Health

‘It nearly destroyed my life’: Menopause activist teams up with Big Issue to give sellers crucial advice

The Big Issue Foundation has teamed up with menopause charity Pausitivity to let vendors know about the under-discussed condition

menopause

Celebrities including Jenny Eclair and Jeremy Vine have also backed Pausitivity's campaign. Image: Pausitivity

“Menopause nearly destroyed my life. I used to go down to the Thames at lunchtime and wondered why I didn’t throw myself in,” says Elizabeth Ellis.

This was the start of a realisation that led Ellis to start Pausitivity, a campaign to make sure women are informed about the often under-discussed symptoms of menopause, and the help they can get.

And now, Big Issue sellers will get information about the menopause, thanks to a partnership with Pausitivity.

“I’m educated, and I had no idea that all of the symptoms that I had gone through for years were menopause,” says Ellis.

Seeing homeless people on the streets of Canterbury, Ellis realised they wouldn’t be getting help either.

“You pass women in the street and think, who is helping these women through the menopause? Nobody is there for these people,” she adds.

“I realised that there’s a huge swathe of people who don’t go to GP surgeries. Their lives are not set up in that way.

Partnering with The Big Issue Foundation, she said, was a natural move.

Posters with signs and symptoms, and where to get help have now been sent to all Big Issue offices, to be displayed on notice boards for vendors.

They’ve also been translated into Romanian for the first time, in a bid to reach as many people as possible.

Pausitivity’s campaign is aiming to get the posters into GP surgeries, where information about menopause is often hard to come by.

The campaign has been supported by celebrities including Jenny Eclair and Jeremy Vine. Image: Supplied

Ellis saw that women she grew up with simply weren’t being told about what was happening to them. She had a realisation.

“The whole menopause conversation is very middle class,” says Ellis.

“I grew up in Byker, Newcastle and I know a lot of women who were not getting that message at all. I was seeing how much people at home were being ignored by this.”

This information blackout has a massive impact. “There is nothing about menopause in GP surgeries and it affects 51 per cent of the population. Some end up taking their lives because they feel so lost and alone,” says Ellis.

“Women cry when they realise they’re not alone in this and what they are feeling is perfectly normal. A lot of women think they are getting dementia, and early onset dementia. But it’s just your hormones.”

Along with Big Issue vendors, Ellis is spreading the message to prisons and food banks. “We should all understand what is happening to our bodies,” she says.

Support the Big Issue

For over 30 years, the Big Issue has been committed to ending poverty in the UK. In 2024, our work is needed more than ever. Find out how you can support the Big Issue today.
Vendor martin Hawes

Recommended for you

View all
'Gin, pliers and brute force:' Dentists accuse Rishi Sunak of forcing Brits to pull their own teeth
Dental crisis

'Gin, pliers and brute force:' Dentists accuse Rishi Sunak of forcing Brits to pull their own teeth

Cost of living or Generation Snowflake? Boomers and Gen Z disagree on causes of youth mental health crisis
Mental health

Cost of living or Generation Snowflake? Boomers and Gen Z disagree on causes of youth mental health crisis

The Big Issue and Specsavers: A Visionary Partnership for Change
Sponsored post

The Big Issue and Specsavers: A Visionary Partnership for Change

Cost of living crisis sees more and more children seeking mental health help: 'I feel like a burden'
children
Mental health

Cost of living crisis sees more and more children seeking mental health help: 'I feel like a burden'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know