Why Menstrual Health Education?

Girls feel unprepared for menstruation.
They do not understand how their cycle and body works, nor how to manage hormonal changes
Periods are seen as an inconvenience
Girls are often embarrassed and humiliated when it comes to periods
Girls feel disempowered and lack self-worth affecting their mental health
Rising mental health issues, can be addressed with healthy body awareness and body appreciation, building a sense of self-worth

How a girl feels about her body is directly affects her mental health...and vice versa.

Statistics/research

New research shows the stigma around menstrual health in teenage girls is preventing some young Australians from going to school. A survey of 659 menstruating students aged 10-18 years old has found one in five are too embarrassed to go to school when they have their period.

A 2017 survey found that 1 in 7 girls and young women in the UK didn’t know what was happening when they got their first period. 1 in 4 stated that they felt unprepared for the beginning of menstruation.

The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists Committee for Adolescent Health Care and the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Adolescence have recommended that the menstrual cycle is to be considered a ‘vital sign’ in assessing overall health.

Cycle Wise Education Founder & Presenter

About Sara Harris BHSc, Grad Dip Couns, MWomHMed, CertIV TAE

Sara is the founder of Follow your Flow and Cycle Wise Education. Her study and work in the area of women’s health spans across two decades. She has worked in private practice along with running programs, courses and events to support girls and women reignite their relationship with themselves.

With a Masters in Women’s Health Medicine and 4 years working in wellbeing at a school in Melbourne, she has now packaged her expertise and experience for teens to access. The foundation upon which Sara works is with the understanding that all girls and women are inherently sacred…a term that we shouldn’t be afraid to use and is very much present in our history when it comes to truly understanding women. A girl’s transition into womanhood is indeed sacred yet we are bombarded with everything that is in complete opposition to this.

Sara is engaging, real and inspiring as she is a living example of all that she shares whilst calling to account the lies that have been embedded in society and in the narrative about periods, that we have accepted for far too long.

Qualified. Experienced. Engaging. Relatable. Inspiring.