist and holistic counsellor, having spent more than a decade as a stay-at-home mum to my daughter Elise, 16, and son Stirling, 14.

On that day, while my husband Carl, 50, stayed behind in Cambridge, I attended training in Sydney for Rapid Transformational Therapy, or RTT.

The technique is a type of hypnotherapy that’s used for relaxation of the central nervous system, allowing practitioners to talk to a person’s subconscious to find the root cause of issues like insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks.

When a colleague on the course needed help with a peer review and asked if anyone was interested in menopause, I jumped at it. After all, I was rattled by insomnia, waking every morning at two and unable to return to sleep.

As I sat in the RTT session, I learned the real cause of my insomnia was an urge to be present and awake for my children, which was triggered by the changes in hormones I was experiencing.

I was able to work through it and realise I didn’t need to stay awake all night to be available to my kids, and the results were instant for me. My insomnia went away. Suddenly, I wanted to lap up all the information I could on menopause support!

From that moment, I was fascinated by the mind-body connection, and decided to study and understand menopause, and everything to do with hormones and periods. I wanted other women to know they have options that don’t only include being prescribed antidepressants and hormone replacement therapy.