Menopause as Awakening: From Confusion to Midlife Clarity
Tracks
Ballroom 1
| Tuesday, September 1, 2026 |
| 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM |
| JW Grand Ballroom |
Overview
Kim Laurence, Kaiatarau Collective
Three Key Learnings
1. Recognise how hormonal changes can alter emotional tolerance, motivation and stress responses, often leaving women feeling unrecognisable.
2. Understand how these changes interact with accumulated relational pressures, emotional labour and life responsibilities in midlife.
3. Consider how menopause can act as a psychological turning point, prompting shifts in identity, boundaries and life direction.
Speaker
Kim Laurence
Consultant Psychotherapist
Kaiatarau Collective
Menopause as Awakening: From Confusion to Midlife Clarity
Abstract
For many women, the menopausal transition arrives with a deep sense of disorientation. Changes in mood, sleep, cognition and emotional regulation can appear suddenly and with surprising intensity. Many women describe a troubling feeling that they no longer recognise themselves - emotionally, mentally or in how they respond to the people around them. While fluctuating hormones are clearly part of this picture, menopause does not occur in isolation from the broader realities of women’s lives.
By midlife, many women are carrying significant emotional, relational and practical responsibilities within families, workplaces and communities. Hormonal changes during the menopausal transition affect key neurochemical systems involved in mood regulation, stress reactivity and motivation, often contributing to experiences such as anxiety, low mood, irritability, cognitive fog and sleep disruption. It is therefore not uncommon for women to present to clinicians during this period with symptoms that resemble primary mental health disorders.
At the same time, this stage of life can expose pressures that have long been managed or minimised. As hormonal shifts interact with accumulated stress and responsibility, patterns within relationships and roles may become newly visible and increasingly difficult to tolerate. Many women describe a reduced capacity to continue absorbing emotional labour, alongside a rise in anger, honesty and the desire for change.
This presentation explores menopause not only as a biological transition, but as a relational and psychological turning point. Drawing on emerging research alongside insights from therapeutic practice, it considers how the menopausal transition can surface hidden pressures, strain relationships and prompt a renegotiation of identity, boundaries and expectations. Rather than framing menopause solely through the lens of decline or pathology, the session invites a broader understanding of this transition as one that can also bring greater clarity, authenticity and authority in women’s lives.
By midlife, many women are carrying significant emotional, relational and practical responsibilities within families, workplaces and communities. Hormonal changes during the menopausal transition affect key neurochemical systems involved in mood regulation, stress reactivity and motivation, often contributing to experiences such as anxiety, low mood, irritability, cognitive fog and sleep disruption. It is therefore not uncommon for women to present to clinicians during this period with symptoms that resemble primary mental health disorders.
At the same time, this stage of life can expose pressures that have long been managed or minimised. As hormonal shifts interact with accumulated stress and responsibility, patterns within relationships and roles may become newly visible and increasingly difficult to tolerate. Many women describe a reduced capacity to continue absorbing emotional labour, alongside a rise in anger, honesty and the desire for change.
This presentation explores menopause not only as a biological transition, but as a relational and psychological turning point. Drawing on emerging research alongside insights from therapeutic practice, it considers how the menopausal transition can surface hidden pressures, strain relationships and prompt a renegotiation of identity, boundaries and expectations. Rather than framing menopause solely through the lens of decline or pathology, the session invites a broader understanding of this transition as one that can also bring greater clarity, authenticity and authority in women’s lives.
Biography
Kim Laurence is a psychotherapist and founder of Kaiatarau Collective, a consultancy providing psychotherapy, supervision, leadership development and consulting across the health and social sectors. She has worked extensively in trauma, addiction and complex mental health services in New Zealand and internationally, and has held senior clinical and executive leadership roles within community, kaupapa Māori and health system settings. Kim’s work focuses on the relational, cultural and systemic influences on wellbeing, with a particular interest in life transitions that reshape identity and relationships.
