“Perimenopause is a hell of a ride”: Why two Canberra counsellors are launching a support group called BITCH!

Posted on 2 November, 2026

There’s a certain chorus from Meredith Brooks’ 1997 song Bitch that always has women singing along at the top of their lungs: ‘I’m a bitch, I’m a lover, I’m a child, I’m a mother, I’m a sinner, I’m a saint, I do not feel ashamed.’

It’s been 29 years since the song first came out, but it still stands the test of time – so much so that two local women have created a perimenopause support group inspired by the lyrics. After all, nothing says surviving perimenopause like screaming the words “I’m your Hell, I’m your dream, I’m nothing in between.”

Founded and hosted by Loren Merriman and Amy Arbery from Canberra podcast We Prescribe Alanis, the session will take place on Sunday 8 November at The Bordella in Fyshwick. Amy says they decided to start the group because – to put it simply – “perimenopause is a hell of a ride”.

They’re inviting women to go along to vent, laugh, cry and share.

“I’ve certainly been on that journey in the last couple of years and have found for a lot of women my age, there’s a sense of overwhelm and confusion about what’s happening,” she explains.

“We’re lucky that it is a conversation happening now – I have new sympathy for my mum who would have gone through it without really any conversation happening around her. This has been something that keeps coming up across our friendship groups and our families.”

Loren and Amy first met and became friends when their daughters were in Kindergarten, and have navigated a lot of life’s challenges side-by-side. From pram walks to studying counselling at the University of Canberra, they decided to launch a podcast together toward the end of their degree.

“Loren and I were talking about it one day, and we were thinking that we’d love to do something together, but we weren’t quite ready to make the massive leap to set up private practice. We thought, ‘Well, why don’t we just have a go at a podcast?’” explains Amy.

“I think of it as like my little knitted tea-cosy handicraft. We don’t make money from it or anything like that; it’s just that we really love to create together and put out into the world.”

Using the duo’s counselling skills and mutual love of music, We Prescribe Alanis takes listener issues, offers therapeutic insight and then “prescribes” a song or two to help – usually a ‘90s classic.

“Loren and I both really bonded about music and being Gen X…I had done my internship, and as part of my internship, I ran some sessions with some mental health patients around the benefits of music,” explains Amy.

This love of music is also why they named their perimenopause support group “BITCH!”.

“I wanted something a little bit fun, and to sum up the tone, which will be, ‘This is a safe space to have a bitch about what we’re experiencing, where we can be bitches and take that word and own it’,” says Amy.

The session will run across two hours and talk about everything from hot flushes to brain fog, rage, insomnia, chin hair and mood swings. There will also be plenty of opportunities for listening, sharing, and validation.

“It’s not about fixing, and we are certainly not doctors,” says Amy.

“We want women to walk away with is a feeling of validation that we all have a different, unique journey, but there’s a lot that we share in that. I would love it if women walk away with a few ideas for how they might try to manage this phase of their life, and above all, that feeling of community.”

There will, naturally, be plenty of music. Promising women they’ll leave feeling “a little smarter, a little calmer and a lot less alone on this wild hormonal rollercoaster”, tickets to BITCH! cost $22.50 and include refreshments. With only 15 spots available, Amy and Loren hope to use this event as a test run for future sessions.

And for those looking to support someone going through perimenopause, Amy has some sound advice: “Don’t try and fix it.”

“The last thing a perimenopausal woman needs is someone mansplaining perimenopause to them. Listen to understand, look at the opportunities to give her space and give her time to do what she needs to do at that time in her life.”

“Do your own research, just so that you’ve got an understanding of what that woman is going through.”