About
Supporting women through midlife transition with clarity, depth, and grounded insight.
Pause & Beyond is a coaching practice for women in midlife who find themselves at a threshold — sensing change, seeking clarity, or rebuilding after a pivotal moment. It exists because midlife is not a crisis; it is a crossing. Yet too often, women are met with advice, noise, or quick fixes when what they need is space, structure, and the conditions to think, feel, and reimagine.
The name reflects this journey. The pause is the moment of interruption, reflection, or disruption. The beyond is what emerges when you move forward with intention rather than urgency. The work honours both.
Pause & Beyond brings together transformation leadership, evidence-aware coaching, menopause education, and reflective programme design. It is built for women who want depth without drama, support without clichés, and a process that respects the complexity of midlife transition. Whether you are navigating menopause, career evolution, emotional fatigue, or a quiet desire for reinvention, the work meets you where you are.
Through one-to-one coaching, group experiences, and programmes, Pause & Beyond offers a grounded, modern alternative to the crowded midlife “empowerment” space — one that prioritises safety, clarity, and identity-level change.
Kirstie Walker-Poole is a transformation leader turned coach. Her work has long centred on people — how they grow, adapt, and rebuild themselves after moments that quietly rearrange life.
Over the past five years, Kirstie has worked with women navigating thresholds: career shifts, menopause, relationship changes, reinvention, or a subtle sense that something is asking to change.
That practice rests on formal training as well as lived experience. Kirstie holds an Accredited Diploma in Transformative Coaching from the Animas Centre for Coaching (accredited by the ICF, AC, and EMCC), along with a Group Coaching Certificate from the same school. She is a member of the International Coaching Federation and is currently completing her ICF ACC credential. Her training also includes counselling skills and mental health first aid — and she is currently completing certifications in menopause coaching and in health coaching for people with cancer, deepening her support for women whose midlife transitions are shaped by health as much as by circumstance.
Pause & Beyond is a natural extension of this work: a space for midlife women to explore identity, transition, and possibility with honesty and grounding. Kirstie's role is not to push or prescribe but to create a structured, reflective environment where women can pause long enough to hear what is true — and then move forward with intention.
Kirstie is based in Buckinghamshire, working both locally and online, and continues to develop a body of work that supports women in stepping into what comes next with clarity, confidence, and agency.
Qualifications & training
Accredited Diploma in Transformative Coaching — Animas Centre for Coaching (ICF, AC & EMCC accredited), 2022
Group Coaching Certificate — Animas Centre for Coaching (ICF, AC & EMCC accredited), 2023
Level 2 Counselling Skills — Bridgwater & Taunton College, 2023
Level 2 Mental Health First Aid & Mental Health Advocacy in the Workplace — West Lancashire College, 2022
Menopause Coach Certification — Women of a Certain Stage (CPD Certified), completing July 2026
Health Coaching for People with Cancer — Dr Rosy Daniels, Health Creation (UKIHCA / CPD Certified), completing July 2026
ICF ACC credential — in progress
A few practical answers to help you understand how the work works, what to expect, and whether it feels right for you.
What is Pause & Beyond?
Pause & Beyond is a coaching practice for women in midlife who are navigating identity-level change — the moments when life feels paused, disrupted, or quietly asking for something different. The work blends trauma sensitive coaching, transformation, and evidence aware menopause understanding to help you reconnect with who you are becoming.
Who do you work with?
I work with women in midlife who are capable, thoughtful, and often carrying more than people realise. Many are navigating menopause, career shifts, relationship changes, caregiving, loss, or a sense of “I don’t feel like myself”. You don’t need to be in crisis; you simply need to be ready for a different way forward.
How is your approach different?
My work is grounded, reflective, and paced with your nervous system in mind. It draws on 22 years of transformation leadership, trauma sensitive practice, and identity work to help you understand what’s changing beneath the surface, and how you can move forward in a way that honours who you are now.
Is it therapy?
No. Coaching focuses on who you are now and how you want to move forward. It can sit alongside therapy, and many clients work with both. If therapy is more appropriate, I’ll always signpost you.
What outcomes can I expect?
Most clients notice meaningful shifts in how they think, feel, and move through daily life. They often describe clearer thinking, steadier emotions, stronger boundaries, and a renewed sense of self. For many women, this also softens the impact of menopause-related challenges — not by fixing symptoms, but by helping them understand what is happening in body and mind, and by giving them tools to navigate it. Coaching helps make sense of what is changing beneath the surface. It does not reinvent you; it helps you come home to yourself with greater clarity and compassion.
What does trauma sensitive coaching mean?
Trauma-sensitive coaching works in a way that respects your nervous system, your pace, and your lived experience. It recognises that many women carry invisible load, and that pushing or forcing change can feel unsafe. In practice, it means you decide what feels right to explore, your autonomy stays central, and the work focuses on clarity, grounding, and emotional steadiness without overwhelm. Nothing is pushed before you are ready. The pace is gentle, and safety remains at the centre throughout.
How do I know if this is the right time?
Most women reach out when something in life feels stretched, paused, or quietly unsustainable. You do not need to be in crisis — only ready for a different kind of conversation. It may be the right time if you feel fine but not quite yourself, are moving through a transition and want clarity, are tired of coping alone, sense a shift in who you are but cannot yet name it, or simply want more steadiness, space, and support. If you are unsure, an enquiry call can help you decide whether this work feels right for you now.
What if I’ve tried coaching before and it didn’t help?
Many women come to me after experiences that felt too surface level, too fast, or too formulaic. This work is different — slower, deeper, and centred on identity, nervous system awareness, and the realities of midlife and menopause. You’re not expected to perform or be “coachable”; you’re simply invited to be yourself.