A woman is running a free eight-week course in a bid to end the taboo around the menopause.

Claire Grant, 51, from Folkestone, has been running a free menopause meet up for the past 18 months, and now, thanks to a £7,500 grant from the National Lottery, has launched a course focused on educating people and encouraging women to take charge of their health.

The menopause usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55 and occurs when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. Symptoms can both be mental and physical, and can include changes to your mood and problems with memory.

Physical symptoms can include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping and migraines.

Mrs Grant, a pilates teacher and women’s health specialist of more than 17 years said: “I just had a real sense that a community needed to be built for women to support women and take control back of their mental health and wellbeing.

“I just realised that the education isn’t out there and that it’s really difficult for people to get an appointment.

“The average wait to see a menopause specialist is 263 days. For a lot of women, they won’t even know if it’s the menopause they’re going through, or when they do see their GP they get fobbed off.”

Mrs Grant says many women come to her meet-ups feeling as if they’re “going mad” and no one else is experiencing similar symptoms.

She adds: “I’ve had a lot of women leave meetings confident to have a conversation with the GP and advocate for themselves so that they don’t feel fobbed off.

“If you don’t feel right, keep going and don’t be dismissed.”

The Dover project starts today and the Folkestone course will launch later this year.

Anyone who wants to take part in the programme should contact Claire Grant on Facebook at Claire Grant Women’s Health or via her website – www.clairegrantwomenshealth.com.

Mrs Grant hopes to be able to expand the project and make it available throughout the whole county in the future.