Accredited Menopause Experts? Licensed Menopause Champions? Menopause Coaches?

As my mother said “Oh, give me a break”.

My sentiments exactly.

Not including NAMS, which requires you to be a licensed medical professional, these other professional Menopause labels seem to be coming from the UK and Canada, and they are selling these “accredited” or “licensing” courses in the USA online to non-medical professionals. Some places do not state where they are located, where they got their accreditation, or have any physical address or phone number. They will take your credit card number though.

Show me the scam.

These companies charge a lot of money to take these menopause “accreditation” and “licensing” courses and it does not stand in the USA or in the UK apparently. I have just spent two days trying to find out if these accreditations and licenses are real to no avail. I have even reached out to the UK governing body and am awaiting their response.

About Accreditation: Read below.

In the USA:

From www.edsmart.org: https://www.edsmart.org/regional-vs-national-accreditation/

In the United States, accreditation signifies that an independent agency routinely evaluates the quality of education offered by the higher education institution you intend to attend. There are two forms of accreditation. The first is institutional accreditation which pertains to the overall establishment. The second is program based and relates to individual programs of study within the institution.

In the UK:

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education_accreditation_in_the_United_Kingdom

The UK does not operate an accreditation system in the way it is understood in the US, i.e. a university (or other institute of higher education) cannot be "accredited" or "unaccredited". Instead there is a system of quality assurance, with reviews carried out by a government-appointed agency, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), and external examiners appointed by the institutions. There is also government control over degree-awarding powers and the right to be called a university, the exact details of which vary between different countries of the UK. Accreditation for professional degrees is carried out by statutory or professional bodies and is awarded on a course-by-course basis.

Do you see what I see?

One group blocked me on LinkedIn when I asked them about it.

On Facebook, I asked another group more directly...nothing.

I called another group out on Instagram, and they said I must have an agenda.

I do.

To weed out the bullshit.

There is my agenda right there in black and white.

When I looked at their websites, I tried to find their menopausal journey. Very little. Some of them are men. Dear lord help us all.

Now, in my opinion, it does not matter how much you have studied Menopause or the effect it has. You have only studied it.

You get no respect from me until you have lived through it (or something similar like chemo or years of chronic pain).

NAMS, The North American Menopause Society, which began in 1989, can certify medical professionals in menopause BUT until each and every one of them goes through menopause, they know NOTHING. And don’t bother certifying men. They can never, ever, empathize with women in menopause.

These groups think they can make you a menopause expert with some materials, a few videos and, of course, some cash.

They give you some bullshit association with their group: a pin, a magazine.

They tell you that you can “reclaim your life”. How? Many of us have tried everything available to us. You don’t “reclaim your life”, you simply learn to live with menopause and its daily symptoms.

There is Menopause Friendly Accreditation (Real) for workplaces in the UK. OK. Making employers aware is a good thing.

But if you add the word accreditation. It comes with consequences if you cannot prove it. Remember the Beauty School scams in the USA in the 80’s and 90’s? Seems very much like that to me.

Read these words out loud. YOU are your best menopause expert. YOU are your best advocate. The internet has resources for you that are real and don’t cost you money.

Instead, invest your money in handheld fans and frozen washcloths, they are your future.