The national program teaching a 'hushed topic' to boys and girls

The national program teaching boys as well as girls about endometriosis, periods and pelvic pain Mon 29 Jun 2026 at 6:03am Teenage boys are learning about periods and pelvic pain alongside girls in Australian classrooms in what's hoped will make them more supportive brothers, sons, friends, and partners. Year 9 student Jack Rogers said he would probably treat his 12-year-old sister "a bit better" after taking one of the classes at his Palm Beach Currumbin High School on the Gold Coast this month. He is one of about 160,000 students from more than 1,000 schools across Australia who are being taught about the triple Ps — periods and pelvic pain. Registered nurse Nicola Jensen, a clinical educator and national programs manager with the Period, Pain and Endometriosis Program, dubbed PPEP Talk, said boys typically walked into one of the lessons "rolling their eyes going: 'Why am I learning about this?'" But they left saying: 'That was pretty cool.' "I would say the boys love it," Ms Jensen said after giving the lesson. "It's so important that boys are learning about how to empathise with people around them, how they can best support them." The program, delivered by trained Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia educators, is jointly funded by federal and state governments, including Queensland Health. Girls who attended the recent lesson at Palm Beach Currumbin High School embraced having the boys there too. "I think it's really important that we educate the boys as well, not just the girls, because obviously they're going to have sisters and girlfriends and mums … that'll go through that," student Lola Hymas said. The PPEP program represents an evolution from previous generations of teenagers when many health issues affecting women were too taboo to be broached in the classroom, let alone discussed in co-educational settings. 'A bit awkward' at first Student Grace Cybulski said it was vital such discussions were "normalised". "I think it's important that we get it out in the open and that it's not such a hushed topic like it used to be," she said. Zane Zimmerle said the "beginning of the talk was a bit awkward but then everyone just got used to it". "It was a big crew, so it helped," he said. Ms Jensen spoke at length about different ways to address period pain — from stretches to heat packs, acupressure, the contraceptive pill, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) machines, which deliver small electrical impulses through the skin, blocking pain signals to the brain. She also talked about anti-inflammatory drugs, including rectal suppositories. Questions were encouraged. One student asked about whether using a suppository could cause toxic shock syndrome — a rare complication of certain types of bacterial infections, sometimes caused by leaving tampons in for too long. "You can't get toxic shock syndrome from these, I promise you," Ms Jensen said. "It's nothing like a tampon. "They go into the bottom. It's absorbed into the bowel and so you never see it again." If there was one main takeaway message, it was that students should speak up about their pain, particularly if it was regularly keeping them from going to school, taking part in sport, or other activities. "Pain that is life impacting or debilitating, it is not normal and we need to do something about it," Ms Jensen said. "If you're someone sitting there going: 'I stay home every month, I get so much pain, I don't know what to do about it, I'm saying that pain needs addressing. "Please know that we can change that." That message resonated with student Eliah Mulimbi. "Some people would say, like: 'Oh, you're being dramatic,'" she said. "But now I know the changes that are actually going through someone's body when they're experiencing it. That was really helpful." The PPEP Talk program addresses two key priorities of the National Action Plan for Endometriosis — education and awareness. When only a few of the Gold Coast students raised their hands to a question about whether they had ever heard about endometriosis, Ms Jensen said: "Endometriosis is more common than asthma". "You probably all know someone who has asthma. That means you know someone who has endometriosis. It affects one in seven people with a uterus — super, super common." She described endometriosis as occurring when tissue like the lining of the uterus grows in other parts of the body. The tissue can attach to the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and other organs, such as the bowel and bladder, sometimes resulting in pain. "It can grow in the pelvis so it can cause pelvic symptoms. But it's a whole-body inflammatory disease," Ms Jensen said. Pelvic pain 'normalised' A few minutes' drive from Palm Beach Currumbin High School is one of two Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Interdisciplinary Clinical Services (EPPICS) clinics, run by Gold Coast Health, which have cared for about 1,100 women since launching in April 2024. The clinics treat endometriosis holistically with input from a dietician, physiotherapist, psychologist and social worker, as well as medical specialists, including pain physicians, gynaecologists and surgeons. A general practitioner's referral is required to access their services. EPPICS' clinical lead Dr Angela Model praised the PPEP Talk program, saying it was important for teenagers and young women to get help for debilitating pelvic pain as early as possible to "avoid pain syndromes happening later in life, which are difficult to treat". "Historically, pelvic pain, particularly around period time has been normalised even if individuals have been affected quite severely, and that has led to delays in actually seeking help," the gynaecologist said. "If not attended to early, we can develop what we generally call central sensitisation of pain, where it isn't just the initial pelvic pain, the initial cause that triggered that pain response, but where the body starts to react to pain in other ways. "We see that pain is being experienced on more days of the month in larger areas of the body, also affecting other body systems — bladder, bowel, sometimes also with nausea, fatigue and … mental health." Townsville University Hospital has set up a similar pelvic pain and endometriosis service to cater for patients in Queensland's north. Dr Model is hopeful Queensland Health will use the Gold Coast Health service as a model for setting up other clinics around the state.