WomenKind Collective

We conclude series 10 with an incredible woman who’s story we were privileged to hear.Earlier this year we attended the launch of the West Country Women Awards in Plymouth where we met todays guest, who blew us away with her determination to help others through sharing her own story of overcoming shame and finding purpose after being released from prison.The inspirational Raina Dunne has been through unimaginable life experiences from a very early age, yet she bares no bitterness just an intense desire to speak up and raise awareness of a system that doesn’t work and how underprivileged and disenfranchised women are being completely let down. But thanks to the charity Gifted Women, women like Raina are finding their way back into society, their aim is to see women thriving in employment or be enrolled in further education and this is achieved in the woman’s own time and at a pace that feels realistic and sustainable.Raina tells us ‘I want to help those women, the women that have been hurt, or been damaged by society, they carry that pain, they just need a little extra help, someone to look at them and see them’.You can watch the unedited chat on our Womenkind Collective YouTube channel.*TRIGGER WARNING*Our conversation with Raina contains some difficult content, such as addiction, violence, exploitation and rape. We also chat about our week, there’s comments, a WI (weekly invitation) and a quote from Jinty to round off the series.It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat.Find us on instagram @womenkindcollective If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.com Gifted WomenW: www.giftedwomen.co.ukI: @giftedwomenukF: Gifted WomenReg. Charity No: 1195795 

An intentional overriding theme of this series has been Gender Bias in health care, so today in our penultimate episode of series 10, we talk with Jen Moore who has started the project ‘They Said What?’ The medical Me Too movement where she intends to document lived experiences with medical gaslighting, dismissal and misogyny when it comes to women’s health conditions. Jen, is an endometriosis and adenomyosis educator, speaker and campaigner who has endured a 22 year-long battle for a diagnosis. She now helps others suffering with these conditions, as well as working to create change on an institutional level. Working with the BBC, the NHS, the University of Cambridge, and global pharmaceutical companies; she is determined to include endometriosis and adenomyosis in these vital and high level discussions.  We conclude our Book Collective for this series: Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, we sum up our reading series with this inspiring conclusion. You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM on Instagram or voice note with your thoughts on the book or a recommendation for a new one.  We chat about our week, there’s comments, a WI (weekly invitation) and a quote.It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat.  If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.com Jen MooreI: @jen.dometriosisW: www.jenmoore.co.uk They Said What?I: @theysaidwhatprojectW: www.jenmoore.co.uk/projects/You can watch the unedited interview on our Womenkind Collective YouTube channel. 

As you all know we at Womenkind Collective are all about shedding light on taboo subjects and one of the biggest taboos is poo! So, we thought it was about time we started to break the stigma about something that we all do.This week our guest is Julie Cornish, not only is she a colorectal surgeon, a senior lecturer but she is also the founder of the superb Every Woman festival.Julie is a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, with a specialist interest in colorectal cancer and pelvic floor surgery. She has an active research interest in cancer and pelvic floor health. As if this is not enough Julie is also a chief investigator for POLARiS, a study looking into treatment for bowel problems after cancer surgery, she is a trustee of Masic, a charity that supports women who have suffered injuries during childbirth. Julie says that some aspects of women's pelvic health conditions today are a ‘taboo within a taboo’. Bowel incontinence is not a sexy subject and it so often goes unreported and takes on average 7 years for someone to actually go and see their GP.You can watch the interview on our Womenkind Collective YouTube channel.  The Book Collective: Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, this week we read Chapters, 17 & 18, women are beginning to raise their voices about gender inequality in healthcare, the medical gaslighting of black women and the AIDS pandemic. In chapter 18 Elinor tells her story, all the medical gaslighting that she endured until she finally received her diagnosis.You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM or voice note with your thoughts on the book. We chat about our week, there’s comments, a WI (weekly invitation) and a quote.It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat.  If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.com Julie CornishW: www.everywomanfest.comI: @theeverywomanfestivalX: @jules_cornishFurther informationW: www.masic.org.ukW: www.thepelvicfloorsociety.co.uk

Throughout this series we have been on a journey through the history of women’s health from wandering wombs, witch craft and our uterus’s being held responsible by the patriarchy for all of life’s miseries. In this weeks fun and educational Episode we meet the fabulous Dr Karen Tang. Her incredible book It's not Hysteria,The Truth About Pelvic Pain, Period Problems, and Your Gynaecological Health, is out now in the UK.Absolutely no subject regarding reproductive health is off limits, we learned so much from this interview, we talk ,Roe Vs Wade and how it’s affecting maternal mortality in the US, gender diversity, systemic racial biases and the differences in US and UK gynaecological services and so much more.Dr Karen Tang is a gynaecologist and minimally invasive gynaecological surgeon who is an internationally recognised leader in reproductive health.   The Book Collective: Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, this week we read Chapters, 15 & 16, we learn about the diabolical treatment of women suffering from lupus, why lobotomies were a definite course of treatment for women who suffered pain and also why it was so much easier to use tranquillisers on a woman to quieten her.You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM or voice note with your thoughts on the book. We chat about our week, and find out our Bridgerton names. There’s comments, a WI (weekly invitation) and a quote.It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat.  You can also watch the interview on our Womenkind Collective YouTube channel.If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.com Dr Karen TangW: www.karentangmd.comI: @karentangmdTT: @karentangmdYT: Karen Tang, MDBuy Karens book here https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Dr-Karen-Tang/Its-Not-Hysteria--The-Truth-About-Pelvic-Pain-Period-Prob/29947519?gad_source=1&wgu=10671_187205_17188166327578_f942b50573&wgexpiry=1750352632&utm_source=webgains&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_campaign=187205

Today we have a very special guest on the podcast, and a friend of ours, Diane Danzebrink. Diane is back talking to us this time as an author, her book, Making Menopause Matter, is an essential guide to menopause, it’s part memoir and part manifesto and it is brimming with practical help, it really is like having a Diane Danzebrink in your pocket!Diane is the founder of Menopause Support, a purpose over profit organisation, she is a menopause consultant, public speaker, educator and grass roots campaigner her #makemenopausematter campaign and petition now has over 200,000 signatures.We talk all things menopause, the menopause landscape, practical advice and the difficulties of running a not for profit organisation.Making Menopause Matter Book https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Diane-Danzebrink/Making-Menopause- Matter--The-Essential-Guide-to-What-You-/29158173Diane DanzebrinkI: @dianedanzebrinkW: https://menopausesupport.co.uk/Petition: https://www.change.org/p/make-menopause-matter-in-healthcare-the-workplace-and-education- makemenopausematter Menopause support Go Fund me page- https://gofund.me/7864cb7eIn the Book Collective: We continue reading, Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, this week we read Chapters, 13 & 14, we look at the harrowing story of a 14 year old rape victim, and we find out why syphilis was considered a female problem (when it was the men that were spreading it) .You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM or voice note with your thoughts on the book.We chat about our week, Jinty introduces us to Henriette d’Angeville, a climber who climbed Mont Blanc in a feather boa, Lou has some breaking news, there’s comments, a WI (weekly invitation) and a quote.It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat.If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/ womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.com

Very occasionally in life, if you are lucky, you meet people that are so wise that you have to stop in your tracks and listen to them speak, and after listening you come away with your eyes more open and the world looks a little brighter than it did before. Today’s guest is one of those people, Molly Fenton, she is only 22 yet she is changing lives, she is the award winning founder of the campaign Love your Period, a UN Women UK Delegate and a Young Ambassador for the Brain Tumour Charity. Molly founded Love your period whilst still at school, frustrated by the stigma and lack of education around menstruation, she wanted to act as the big sister that other young people might not have, stimulating conversations around periods and sexual health. Incredibly she has built a volunteer base to 75 people, alongside her own younger sister,Tilly. At 16 Molly was told she had an inoperable brain tumour. Although benign, she describes how her life became ‘watch and wait’. Failing GCSE’s, and having to attend her schools behavioural unit and then being told to leave post sixteen, yet she continued helping the community, fighting for girls rights within the health care system. Six years on and Molly lives with many debilitating chronic health conditions, yet she is a keynote speaker, giving talks around the country about her philosophy on life since her brain tumour diagnosis, speaking in Parliament about period stigma and poverty, she is passionate about helping others and is also an ambassador for them Every Woman Festival coming up soon. You can watch the full unedited interview on our Womenkind Collective YouTube channel. The Book Collective: We continue reading, Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, this week we read Chapters, 11 & 12, and find out why menopausal women have guinea pigs to thank for early treatment, again we meet some ground breaking women.You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM or voice note with your thoughts on the book. We chat about our week, there’s comments, a WI (weekly invitation) and a quote.It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat.  If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.comMolly Fenton:I: @mollyfentonI: @loveyourperiodF: The Love Your Period CampaignTT: @loveyourperiod

We have two fierce and fun guests on the podcast today, Kate Duffy and Gayle Stevens-White, they are grassroot campaigners who have collaborated and founded, Bloody Negligence, a movement that is exposing neglect in women’s healthcare from menstruation to menopause and everything in-between, they want to empower women to have their say and ‘get shit done’!We have met these incredible women many times before on the campaign trail and it is always an absolute treat to chat to them, we leave no stone unturned, we talk menopause and get absolutely furious at the bias in women’s health care.Get the kettle on and get ready for this lively chat. In the Book Collective we continue reading, Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, this week we read Chapters, 9 & 10, we meet the extraordinary suffragettes and learn about the hideous suffering they went through and the extraordinary women that fought for women’s freedom. We also find out about ‘silent births’ and why the patriarchy didn’t think this was such a good idea.You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM or voice note with your thoughts on the book. We learn some new acronyms that might get you in a wordy spin and Jinty finds out how many swimming pools are closing in England and how it’s affecting women, she also talks avocados…. You may never look at one in the same way again!It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat. If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.comAnd finally, if you would like the templates to send to your MP or CCG please visit our website: https://menopauseclinicfordevon.co.uk Bloody Negligence:I: @bloodynegligence Kate Duffy:I: @meno.mavekateduffy2I: @pmddrepresented Gayle Stevens-White:I: @rockandrebellion

 Now, most people have heard of the body’s Circadian Rhythm but do you know what it means and how it affects our wellbeing and sleep? Well, someone who does is our guest today Dr Kat Lederle, who is a sleep and body clock scientist, a sleep coach and also the author of Sleep Sense. Dr Kat is passionate about helping individuals sleep well and feel good. She sees sleep as an act of self-care, and her focus is on providing one-to-one therapeutic sleep coaching to women who experience insomnia and sleep problems. Her work combines sleep science with and learnings from Mindfulness, Acceptance Commitment Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy. We chat about why women sleep differently to men.You can watch the full unedited interview on our Womenkind Collective YouTube channel.  The Book Collective this week seems to be getting all of us furious as we continue reading Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, we realise it’s no wonder women’s health is as dire as it is today with male medics taking charge of birthing and a really heinous man called Dr Isaac Baker Brown who insisted clitoridectomy was a way to cure women of pleasuring themselves. You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM or voice note with your thoughts on the book. We catch up on your comments Jinty asks a deep question from Gina Martin’s new book and Lou finds out about casting clouts! It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat.  If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.comAnd finally, if you would like the templates to send to your MP or CCG please visit our website: https://menopauseclinicfordevon.co.uk Dr Kat LederleW: www.drkatsleep.comL: Dr Kat LederleI: @drkatsleep