South Australian students learning about period pain, endometriosis in new school program

South Australian high school students are getting a pep talk about period pain - and the boys are invited too.

• UK researchers find key that could prevent endometriosis pain
• Period pain causing too many girls to miss school, sport

Almost 800 schoolgirls across the state have had a pep talk about period pain – and it’s the boys’ turn next.

The Periods, Pain and Endometriosis Program – known as PEPP Talk – has been delivered to 798 Year 9 and 10 female students at 13 schools since it began in April.

Now some schools, including St Michael’s College, want to open up the conversation among male students so they can better understand what their friends, sisters, mothers or girlfriends might experience.

The early success of the program has also prompted the Queensland Government to launch a trial in 10 schools in that state.

St Michael's College Year 10 students Hamish O'Callaghan, 15, Jemma To, 16, Maddi Hartas, 15, and Anthony Boffa, 15, take part in the “PEPP Talk”. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

PEPP Talk was created in SA, in partnership with the Pelvic Pain Foundation and funded by the state and federal governments, to help girls better understand period pain and recognise what’s not normal, including the signs of endometriosis.

This painful condition affects one in 10 women and can cause pain, nausea, fatigue, organ damage and infertility.

But women wait an average of seven to nine years for a diagnosis, often because symptoms are mistaken for digestive complaints or downplayed as “normal” period pain.

St Michael’s College Year 10 students Jemma To and Maddi Hartas took part in the program and say girls were “more open about their struggles afterwards”.

“I guess at the start it was a bit awkward but it was fascinating to me,” said Jemma, 16.

Classmate Anthony Boffa, 15, said boys would benefit from joining the conversation.

Hamish O’Callaghan said some boys might not take the talk seriously because “we don’t know what that pain is like”.

The governments have committed $140,000 each to deliver PEPP Talk to 80 schools in Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Port Pirie and Mt Gambier.

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Originally published as South Australian students learning about period pain, endometriosis in new school program