I am interested in raising awareness in high schools, aimed at girls aged between 12 and 18. As a young sufferer of endometriosis, this is something close to my heart. I was absent a lot at school, as it affected my attendance and I did not get a diagnosis as soon as I would've liked. I wish I had had some support rather than dismissive teachers who did not believe/understand my problems and doctors who just thought I was having painful periods and it was all normal.
I think it's really important that young girls know what the symptoms are if they are concerned about their periods/health, and get help as soon as possible. This might help their attendance at school if teachers are more understanding and get the right treatment early on. I know it is rare for young girls to suffer from this as it normally effects people aged 25-40, and that's why it's so important. Nobody understood or thought I had endometriosis because of my age, and it meant that I didn't get a diagnosis or the treatment I needed when I needed it most.
Does anybody have any ideas or thoughts as to how I can go about this? I was thinking about organising meetings with local schools to have talks with certain age groups of girls, helping them to recognise the symptoms and what treatments are available (could give leaflets etc and show them this community). I know there was a form you could download, a symptom checker, perhaps that could be useful.
No young girl should have to suffer in silence thinking that what they're going through is normal, when it is an issue which needs to be addressed if it's affecting their daily lives.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave a comment.
I think it's lovely that you want to do something like this, but think it's a good idea for me to play devils advocate on this one!
Firstly, unless you are a trained nurse or doctor I think it's unlikely that schools would want you going in. Even if they did you would need to be fully assessed CRB wise.
Also, it's important to recognise that nearly every girl who starts her period has a terrible time of it (and can tick nearly every box on the endo checklist). Additionally, there are also other health conditions and problems that can cause endo symptoms, and they need ruling out first before endo can be considered as a diagnosis.
I think in reality for teenagers with endo (which we all were at some point) the best treatment is the combined pill - which most of them will be prescribed if they go to their GP.
Of course, there are the girls whose parents don't allow them to take the pill, and the girls who have people who don't understand, but if I'm completely honest with you I don't think this is the best way to go about it.
Why don't you consider setting up an online facebook group for Periods in general, or maybe a support group in your local area (Endo Uk can help you with this). Then you could maybe link up with local girls groups (youth clubs, girl guides, etc), or do a poster campaign in local GP surgeries or youth clubs. You could also contact girls magazines and give them your story to raise publicity (do they still make Sugar, More, and Just 17?????)
I hope you don't think I'm being too pessimistic, and I was in that position myself (missing nearly a year before I got the pill) but I think that maybe the aspiration you have could be better directed and you could be much more effective if you look at it from a different direction.
I did think about this, I wasn't thinking about necessarily advising them or diagnosing haha, but just really raising awareness. The support group in local area sounds like a good idea and poster campaign.
I think this is such a good idea, everyone is so oblivious to the condition. Maybe arrange day visits into schools and do like a presentation but obviously it would need to be in language that's easily understood by school kids because even I sometimes get confused when I read about it lol. You could provide information about what it is, how it affects people, and give information about places to get help. There's probably some more fun things you can put into the day too, but yeah. It's a very good idea.
We are keen to increase awareness in girls of high school age, however due to lack of resources we do not currently have a school programme. Additionally, as Cloudyrain mentioned above, there can be issues with needing to have a full CRB check.
Some people have had success in the past by liaising with school nurses. If you are look for posters and leaflets, we have some resources that we can send out to you.
You can also contact us at: Communications@endometriosis-uk.org for more information to request a campaigning pack.
I have written to two local schools that I went to about posters etc, and plan on asking my local medical centre about it too. Thanks for your help everyone. I have sent an e-mail to Endo Uk regarding posters/leaflets/flyers... x
Can i just add, that it is a topic that really does need explaining to the teaching staff rather than pupils. Teachers who act as councellors and teachers who take registeres are the 1st to spot girls with repetitive time off for period pains, and they get a new influx of kids every year, trained up once and those teachers are able to help many for years to come.
Targetting the girls themselves individually is a costly business. Putting posters up will only reach a small number, before sad to say, the posters are pulled down or fall down and end up being binned.
Getting the teaching and support staff on side to realise just how disabling this illness is and being more sympathetic and supportive is the best bet. If they know of endo and the facts and statistics, they can discuss this as a possible reason for repetitive absence with parents and coax the girls in to seeking help from their GP and give direction where to look online for further advise. They can cascade the awareness of endo, down to their pupils.
We should perhaps design an eye-catching poster to be put up in the staff room. Safer there perhaps than the girls' loos. or 6th form common rooms.
Teachers need to be told the stats, and how to advise girls that come to them or they suspect may be having issues that could indicate endo.
There are quite a few of us on this forum who are DBS/CRB cleared and work in schools and would be willing to go to other schools to raise awareness, but this is such a huge task, that perhaps cascading awareness info down through the schools themselves is the most cost and time effective way to handle this.
Just as employers need educating to be more tollerant, supportive and flexible towards their endo employees, so too teaching staff need be made aware so they can improve the school experience for their endo pupils.
Perhaps the poster can be customised to individual schools highlighting the number of female staff and female pupils on site, and therefore the likely number who have endo.
The Ofstead reports for each school are online and will show what the ratio of males to females is among pupils in mixed schools, and a quick phone call to school admin would confirm how many staff members are female.
e.g.
Super High School,
Anytown,
Countyshire
No. of Females (staff and pupils) =630
This indicates that there are over 63 females who have endometriosis in this school
and could be suffering with endometriosis symptoms every month !
This is an incurable chronic condition, which can adversely affect a girl's education, employability, employment, fertility, social life etc and if left undiagnosed can lead to severe complications.
176 million women world wide have endometriosis.
Many girls experience their first symptoms around the time of their first menstrual period or within the first few years of starting their periods.
Any females with painful symptoms of endometriosis will require pain relief as quickly as possible to minimise discomfort as quickly as possible. They might require to use the bathroom at inconvenient times to the class schedules. They could be bed bound or housebound due to their illlness on a regular pattern basis.
Support and advice on endometriosis and various treatment options to ease the symptoms can be found online at ..............................
Or something along those lines. I'm not expert on these matters, but I certainly vividly remember how hard school and college were with anyone who had period problems. Staff bullying pupils in pain or gushing, to still take part in PE or other activities. Being told off or disciplined for monthly absences. It was a really scary and very awkward time for me in my teenage years and what a difference it would have made if there had been just one teacher who understood what might be happening to me.
Does anybody know if anything came of awareness in schools? I can see this post is 4 years old but I'm interested in setting up a campaign for this and am trying to find out what the situation is.
my daughter started high school last year and during a sex education class they discussed causes of infertility and mentioned endometriosis as part of this. dont think they went into any great detail.
Educating teachers is a great idea, I have been suffering with this disease since the age of 11 and was not on any kind of pill because I was not sexually active untill 18 and it was still a few years from this that I started on contraceptive, I am now 33 and at stage 4 and was only diagnosed in may this year x
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