Finding Community and Support During Perimenopause: You Do Not Have to Do This Alone
Perimenopause can feel isolating. Here is how to find and build community support, from online groups to local resources and peer connections.
The Isolation Problem
Despite affecting roughly half the population at some point in their lives, perimenopause remains a topic that many women navigate in near-complete silence. Social conditioning discourages open discussion of hormonal changes. Many women feel they should manage the transition privately and without complaint. The result is that large numbers of women spend months or years assuming that their symptoms, particularly the less physically obvious ones like anxiety, brain fog, low mood, and fatigue, are signs of personal failure rather than normal aspects of hormonal transition. Finding community changes this completely. When you encounter other women experiencing the same things, the first and most significant shift is the end of that isolation. You are not unusual. You are not broken. You are in a very large and entirely underserved group.
Online Communities and Forums
Online communities have transformed the perimenopause experience for many women because they operate at times that fit around family and work, they reach women in areas where face-to-face groups do not exist, and they allow a level of honesty that can be harder in person. The Menopause Support Facebook group in the UK has hundreds of thousands of members. Reddit communities including r/Menopause and r/Perimenopause are active and regularly discussed. Instagram accounts dedicated to perimenopause education have built substantial communities around their content. These platforms vary significantly in tone and quality, but the best of them provide a combination of peer support, shared practical experience, and signposting toward clinical resources. Reading through other women's experiences, even without posting yourself, can be validating in the early stages when the transition still feels disorienting.
Local and In-Person Groups
Face-to-face community has a different quality from online connection and is worth seeking out if it is available. Some GP surgeries and NHS trusts now host menopause drop-in sessions or peer support groups. Women's wellbeing charities in many areas offer perimenopause-specific programming. Yoga studios and wellness centres increasingly run workshops and series focused on women in midlife. Some private menopause clinics host community events alongside their clinical services. Searching for menopause groups in your local area through community platforms, local Facebook groups, or asking your GP surgery can surface resources that are not widely publicised. Even a small informal group of women at a similar life stage who meet regularly for a walk or a coffee can function as highly effective support.
Workplace Peer Networks
If you are employed, your workplace is one of the most natural places to find peer support because you already share context with the women around you. Many organisations now have menopause employee networks or resource groups, and these are genuinely valuable. They create a context where conversation about perimenopause is normalised, provide access to information about workplace policies and adjustments, and often host external speakers or training events. If your organisation does not have such a network, you may be in a position to start one. Reaching out informally to colleagues you trust to gauge interest costs very little and can grow into something significant. Menopause Workplace UK provides resources for organisations and employees seeking to establish these networks.
Professional and Peer Support
Community does not only mean peer groups. Professional support from a GP, menopause specialist, or therapist is a form of informed community that serves a different but equally important function. A clinician who is knowledgeable about perimenopause provides the kind of specific, evidence-based guidance that peer groups cannot replicate. A therapist who understands the psychological dimensions of the transition provides a container for the anxiety, grief, identity questioning, and emotional complexity that many women experience. Combining clinical support with peer community tends to produce better outcomes than relying on either alone, because they address different aspects of the experience.
Building Community If You Are Starting From Scratch
If you currently have no perimenopause community at all, the path forward is simpler than it might seem. Start by identifying one resource that feels accessible: an online forum, a podcast community, a book by a trusted menopause author with an associated community, or a local wellness class. Engage once. Post a question, attend a session, or simply introduce yourself. The initial step is the hardest. Most perimenopause communities are explicitly welcoming to new members because the founders built them out of the same isolation you are experiencing now. The membership is not a curated elite. It is ordinary women who decided to stop managing this alone.
The Compound Effect of Being Witnessed
There is a well-documented psychological benefit to having your experience witnessed and validated by others who share it. For perimenopausal women, this translates to measurable reductions in anxiety, improved symptom self-management, greater confidence in advocating for clinical support, and better adherence to lifestyle changes. Community does not replace medical care. But it creates the social and psychological conditions in which medical care is sought earlier, symptoms are identified more accurately, and the transition is experienced as a shared human passage rather than a personal failing. Finding your community during perimenopause is one of the most practical and impactful investments you can make.
Related reading
Get your personalized daily plan
Track symptoms, match workouts to your day type, and build a routine that adapts with you through every phase of perimenopause.