Meet Joan St Clair — Menopause Advocate and Founder of CHC Menopause Café
A Community Health Champion in Reading
CHC Menopause Café CIC was founded by Joan St Clair, a Community Health Champion, speaker, and passionate menopause advocate who has dedicated herself to supporting women through some of life's most challenging transitions.
Joan brings to this work something that no amount of training can fully replicate. Lived experience. She understands from the inside what it feels like to navigate menopause without the right support, to feel dismissed or overlooked, and to carry the weight of hormonal and emotional change in silence.
A Community Champion at Heart
Long before CHC Menopause Café existed, Joan had already established herself as a trusted voice in Reading's community health landscape. As a Community Health Champion she has worked alongside women from a wide range of backgrounds, advocating for equitable access to health information, reducing barriers to care, and building the kind of trusting relationships that make genuine support possible.
Her work has taken her into community halls, healthcare settings, faith organisations, and countless conversations with women who felt the system simply wasn't designed with them in mind. Those conversations shaped her understanding of what was missing and they directly inspired CHC Menopause Café.
Why did Joan found CHC Menopause Café?
Joan founded it because she saw a clear need that wasn't being met, particularly for women in Reading's more diverse and underserved communities. Too many women were navigating menopause without any form of tailored, culturally sensitive, or community-led support. Too many were feeling alone, unheard, and unsure where to turn.
Her response was not to wait for someone else to solve the problem. It was to build something herself, something rooted in compassion, inclusion, and the belief that every woman deserves to feel supported during this stage of her life.
Joan's Vision
Joan's vision for CHC Menopause Café is straightforward. A Reading where no woman has to face menopause alone. Where the café doors are open to every woman regardless of her background. Where the conversations are honest, the community is strong, and the support is real.
Joan St Clair Bio
Joan St Clair is the founder of CHC Menopause Café, a community-led space created to break the silence around menopause and women’s wellbeing.
Her journey began through volunteering with Utulivu Women's Group, where she witnessed first-hand the need for safe, culturally sensitive spaces for women to speak openly about their experiences. She later became a Community Health Champion with ACRE (Alliance For Cohesion and Racial Equality), and from that foundation, the Menopause Café was born — a welcoming space where women can talk honestly about menopause, mental wellbeing, and life transitions without shame or stigma.
Since leaving her corporate role in 2021, Joan has dedicated her work to community empowerment and women’s health advocacy. She has supported countless women in sharing their stories and reclaiming confidence during midlife.
Her work has been recognised locally and nationally. Joan has been featured on BBC South Today and BBC Radio Berkshire, highlighting the importance of open menopause conversations. In 2024, she received the Community Education Award for her contribution to community wellbeing and education.
Joan is a trained Mental Health First Aider, Citizens Advice First Aider, Community Researcher, and Certified NLP Practitioner. She is also an international public speaker, Author and founder of The Sensual Shift Coaching Programme, where she supports women in reclaiming confidence, identity, and vitality during menopause.
Through CHC Menopause Café, Joan continues to champion safe, stigma-free conversations — ensuring no woman feels alone during this transition.