Encourager

Dr Angela Wright and Richmond Stace continue their series of conversations focusing on women’s health, this time exploring menopause, pain and suffering.

Perhaps pain has appeared during your menopause transition.

Perhaps something you already lived with—back pain, migraine, pelvic pain or another persistent pain—has become more troublesome.

Or perhaps the difficulty is broader. You don’t feel like yourself. Your relationships are changing. Things you once managed feel harder. Something feels different.

What’s really going on?

It can be tempting to explain these experiences through hormones alone.

Hormones matter. The body and tissues matter. But they are not the whole story.

In this conversation, Angela and I explore the wider picture: biology, past experiences, expectations, identity, relationships, sex, culture and the circumstances of our lives—and how these can come together to shape pain and suffering.

We also explore pain as a need state.

Rather than only asking:

How do I get rid of this pain?

What happens when we also ask:

What do I need?

That question can take us somewhere very different.

There is no single menopause experience, just as there is no single experience of pain. Understanding what is happening for you creates more possibilities for responding to what you need and finding a way forward.

And this is an ongoing conversation.

What would you like Angela and me to explore next? What questions do you have about menopause, pain, suffering, sex, relationships or women’s health?

Send us your questions, experiences and queries. They will help shape where we take the conversation next.

You can connect with us here--

Websites:

https://drangelawright.com

https://richmondstace.com

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/spicedpeardrwright

https://www.instagram.com/paincoach

𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗽𝘆. 𝗦𝗼... 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁?
Coaching gets thrown around a lot.
But what is it—really?
Is it advice? Is it therapy-lite?
Is it just performance hacking wrapped in a buzzword?
Andy Hosgood and I sat down—raw, unfiltered, unedited—to explore it.
Not the “textbook” version.
But the lived experience of coaching:
→ Collaboration.
→ Curiosity.
→ Compassion.
→ The joy of another’s joy.
We don’t have answers—yet.
But we’re listening, questioning, wondering.
Not just about what coaching is, but where it fits alongside therapy.
And why it matters now more than ever.
This is the start of something.
No script. No polish.
Just two humans exploring human work.
What does coaching mean to you?

Conversation with Alex continues…

Alexandra Blanchard, author of Wander Women, contacted me to talk about pain.

I suggested we record our conversation as there could be useful stuff for people to hear.

So we did.

It’s unedited. Served up as is.

This is Part 1 of 2 with more to come soon.

Hannah, a British doctor, was recently interviewed by ABC in Australia where she is based. This was part of Pain Week.

She talks about her experiences of chronic pain, the challenges, what she has done, and the impact on her medical practice.

Hannah wrote about her chronic pain in the BMJ when she was a medical student in 2020 — read here. In the article, Hannah talks about our work together and how she put it into practice.

Interestingly, this was picked up by Professor Andy Clark in his recent book, The Experience Machine.

A brilliant and fascinating conversation about pain -- what is it?

Jennifer uses her philosophy skills to really dig down into this vital question.

Her answers may surprise you! She is radical by her own admission but I would say that her position is one that resonates with a person-first approach. We explore this and much more.

Find out more about Jennifer's work here.

And her book, The Complex Reality of Pain here.

Orla shares her story of frustration as a dietician trained in a directive way of working with people -- telling them what to do wasn't working.

About to change career, she went on a motivational interviewing course and discovered gold! And Steve Rollnick.

This set Orla on a new, exciting and fruitful path to where she is now.

Hear all about Orla's journey and the fundamentals of MI.

This is a great episode for you if you work with, or spend time with people -- patients, clients, friends, your kids, pupils, coachees... .

So it's for all of us!

Enjoy and I'd love to hear your feedback. Please do rate the episode and podcast on your favoured platform.

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More here:

Orla Adams -- MI trainer, and follow Orla on Twitter.

MI workshops in Cardiff with Orla and Steve Rollnick.

The books Orla mentions are here.

Great to have Prof Manuela Ferreira on the show to talk about her pioneering work on back pain.

Manuela is the lead author of a recent study analysing the global burden of low back pain: 'Global, regional, and national burden of low back pain, 1990–2020, its attributable risk factors, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021' (see link below).

The findings are a stark reminder of the need to deepen our understanding of pain and how to help people. The authors estimate that on the current trajectory, "...there will be over 800 million cases of low back pain in 2050, a 36 percent increase from 2020".

We get into this, the work that Manuela is doing and much more in this fascinating conversation, highlighting some of the practical ways forward.

Reading:

In 2050, over 800 million people globally estimated to be living with back pain -- read here

Global, regional, and national burden of low back pain, 1990–2020, its attributable risk factors, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 -- read here

The global epidemic of low back pain -- read here

You can follow Maneula on Twitter and here.

"From a working class, first generation A-level student to recipient of the IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain) Patrick D. Wall award. I owe it all to mentorship. Love and gratitude especially to Tony, Frank & Mac for decades of support" -- Kirsty's words.

Shows the importance of having a purpose and a passion, ignited in part by people close-by.

Kirsty talks of luck. Wise people have said that the harder they worked, the luckier they got!

Kirsty has undoubtedly worked hard.

Encouraged by some of the big hitters in the pain world, Kirsty is now an encourager herself.

She talks about her career in science, the reasons why it matters, and making it important for people who are suffering.

A clear illustration of a very human scientist who cares.

You can follow Kirsty on Twitter and read the papers and meet the people from the Bannister lab here.

Enjoy! And please do leave comments, like and share.