School Sessions
We educate students of all genders on puberty and menstruation, aiming to reduce the stigma by encouraging open and honest discussion based on facts rather than myths.
Stigma in schools
So far, we have worked with 109 schools in Rajasthan, providing educational sessions to 5,000 students
Sanitree is making change in schools in Scotland now too!
This March, Eleanor Lever, educational outreach officer, and Nikaya Varma, team leader, participated in an International Women's day inclusion event at Forrester High School. There they ran workshops educating the P7 and 1st Year Girls talking about why and how people get their periods and discussing through common misconceptions.
They provided the girls with an opportunity to touch different period products and discussed reusable alternatives. They also ran an anonymous question section where the girls could express concerns and questions about periods.
These workshops are integral to the key ethos of Sanitree which is to work towards distigmatising periods and encouraging young people to get involved in open conversations about periods.
Ishu Shiva runs similar educational workshops in India and it was a great opportunity to continue this amazing work in Edinburgh too. Sanitree looks forward to participating in more schools across Edinburgh to continue the vital work of normalising periods in conversation.
What we do in our School Sessions
In addition to selling our pads to conscious consumers, we distribute them to menstruators in schools and communities alongside educational sessions, where we teach participants of all genders how to use our pads and break down period stigmas in a safe environment. With various age groups, we conduct culturally-sensitive, fun sessions including icebreakers to dissolve any tensions around the subject. Most importantly, we ensure our work is interactive, involving both the school teachers and the students. Moving away from the sterility and the complexity of scientific textbooks we simplify education into drawings, charts or even animation in order to connect teaching to our bodies.
The normalisation of periods is central to our work; by initiating discussions around what is normal or what is of concern, we provide accessible contact with local experts in biology and gynaecologists in the area in order to bridge the gap that may be holding young people back from seeking help. To further this, we bring in all forms of period products, such as menstrual cups, pads, tampons, period pants and our own reusable pads for the students to touch and become familiar with, as we educate them on how to use the products. Each student is given the option to take home one of our pads for free to try, which many students do.
We conduct surveys about students' feelings about periods and hold Q&A sessions to learn from the young people we meet and to clear stigmas and taboos in a positive light. At the end of every session, we hold 1:1 counselling with whomever would like to participate which enables students to share privately. Around 40% of students in these sessions, require being seen by a doctor urgently, at which stage we guide the student to the local gynaecologist of the area.
Overall, this work is vital as it enables young people to connect to their bodies in real-time, to connect students to doctors and to allow each student to become a period ambassador themselves so that they may pass on the information they have learnt to their community.
