WORK + WELL
Perimenopause
doesn’t stay at the door.
It comes to work too.
Evidence-based perimenopause education for NZ and Australian workplaces.
Practical support that helps you keep experienced women and gives your leaders the confidence to back them.
THE BUSINESS CASE
Your organisation is losing experienced women.
Most won’t tell you it’s why they’re leaving.
The women navigating perimenopause and menopause are often your subject matter experts, senior leaders, or tomorrow’s leadership team - the talent you can least afford to lose
64%
of women surveyed say symptoms affect their work
11%
of women have talked to their manager
28%
of women with symptoms have cut their hours, changed jobs or left work
Source: NZIER, The Silent Transition, for Global Women and ANZ, 2023“Doing nothing may cost employers more than supporting their women leaders.”
Vanessa Ivory. Functional Nutritionist, Founder of Work + Well
Introducing Work + Well
Most workplace support starts at menopause, but symptoms often start years earlier, in perimenopause.
Work + Well starts there - so that your people understand what’s changing sooner and your leaders know how to help, well before anyone feels the need to cut their hours or step down.
For organisations in NZ and Australia that want to support, and keep, their experienced women. If your People team is thinking about retention, inclusion or psychological safety, we should talk.
Your Leaders
The confidence to have the conversation and make reasonable adjustments.
Women
A clear understanding of what’s changing, and practical tools they’ll still be using months later.
Your Organisation
A place where women feel seen, supported and want to stay.
FOR LEADERS
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Understanding perimenopause — a practical guide for people leaders.
Most people leaders have no framework for perimenopause — and no idea how to start the conversation.
The Ally Session is designed to give them one. A clear, science-based introduction to what perimenopause is, how it shows up at work, and what people leaders can do to support their people — without making it awkward.
In this session:
What a ‘normal’ cycle looks like & the hormones involved.
What perimenopause is
How symptoms might show up in the workplace
How to have a supportive conversation with a team member
What reasonable adjustments look like in practice
Reputable sources of information
How to create a culture where women don’t have to hide it
FOR WOMEN . A FOUR-PART SERIES
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Women don’t get a roadmap for perimenopause. Symptoms arrive — disrupted sleep, mood shifts, brain fog — and most women have no framework to make sense of them.
The Shift Session addresses their questions. A clear, science-based explanation of what oestrogen and progesterone do, how their fluctuations and then decline drives symptoms, and what might help.
In this session:
Definitions of perimenopause and menopause
The roles of oestrogen and progesterone
How to recognise your own symptom patterns
Practical strategies to start managing symptoms
How to talk to your doctor — HRT and other support options
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Fatigue and energy dips are common in perimenopause as changing hormones affect how the body handles blood sugar.
Sustain explains what’s changing and gives women practical ways to keep their energy steadier through the day.
The Sustain Session explains what’s driving their shift in energy and gives them practical tools to stabilise it.
In this session:
How fluctuating then declining oestrogen affects your metabolism
The importance of blood sugar stability
What else affects your energy levels
How to build meals that support sustained energy
The ‘energy return’ on strength training
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How the brain changes in perimenopause — sleep and cognition
Brain fog, poor sleep and lapses in concentration are among the most common — and most unsettling — symptoms of perimenopause.
The Focus Session explains the neuroscience behind what’s happening and gives women practical tools to protect their sleep and cognitive performance.
In this session:
How oestrogen influences brain function and cognition
The neuroscience of brain fog — what’s actually happening
Why sleep changes during perimenopause
Practical strategies for sharper focus and better sleep
Evidence-based tools to support cognitive performance
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During perimenopause stress tolerance changes.
Cortisol — your primary stress hormone — adds pressure to a hormonal balance already in flux.
The Regulate Session explains the relationship between stress, cortisol and perimenopausal symptoms, and gives women practical, evidence-based tools to manage both.
In this session:
How chronic stress can amplify perimenopausal symptoms
The cortisol-hormone (HPA axis) connection
Practical tools for nervous system regulation
Evidence-based strategies to reduce stress load and build resilience
Sessions are delivered online, or on-site across New Zealand and Australia. 
I work in your world.
I’m Vanessa Ivory; Functional Nutritionist, Health Coach and founder of Work + Well.
I still work in the corporate world in senior project and programme roles.
I know exactly what it takes to perform under pressure, juggle competing demands, and keep going when the tank is running low - because I need to do it too.
I know how to turn good intentions into a programme that actually gets delivered.
I hold the AC-FHC - one of the highest certifications in health and wellness coaching globally. I am in my final semester of study before qualifying as a Registered Clinical Nutritionist. I’ve trained internationally in functional health, nutrition, hormone health, neuroscience and behaviour change.
Every session is evidence-based, practical & built for the realities of a busy workplace.
“Vanessa is a pretty incredible lady - someone I trust wholeheartedly when delivering a highly enlightening & educational seminar to our clients.
We engaged Vanessa to run three seminars for our senior clients and candidates within Transformation Delivery around the topics of hormone management, fuelling your success (nutrition) and managing stress.
These sessions were extremely popular with audiences of up to 50 people per session.
Vanessa’s knowledge, empathy, and holistic approach to wellbeing certainly made a lasting impression on a number of clients with many in the audience caught furiously taking notes and subjecting Vanessa to rapid fire Q+A sessions".”
— Sacha Philp, Robert WaltersThe Options
The Ally Session
Your leaders know how to start the conversation, and what to do next.
1 session for people leaders
For up to 50 people leaders
The Ally Conversation Guide for every leader
People team report: leader’s confidence - before and after.
NZ $2,500
Work + Well Series
In-depth education for women. Prepared leaders.
5 sessions for leaders and women
The Ally session for your people leaders
Four sessions for women over four months. The Shift, Sustain, Focus and Regulate.
Practical resources after each session
People team reports: leaders’ confidence and how comfortable women feel raising it at work.
NZ $9,500
Work + Well Partner
Support built into how you work, reviewed at 12 months.
5 Sessions + executive briefing, over 12 months
Everything in the Series, plus:
45-min exec briefing: making support visible
Help setting up your own peer support network
Review of your current support, and an action plan
12-month progress report against your plan
The Pause* online course for 25 staff (extra seats at $150 NZD + GST)
NZ $15,000
Seminars on-line or in person across NZ and Australia. Travel outside Auckland at cost. Prices + GST where applicable.
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Allow 60-75 minutes, including questions.
Attendees can submit questions anonymously, so no-one has to raise their hand. Questions are answered in session and afterwards by email.
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Absolutely. Each session is adapted to your audience, and industry. We’ll cover what that looks like in our first conversation.
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Sessions can be delivered in person (anywhere in NZ and Australia) or virtually for distributed teams.
They provide a great incentive to bring your people into the office for the day - before work, or at lunchtime means you’ll have a reason for everyone to get together for the day.
(Travel outside Auckland at cost)
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The Ally Session is for all people leaders, whatever their gender. It gives them what they need to support their team.
The four sessions for women are for anyone experiencing perimenopause or menopause, including trans and non-binary people and those with medically or surgically induced menopause. Keeping these sessions to those experiencing it means everyone can speak freely.
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Work + Well is education, not medical advice.
Sessions explain what’s happening and what the evidence says.
Personal health questions are answered with general guidance including where to seek support.
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Attendees can ask questions anonymously.
Your people team receives grouped, anonymised results only, so no individual can be identified.
Anything someone shares with me one-to-one stays confidential.
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The Pause is my six-week, self-paced online course covering sleep, energy, weight, hormones, focus and mood.
The Pause lets each woman work through it at her own pace, in private. It’s included in Work + Well Partner, and we can talk about adding it to other options.
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Book a call.
We’ll talk about your organisation, what you’re seeing and what will work best. description
FAQ
Who is Work + Well For?
Work + Well is built for New Zealand and Australian organisations that want to keep their experienced women.
If your People or HR team is thinking o retention, inclusion or psychological safety, perimenopause belongs in that conversation.
QUESTIONS?
Need something to share with the leadership team?
Book a 20-minute call and I’ll help you make the case.