In the last episode, recorded for World Suicide Prevention Day, I spoke specifically about the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours for midlife women, given the statistics show that the most female deaths by suicide tend to occur in midlife. I promised that I would follow up to talk about how when navigating perimenopause we might be at more risk and more importantly, what we might do to keep ourselves safe. As a qualified suicide intervention tutor I am aware of evidence based research which shows protective factors that can help - basically the things we can do for ourselves, and others, to help keep them safe from the Edge of Enough. Life happens and events can cause us to wobble, we probably cannot do a lot about that, but there are things that we CAN do to help us stay safe, and I am talking about them in this episode. Navigating this chapter of menopause with low mood, anxiety and depression can be challenging, and whilst many people talk about the physical symptoms that might affect us, fewer are aware of the potential impact to our mental health during the hormonal shift. I hope you find this episode useful and maybe you will join my free Masterclass in October where I focus on lifestyle medicine for improving mental health during menopause - it's so important that we talk about these issues so that women know how to help themselves if things are getting a bit much. Take good care!