We are thrilled to welcome midwife and author, Susan Willson, to the show. Courtney sought out Susan for this episode after falling in love with Susan's book Making Sense of Menopause.

It feels important to clear something up, first. Neither the book nor this episode is exclusively for "women of a certain age". This book and episode are about menopause, yes, and also nearly every other facet of what it's like to move through the world as a woman. Susan's lifespan perspective takes us from three months prior to our own conception through childhood, puberty, young adulthood, parenting, and into later life. Throughout the conversation she reiterates the importance of having information regarding how our genetic and environmental precursors will impact the menopause transition we may experience before we're actually experiencing it.

Courtney and Susan discuss societal stories that attempt to dictate who we are supposed to be, how those influences shape our experiences, and the idea of the "grandmother hypothesis" bringing its own kind of liberation. They discuss what Susan describes as the "biological continuum of a woman's life" and describes the book as a book of "self-discovery". They talk adrenal fatigue, sex and sexuality through the lifespan, and the importance of women's voices being heard in our society.

Due to recurring themes around curiosity, creativity, pleasure, joy, and purpose, this conversation has wide reaching applicability, even for those well ahead of, or even beyond, their own menopause transition.

Don't have a uterus? That's ok! This conversation has information for you, too! Don't be shy....join this transformational discussion!

About our guest: Susan Willson, CNM is a cross-cultural midwife.  She has always seen the body as intelligent and capable, and has spent her career helping to support and empower women to trust their bodies and work with the plan Nature intended.  Her original degree was in Psychology and English at Emory University.  Once she understood how much of our trajectory is influenced in the womb and at birth, she began her study of midwifery and returned to Emory for a nursing degree and for a Master’s degree at Yale University.

She has had a life-long interest in other cultures and what birth traditions tell us about them.  She has worked among the Navajo, in Africa, with Alaskan natives and Pacific Rim cultures.  She is always looking across a broad spectrum for what connects us as human beings, as well as the differences in each culture that add spice to the basic recipe.   Her last two decades have been spent working with women during the menopausal transition.

Listening to women’s stories and challenges led her to want to describe the continuum of our biological lives as a framework that is both purposeful and positive.  She has generated a reframing of menopause as it fits within this continuum, building on what came before, and showing how our earliest experiences shape our menopause, not just our genetics or physical health.

Willson lectures domestically and internationally on Women’s Health at Midlife, Breast Health, Re-framing breast cancer, Hormone balance, and Recognizing signs of Sex Trafficking in one’s Clinical Practice.  She has taught at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies and is a frequent lecturer at the annual meetings of the American College of Nurse Midwives.  She conducts workshops on the Emotional Work of Menopause.

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