Sara Beattie is a UAE-based Positive Psychology Practitioner & Menopause Coach. She specialises in supporting midlife women worldwide as they navigate perimenopause, menopause, and the unique challenges of expat life. She is the creator of two original research projects exploring the lived experience of menopause. Her first study, From Isolation to Agency, was presented at the European Conference on Positive Psychology in 2022. Her second, The Age of Renewal, will be showcased at the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress in Brisbane in July 2025.
Inspired by her mother’s passion for the profession, Sara originally trained as a teacher. Shortly after securing her first job in the UK, she moved to Singapore with her husband and young son. Since then, she has lived and worked across Asia – including in China, Hong Kong, and Shanghai – and prioritised making learning positive, engaging and meaningful for her students.
It was during her time in Hong Kong that Sara discovered the PERMA education model, which aims to increase happiness and wellbeing for students and teachers. During this time, Sara also began exploring coaching and achieved her first coaching qualification in 2017.
After returning to London in 2018, Sara taught at a child-centred school in North London, and also embarked on her Masters in Applied Positive Psychology. While she expected her Masters research to be education-related, life led her to take a different direction.
Over the previous few years, Sara had dealt with a series of physical and emotional symptoms that she later realised were connected with perimenopause and menopause. Frustrated by a general lack of understanding, her dissertation became the foundation of her research From Isolation to Agency, which Sara presented in film noir format at the 2022 European Conference in Positive Psychology in Iceland. Consequently, she started menopause coaching and co-created a six-week group programme combining the research findings with proven strategies from the field of positive psychology.
In 2024, Sara relocated to Dubai and began coaching full-time. Her current research project – The Age of Renewal – gives women the freedom to share their menopause experiences through any medium they choose, encouraging self-expression. The findings will be presented at the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress in Brisbane held from 1st-4th July 2025.
About The Age of Renewal – A Global Storytelling Project
The Age of Renewal is an independent research study and global storytelling project exploring the many ways women experience and reflect on menopause. The project has been designed by Sara Beattie MSc & Jannie Stricker MSc, who are positive psychology practitioners specialising in midlife coaching.
The initiative invites women to share their thoughts, memories, and experiences of menopause in any form that feels authentic to them—be it through writing, art, photography, poetry, collage, or other creative mediums. To date, submissions have been received from the UAE, Canada, the UK, Denmark, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Italy.
Insights will be presented at the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress in Brisbane, July 2025, through a collection of visual narratives, offering an intimate glimpse into the diverse and personal journeys of women navigating this life stage. The aim is to uncover shared themes, amplify individual voices, and broaden the global conversation around menopause. The Age of Renewal celebrates menopause not just as a natural biological event, but as a time for self-reflection, renewal, and the possibility of new beginnings.
