We first met in 2021 while working at a healthcare startup. From the beginning, there was an immediate sense of sisterhood. We're both clinicians who have a deep understanding of women’s health.
However, the Western healthcare system seemed broken and fell short of supporting women’s wellness. For moms juggling kids, careers, changing hormones, and bodies that suddenly felt... different, we knew there had to be another way.
We're medical practitioners, yes. But before that, we're women who've stood exactly where you're standing now.
Amy Maher, MD,
Erica Kafka, PA-C
meet the moms
We Are Those Moms. And We're Also the Medical Community.
When we looked for a manual on how to balance "Mom Brain" with "Peri Brain," we found a void for ourselves and our patients.
INSIDE:
✓ The Science – How perimenopause affects your brain, heart, and bones, and what this window means for your long-term health
✓ Seasonal Wisdom – Seeing this transition as a meaningful passage, rooted in ancient traditions
✓ Your Next Steps – Taking small, steady steps toward caring for your body, time, and choices as a mother
For the mom who feels the shift & is ready to name it.
Perimenopause awareness
the mom's guide to
You know your body and you’ve felt the quiet shift in your energy, the sudden edge in your patience, and the way the world feels a little louder lately. It’s easy to call it "stress" or "just being a mom," but there is a deeper, sacred transition unfolding within you.
We’re here to bridge the gap between the science you deserve and the motherhood you’re living.
Created for mothers, by mothers.
Because perimenopause & menopause doesn't just ask for symptom management. It asks for meaning.
For a way to stay connected to yourself while everyone still needs you. For someone who understands that your mood swings and your existential questions are equally valid.
A trusted space to talk about estrogen and soul work, laughter included. So we built Women's Well. A place where your whole self is welcome.
We'd been studying Eastern modalities alongside our clinical work for years, including The Four-Fold way.
As moms in the thick of it, we knew: women needed both. A circle that could hold the falling apart and the putting back together.
This was an initiation our bodies were calling us into. And everything we'd learned, the ancient wisdom and the modern science, needed to work together.
This brought deeper meaning and purpose to our lives.
Long-Time Students and Practitioners of Ancient Traditions
The credentials
40+ Years Yogic Philosophy
visionary Craniosacral therapist
Mental Health Practitioner
Dual Board Certified Physician
Trauma Healing Specialist
I have traded the "overachiever" hustle for a life of discernment, prayer, and deep nature connection. My work now is a blend of high-science and high-spirit—guiding women through menopause not as a medical problem, but as a sacred initiation. By combining science with the wisdom of teachers like Angeles Arrien, Hugh Milne, and Jan Engel Smith, I help women remember who they are. At Women’s Well, we provide the integrated space I once searched for but could never find.
THE WORK NOW:
I had my son at 40 and transitioned directly from breastfeeding into a decade-long perimenopausal marathon. At 55, I am navigating the final stages of this "hormonal odyssey" while parenting a teenager and redefining my marriage. I live the reality of the sleep disruption, the brain fog, and the unexpected rage. But I also experience the gifts: heightened intuition and the courage to claim a sacred "no." I don't just study this transition; I am walking it right alongside you.
MOTHERING THROUGH MENOPAUSE:
I spent twenty years mastering nutritional protocols and functional medicine, treating the intersection of addiction and hormones. Yet, I felt the friction of being a woman in a medical system that often dismisses the "sacred." I realized that deep listening is as clinical as any lab test. By integrating Visionary Craniosacral work and Somatic Experiencing, I began treating the nervous system’s wisdom rather than just symptoms. I stopped separating my clinical expertise from my intuitive heart.
THE PRACTICE:
The crash happened during residency while working 100-hour weeks. My adrenal system collapsed so completely that I couldn’t even push a shopping cart through the grocery store. I had lost all connection to my own needs. This forced a total reset. While in the Bay Area, I found my way back to the yoga and spiritual communities of my childhood. This breaking point was my greatest teacher, proving that Western medicine alone—despite its precision—is not enough for true, integrated healing.
THE BREAKING POINT:
My journey began in Fairbanks, Alaska, at age 11, learning breathwork and yogic philosophy in a small circle of practitioners long before yoga was mainstream. I came of age in the 1980s as a "shapeshifter"—simultaneously a ballet dancer and a math geek, a prom queen and a 4.0 student. I learned early that women contain multitudes, even when society demands we choose just one role. This drive led me through public health and medical school, eventually specializing in pain and precision medicine.
How I Started: My Life Story
get to Know Me
Dr. Amy Maher
Women's Well was born from this dream: a commitment to help you find your way home to yourself with grace and ease.
Dr. Amy had a dream that wouldn't let her go. She dreamed of a woman's well.
The well is where a woman meets herself and remembers her own sacredness. It is the site of the Ultra Rite of Passage, where the striking polarities of motherhood and menopause meet.
It is here that we surrender to the Life, Death, and Rebirth cycle, moving from the "we" of early mothering back to the "me" of our own internal landscape.
At the well, we recollect our ancient traditions and weave them with modern science. We reconnect from the micro to the macrocosm, tending to our own bodies so we can better support our families, our villages, and the Earth.
Arrival of
Women's Well
THE dream
the credentials
Integrative Medicine Fellow
Reiki Master
Certified Yoga Therapist
Mental Health Specialist
Trauma Healing Specialist
I have traded the Gen X “do it all” hustle for a life of connection, deep practice, and sacred attention. My work braids clinical medicine and sacred practice—supporting women through menopause not as something to fix, but as a powerful initiation to be honored. By combining integrative science with the wisdom of teachers like Christiane Northrup, Jan Engels-Smith, Stacie Codino, and Angeles Arrien, I help women find their way back to their knowing. At Women’s Well, we provide the integrated space I once searched for but could never find—where medicine and meaning meet, and women are finally held in both.
THE WORK NOW:
I had my first son at 23 and barely blinked—I just did my thing. Then at 43, I had my second child, and my third at 45. I discovered that mothering in midlife is an entirely different animal. It is, without question, the hardest thing I have ever done. I live the reality of the hormonal fog, the identity shifts, and the constant pull between everyone else’s needs and my own. But I also know the gifts of this transition: the fierce need for circle, the deepening intuition, and the non-negotiable demand for soul connection. I am not guiding from the sidelines; I am deep in the trenches of this alongside you.
MOTHERING THROUGH MENOPAUSE:
The crash came after my divorce at 37. What I had imagined as a loving, secure life turned to chaos, and the devastation brought me to a depth of depression I had never known. I had lost all connection to myself. This forced a total reset. It was my yoga practice, my spiritual life, and the ancient traditions I’d been studying since my twenties that pulled me back. This breaking point was my greatest teacher, proving that Western medicine alone—despite its precision—is not enough for true, integrated healing. The practices we weave into our lives become the ground beneath our feet when everything else falls away.
the breaking point:
I spent years in clinical work—pain management, addiction, and behavioral health—mastering the science while feeling the friction of being a woman who sensed there was something deeper beneath the protocols. I was disillusioned with a system that treated symptoms but rarely touched the soul. So I went searching. I studied Integrative Medicine with Dr. Andrew Weil at the University of Arizona, became a yoga therapist, and dove into shamanic studies and practice. I stopped separating my clinical expertise from my intuitive knowing. I realized that deep listening is as essential as any lab result, and that the “woo” I’d always carried wasn’t separate from the medicine—it was the missing half of it.
the practice:
My journey began in Iowa in the 1980s, raised in a Catholic household where medicine was the family language—a physician father, aunties who were nurses, and a lineage of strong, intelligent women who never once let me believe a girl couldn’t do anything. I came of age as a “both/and” kid—simultaneously a tomboy and a mystic, a devoted soccer player and a girl fascinated by Angels, crystals, and breathwork. This dual pull—toward science and toward spirit—led me to yoga, PA school, and eventually into integrative practice.
How I Started: My Life Story
Get To Know Me
Erica Kafka, PA-C
From 5-day intensives to all-inclusive weekend packages with optional accommodations, our in-person seasonal retreats offer a rare space for you to pause, breathe, and reconnect with the version of yourself that exists outside of "mom," "partner," or "provider"—set in stunning locations from mountains to oceans.
Finally, transformative coaching that feels like a partnership.
Start with a free 15-minute clarity call. Our personalized programs bridge the gap between coaching and intuitive care. We offer intuitive, practical and personalized protocols, direct access to Dr. Amy —plus holistic support with optional craniosacral work and soul guidance.
Visit Us Your Way:
Virtual Care, online Zoom calls for your convenience.
In-Person Care: Visit us in Ashland, OR
Follow the seasonal cycle of Mothering in Midlife and reclaim the archetypes that midlife often leaves dormant
Transformative Coaching by moms for moms navigating the complexities of Midlife
2. SEASONAL in-person rETREATS
Join us for our Sisterhood Circle, Substack publications. Enter a digital sanctuary where you no longer have to navigate the midlife transition alone. Whether you're seeking sisterhood or a safe place to process the emotional shifts of mothering, our Women's Circle bridges the gap between shared experience and expert-led wisdom.
Space for the Woman Who Holds It All
3. personal coaching
1. women's circle
Our signature program offers three levels of support:
Substack Sisterhood Circle — Monthly publications and a group chat. Join now!
Seasonal Retreats — Immersive in-person gatherings. From $1,375 + accommodations.
Women's Well Coaching - Individual coaching sessions using practical yet deeply intuitive work to support your midlife transition. $497/month
Mothering Through Midlife
Women's Well
Where to Next?
the journey doesn't end here...
INSIDE:
1. Your Body's Heart – What to know about your heart in midlife, what the hot flashes mean for it, what a racing heart means, and how to advocate for yourself.
2. Your Mind's Heart – Is your self-critic stronger than your self worth? A look at the beliefs that shape how you give and receive love, including to yourself.
3. Your Emotional Heart – A daily practice of asking your heart, 'How are you today?' and listen for the answer without trying to fix it.
4. Your Soul's Heart – Honoring love as the supreme power, one of Carolyn Myss's Seven Truths. A love that nurtures and never threatens, and begins with yourself.
5. The Critical Window – MIdlife is the window to understand your heart in every way, through your body, your mind, your feelings, and your soul. What you learn and practice now can shape the decades ahead.
doesn't know
Your Cardiologist
5 Things
The research your doctor should be telling you, and what to do about it.
Your heart has been working for everyone else for a very long time. Everyone has been busy trying to fix you. This guide does something different. It teaches you to ask your heart, 'How are you today?' and to listen. Then, it helps you understand it by your own body rhythm, your mind's beliefs, your feelings, and your soul's yearnings. Dr. Amy created this guide to shape your decades ahead.
