Tomorrow, Thursday 9 March, St John Paul II College in Nicholls will become the first ACT school to ensure male students receive a Periods, Pain, and Endometriosis Program, or ‘PPEP Talk®’, in honour of International Women’s Day, 8 March.

The government-funded program is run by the Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia (PPFA). It will be delivered to all Year 10 students at St John Paul II, in order to support teenagers who suffer from severe period pain and endometriosis, as well as to educate their peers.

According to PPFA, “one in four girls and people assigned female at birth” struggle with severe period pain.

“While pelvic pain and endometriosis are gaining greater awareness worldwide, and the progress made since the inception of the bipartisan supported National Action Plan for Endometriosis is significant, the impact these conditions have on an estimated 700,000 Australians remains largely misunderstood.”

Endometriosis is a chronic disease that may cause severe pain and infertility. The disease presents itself in a variety of ways and can compromise the education, career paths, social growth and productivity of women and girls in Australia. There is no cure.

By including the male students at St John Paul II, PPEP aims to help them understand the challenge that endometriosis and period pain is for their peers and better support them as a friend, brother, partner, co-worker, and potentially as a father in the future.

The program has been launched in independent and Catholic schools in the ACT, and conversations with the Department of Health continue regarding matched funding to offer PPEP Talk® to government schools.

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