Supporting Women's Health - Let's Create a Community

We opened our workshop to the public to demonstrate an essential truth. If you have nothing to hide, if your brand is more than marketing hype, if you actually make the products yourself and do what you say you do, inviting people into your space is the most wonderful experience for all concerned – it has been joyful to see people walk into our workshop and gasp with delight at the plants, the scent and the place.

The unexpected benefit is to really reconnect with my therapeutic roots. When I offered consultations over many years using Homeopathic remedies, Bush and Bach Flower Essences, herbs, essential oils, tisanes and tinctures to treat illness and support health, I had such a busy practice. It was all consuming and in the end exhausting. Gradually A.S Apothecary developed and I moved away from seeing clients and into skincare and wellbeing. It has been a wonderful journey into developing and making products, growing plants and wild harvesting.

Opening the workshop has not only brought people who are interested in our skincare, teas, tinctures, Wild Eve and coffee, it has also brought people who are struggling in other ways. I’m seeing increasing numbers of women who are peri/menopausal whose symptoms are largely ignored or dismissed as irrelevant, for whom a short medical appointment doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. They arrive, breathe in the scent of whatever we’ve been picking that morning, try various products and then begin to talk, assured that they are being heard by another woman who has already been through it.

 Menopause is such an important transition for women, it throws up not just a range of physical symptoms but also a raft of mental and emotional challenges. Negotiating these changes can be really tough without support. It can lead to feelings of isolation, alienation, confusion, fear and distress. There is so much negative discussion around this time of life but it definitely doesn’t need to be like this, there are so many options, so much that can be done to ease yourself through this transition - small lifestyle and dietary changes, the right supplements, supportive products but most importantly feeling that you are being heard, that someone is joining the symptom dots to explain the whole picture.

 It has made me muse that there is much to be done and that from my little island workshop we are not exactly accessible so I’m wondering if any of you might be interested in some sort of monthly membership for community support and sharing coupled with specialist advice and online information. Menopause is an obvious place to start but within women’s health there are so many areas that need attention.

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this and if there is sufficient interest, I’ll make it happen. You can either leave a comment, DM me or email to hello@asapoth.com. As it’s a work in progress, any ideas about structure or anything else will be gratefully received.