Puberty Stories and
Coming of Age
The Talk is all about health as girls and gender fluid people are coming of age. Every young person and their parent or guardian can make good choices about how to be healthy and move through the process of becoming and being an adult when they have true informed consent about how to know the quality of their foods, hair care products, over the counter products, and medications and potential harms.
So many programs for young people in this age group focus on academics and scholarship. The Talk is about providing the opportunity for all young people experiencing their first periods (and their parent or guardian) the information and skills that they need to make good choices about their health, including cultivating happiness (mental health), setting goals, relationships (emotional health), finances, food security (physical health) - and how to become the person they are meant to be.
All of these qualities are our birthright and are foundational in traditional cultures. It is time that we change our relationship with ourselves, food, the land, and bring our focus to prevention and better ways of addressing common conditions like menstrual problems, fibroids, endometriosis, and other chronic conditions.
In addition to The Talk, we will be interviewing women and gender fluid people 18 and older from different cultures (40 from each culture), first in Forsyth County, North Carolina, about their experiences of their first period and puberty.
The Puberty Stories will preserve our oral history as people share from different cultures for the past century.
Our Puberty Stories will inform our present and future choices about coming of age, and will capture our cultural menstrual history while addressing misconceptions about how to take care of vaginal health and menstrual health.
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We need your support to ensure that each culture has sovereignty over their stories and that our girls and gender fluid young people benefit from these stories and their educational experiences!
Our Vision for the Future
Puberty Stories
Our first interviews will be with 120 women and gender fluid people in Forsyth County, NC ages 18 and older about their experiences of puberty. People ages 18 and older will be interviewed by a young person from their culture.
The Talk
The Talk is an innovative experiential program for girls and gender fluid people and their parent or guardian to learn about how to create a personal healthy lifestyle that prevents chronic conditions and builds the resources needed to be successful in any endeavor or chosen occupation.
Beyond Forsyth County
After Forsyth County Puberty Stories, we plan to expand our presence to a national collection in a variety of locations across the US, including Charlotte, Hattiesburg, Chicago, Pittsburgh and more.
Curriculum for Change
We are offering an alternative and complementary health curriculum for girls, gender fluid young people having periods and their parents or guardians that will be culturally appropriate and informed.
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT! NO DONATION AMOUNT IS TOO SMALL OR TOO LARGE!
OUR IMPACT OVER THE YEARS
SINCE 2010, OUR NONPROFIT HAS PROVIDED NATURE-BASED TRANSFORMATIVE SUPPORT THROUGH RETREATS: FOR PEOPLE IN VICTIM SERVICE WORK, A DIVERSE GROUP OF PROFESSIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN, RITES OF PASSAGE FOR WOMEN OF ALL AGES, AND SUPPORT FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUNG MEN COMING OF AGE .
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