School Health Courses
Just for the girls
Creating hormone savvy ladies
Summary: This is the period talk, but with the whole cycle in mind instead of just the act of bleeding for 3-5 days. During this class we do an age appropriate and picture filled deep dive on the female hormones and how they impact our physical and emotional wellbeing. There is an emphasis placed on the fact that our hormones and their impact change daily (what potential for a roller coaster feeling) but in a somewhat predictable pattern once you understand the inner happenings and their effect on you as an individual. During this class I present the approach that if you learn your cycle and know what each phase means, you can harness the power of the good weeks (about 3/4th of the month) and respond with self-respect and kindness during the hard days. We talk about where you can apply curiosity toward taking self-responsibility for the variables versus how to ask or behave to get support and respect regardless of where you are on your cycle. Normal vs abnormal both in regards to moods and physical symptoms reviewed. I do show images of the antomy, explain the monthly blee aspect and leave time to talk about how to handle the actual period (pads, tampons, period undies oh my…). Each group will be unique and I am prepares to take questions in the direction that is needed for the group.
Course time: 2 hours, about 1 hour in class bookended by 30 minutes for meet and greet and break away time. Best served with tea and cookies
Location: can be at my office or at a home or school
Cost: $250 flat fee regardless of class size – could be a whole classroom or a few friends in your social circle.
Sex Ed in a Nutshell
Summary: During this course we cover how we all start, with a sperm and an egg. The material that meets and mixes in those first moments determine our unique genetic profile (and that it is the sperm that gives the X or Y that triggers a cascade of hormone shifts in the mother to create the anatomy of the baby). From the development of fetal gender in utero, we move to male and female anatomy and what hormones arrive at puberty. Aka, that we’re individual in our own defining ways. With images and words I review that boys get a steady stream of testosterone that grows hair and muscle and changes their voice and their energy along with their competitive and social attributions while girls are dominated by estrogen and progesterone which change their skin, fat deposit pattern, breast development, and social shifts toward more collaboration and community based social cues along with menstruation. We review that because men have a pretty stable hormone state day to day, they make sperm daily and can make babies every day for ever and ever, while girls have a pattern that shifts daily and repeats in a pattern resulting in fertility only for a few days a month, for 30ish years…
Then, I read aloud the book “Where do I come from.” It is so so hard to get through this book – but we do it! It is a kid book, that reviews anatomy, love, sex (!) along with baby development and birth. I use this text because it actually talks about the anatomy and the concept of pleasure – but very PG – and so uncomfortable, did I say that yet? The discomfort is worth the questions and understanding the I see wash over the kids every single time I read it.
During this class, we allow for lots of stopping and talking because of lots of questions do come up, and I loved that! When they ask questions I know that they are thinking and I can connect my agenda with where they are at the moment.
Course time: 2 hours, about 1 hour in class bookended by 30 minutes for meet and greet and break away time. Best served with tea and cookies
Location: can be at my office or at a home or school
Cost: $250 flat fee regardless of class size – could be a whole classroom or a few friends in your social circle.
