Meet the Team

Running Woman was founded in 2016 to spread the running love as far and as wide as our tired legs could carry it, we knew from the start just how amazing running can make us feel and how it can benefit our mental wellbeing just as much as our physical health. It's why we take so much pride in having created one of the largest, most amazingly supportive all female communities on the internet.

We are just so incredibly excited and genuinely delighted to introduce two fabulous ladies who share the same values for supporting women and who will be featured within the Running Woman community.

Meet the team

Dr Sarah Berger and Dr Joanna Astill are the owners of Females Feeling Fabulous; an online community that recognises the challenges that women face in midlife and on their journey through the menopause.

As two clinical psychologists, with over 20 years’ experience, they have supported many women to improve their wellbeing, recognising that there is a real lack of awareness and understanding about this phase of life.

Females Feeling Fabulous are passionate about supporting women in recognising that whilst this phase can involve a lot of changes, it can be a wonderful opportunity to connect with what truly matters during this transformational journey.

Sarah and Jo aim to empower women with knowledge, support and psychological strategies that are accessible online via webinars, training, and courses. They are building an uplifting community of likeminded women, who together can navigate this journey, share experiences and be informed of up-to-date information on how to move forward and embrace this phase of life.

Sarah and Jo are keen to raise awareness of the psychological factors that can enhance wellbeing. They are regular contributors to the Running Woman community’s wellbeing hub; writing blogs and supporting women within the Facebook group. Sarah and Jo are also clinical associates with the Menopause CBT clinic, empowering women with psychological strategies, providing training to other professionals and building on the evidence base for the use of psychology in this area.

Dr Sarah Berger

Senior Clinical Psychologist and Co-owner of Stressed Out to Feeling Fabulous (view facebook group / view website)

Sarah is a senior clinician in supporting people experiencing mental health difficulties in both the NHS and her own private practice. Her doctorate in Clinical Psychology alongside her teaching qualification has led her to provide lectures at numerous universities to empower others to understand mental health and implement positive change. Whilst by day, Sarah supports people on a one-to-one basis in mental health recovery, by night she is a budding entrepreneur, inspiring females to enhance their wellbeing and regain their sense of purpose.

After experiencing and recovering from her own mental health difficulties, Sarah became inspired to improve access to psychological support and co-developed Stressed Out to Feeling Fabulous: an online course and Facebook community for busy working mums, providing psychological strategies to reduce stress and reconnect with the important things in life to feel fulfilled and energised again.

Sarah’s mission is to empower women to enhance their mental wellbeing in a fun, achievable and sustainable way. She believes that through enhancing self-belief and embracing the desire to grow we can commit to taking small steps each day, in our wellbeing journey to lead a more meaningful and happy life.

Dr Joanna Astill

Principal Clinical Psychologist, Owner of Breakthrough Psychology Services and Co-owner of Stressed Out to Feeling Fabulous (view facebook group / view website)

Jo is an experienced clinical psychologist who has worked in the field of mental health for over 20 years and is passionate about supporting people in their wellbeing journey and recovery of mental health difficulties. She has worked in the NHS for over 17 years and also has her own private practice. Jo has an interest in using a holistic approach to mental health; knowing how important it is to integrate both mind and body in therapy.

Having lived and recovered from the experience of chronic stress and burnout, Jo is able to understand how easily mental health issues can creep up and take hold before people realise the extent of what is happening. For this reason, she is a big believer in prevention whenever possible and knows that looking after our mental health is a work in progress, just as our physical health is.

Along with Dr Sarah Berger, Jo founded Stressed Out to Feeling Fabulous. The idea was born from a passion to inspire and empower women to overcome a place of feeling stressed, to embracing their wellbeing so they can live a more fulfilled life. She is excited to be a part of this endeavour and supporting women to access psychological strategies to feel energised in a way that is fun and keeping it real!

How to engage the team

Simply pop on to Running Woman Chat, post your question using #MentalHealthMatters and Sarah or Jo will pick up your question as soon as they can, RW x