Pelvic pain clinic teaches school students not to suffer in silence

A clinic on the NSW south coast is working with schools to try to speed up the diagnosis of chronic conditions such as endometriosis in young women.

The clinic's lead nurse has visited classrooms across the region to deliver reproductive health lessons.

The federal assistant health minister says the Milton clinic's model of care is unique among pelvic pain clinics.

It took Amy Harper about 20 years to be surgically diagnosed with endometriosis.

The 37-year-old teacher said she did not know what symptoms to look for and was told by countless doctors she did not match the diagnostic criteria.

In 2024, after finally being diagnosed, Ms Harper looked to the Milton Pelvic Pain Clinic on the NSW south coast for fertility support.

She was surprised to discover the specialist care clinic offered a school outreach program.

"I was the year 12 girls' adviser at the time and I thought it was really important before they left school that they understood some of these female health concerns," Ms Harper said.

One of 33 federally funded pelvic pain clinics across the country, the Milton facility is especially focused on school-aged education and outreach in an effort to speed up diagnosis of chronic conditions such as endometriosis.

Peak body Endometriosis Australia estimates about one in seven Australians assigned female at birth are affected by the disease, with diagnosis taking, on average, six and a half years.

"It makes me really happy that as a teacher hosting this program I've been able to help a lot of people," Ms Harper said.

About twice a month, clinic nurse Susan Wilford travels to classrooms across south-east NSW to give lessons on reproductive health to pre-teen and high school-aged girls.

"I do a chat describing the menstrual cycle, endometriosis, PMOS, and some other common causes of pelvic pain, dysfunction or menstrual irregularity," she said.

An anonymous question box is also available to make students feel comfortable asking whatever is on their mind.

Ms Wilford said when she developed the program in 2024, she was trying to dispel misinformation and help students understand whether they might have a chronic condition.

"I thought it was a key way to get information out there at a prime time in someone's life when they're trying to ascertain whether their symptoms are typical or atypical," she said.

"It's really important for teenagers to realise that … [periods are] going to be uncomfortable to some point versus an unexpected level of pain that really is disrupting your life."

Both staff and students have made self-referrals to Milton Pelvic Pain Clinic after accessing its school outreach program.

Mckenzie Wright attended the program when it was at Vincentia High School.

She had been surgically diagnosed with endometriosis before she attended the outreach lesson but was still struggling to manage her symptoms.

"The clinic gave me a TENS machine," Ms Wright, now 21, said.

"It helped me go to school. It helped me go to work, because I was able to have something that I could wear and have on me as kind of a backup for pain."

Ms Wright said the program also helped her peers better understand her condition.

"I think normal health classes don't really go into depth about women's health," she said.

Ms Wilford said many self-referred patients had received a diagnosis sooner than if they had not accessed care.

Assistant Health Minister Rebecca White said Milton's model of care was unique among federally funded pelvic pain clinics.

"So long as they're delivering on those baseline access-to-care priorities, we're comfortable for the [clinic] to negotiate with the Primary Health Network for any additional inclusions they might think are important for their local community, just like Milton has done," she said.