Transcript for
Talking about periods: Ending shame and building understanding for every child

Narrator (00:02): 

Welcome to the Emerging Minds Families Podcast. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (00:05): 

Hi, I’m Nadia Rossi, and you’re listening to an Emerging Minds Families Podcast. Before we start today’s episode, we would like to pay respects to the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast is recorded, the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We also pay respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their ancestors and elders past, present, and emerging from the different First Nations across Australia. 

(00:34): 

Menstruation or having a period is a normal monthly experience for millions of women, girls, transgender men, and non-binary persons around Australia. And although it is a natural part of life, it somehow still carries shame and stigma. 

(00:48): 

In today’s episode, I am delighted to be speaking with Rochelle Courtney, who is more affectionately known as the Pad Lady. Rochelle is the founder of Share the Dignity and has made it her mission to ensure that no woman, girl, or person who menstruates has to choose between food and period products. 

(01:06): 

In this episode, Rochelle talks with us about the reality of period poverty, the stigma that still surrounds it, and how we can better educate our children with the right language and understanding about periods to support their mental health and wellbeing, particularly in young people who menstruate which can significantly affect their mental health and wellbeing. 

(01:25): 

Welcome, Rochelle. It is so great to speak with you today. Thank you for joining us. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (01:29): 

Thank you. I’m very excited to have a chat. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (01:31): 

Same here. Rochelle, at Emerging Minds Families, we acknowledge that families come in many forms. So I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about who makes up your family. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (01:42): 

My god, I love my family. I have two daughters and then two grandchildren, so little Levi and Lola. And Lola is three, and every Wednesday is Nanny Lola day. And then I have stepchildren. So I have four stepchildren. So at one stage in our life, we had six children living in our house who ate more than I could ever earn, let me tell you. And it was hard, and I think when Shane and I got together when the twins were 12, so we had two 12-year-olds, a 13-year-old, two 14-year-olds, and a 16-year-old in the house. But they are just beautiful humans who are kind and smart and doing life great, and that makes me so proud. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (02:25): 

That’s amazing. I love that blended family and that you’ve all come together and what a village you’ve created. So today, we’re going to be talking about periods and period poverty and the effects in Australia. And so I wanted to start the conversation talking about periods, and I wanted to ask, when is the right time to start having those conversations with the children and young people in our lives? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (02:48): 

From our Bloody Big Survey, we can tell you that the average age is 12, 13 to get your first period, but 12% of girls are actually aged between eight and ten. Now, that is a really little girl, eight years old, don’t you think? 

(03:03): 

I just know that, and I don’t have an answer to this, but I just know that I never had the conversation with my girls. I just always was open and honest about what pads were, what tampons were. Literally, I would crack a tampon in the bathroom and my kids would run in thinking I had a lolly. So the conversations were constant. It was just honest and real and age-appropriate. My granddaughter has got dollies, and I buy her a pack of pads so that she sits there and puts them on and I say, “Has she got her period?” And she’s like, “Yes, that’s enough for her.” But she’ll never be ooh-ah, because I’m not ooh-ah, and her mum’s not ooh-ah. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (03:45): 

I guess that comes back to that kind of modelling and that behaviour is a form of communication and so it’s just in your environment, and you’re modelling the use of having pads and tampons around. So I guess the more we can do that and make it just an everyday normal thing that all of our children experience and see the conversation, like the big period conversation may not necessarily be that big period conversation. It’s just something that kind of comes along in time and naturally and is just a part of our lives. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (04:15): 

Absolutely. And in saying that, I got my period at 13, and my mother never even told me what periods were. So I had no idea what was happening. And because they were my private parts and my mum had told me never to talk about your private parts, I never told anybody for three months about my period. 

(04:30): 

I think that there is a generation of us that will never happen to my daughters and my daughter’s daughters. So not saying that they did things wrong, but I think that as we evolve, we can just learn to do things better and to make sure that harshness that once come. Now, I’m 55 years old, they were not talked about even at school, you didn’t even talk about them to other girls. 

(04:51): 

I’m so proud of what Share The Dignity has been able to accomplish with regards to what we’ve been able to have donated and so forth. But the conversations that it started and allowed people to have to feel like it’s not an icky word. It’s really just another part of being a woman. If you don’t get your periods, you come from somebody who did. So it literally affects all of us. Right? 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (05:12): 

Yes. And that’s what I wanted to talk about boys. Should we be talking about periods with boys and how do we talk to them about it? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (05:19): 

Absolutely. And if we don’t, we’re not doing the right by them. I always said when my kids were little, your kids are adults for a lot longer than they are children. You are not raising them to be great children. You’re raising them to be great humans. 

(05:31): 

And so to not educate your boys around menstruation means that he’s going to be a dad, a boss, a father, a partner, a work colleague, and he has no understanding about what’s happening to his work colleagues or his girlfriend, any of that sort of stuff. So again, while they’re little, make sure that you’re having those conversations and just enough to be able to fill in the dots. And then as they get older, you’re fully explaining it, making sure that boys always carry pads in their bags in case one of their friends has a bleed. That’s being a gentleman. That’s being an ally, a great male ally, right? 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (06:06): 

Yeah. And that giving the boys or people who don’t menstruate the knowledge and the language around periods, how does that support the mental health and well-being of those who do menstruate and that is that they are an ally to them? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (06:20): 

Absolutely. And we have some great resources on our website that a Bro In The Know. So what does a brother need to know when his sister’s getting her period? It’s enough information for him to understand what’s happening to her hormones, what’s happening to her body. Then, we have a coach. What does a coach need to know? 

(06:36): 

Now, obviously, there’s a lot more participation of sports that were once male generated, like soccer, like AFL and rugby. And so these poor men who were in my age or below are out there coaching Ruby’s team, but they have never been discussed. They’ve never learn it at school, at home. And so we put together again another educational piece that we worked with New South Wales NRL on about what does a coach need to know so that he can fully understand what his team is going through. How important is that then? 

(07:05): 

And then we also have other resources for what does a boss need to know and all of those sorts of things. And in saying that, it’s really important that we now all talk about it constantly so that the men know how to be great male allies. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (07:18): 

That’s wonderful, a Bro In The Know. That’s so great that you have that resource. I was going to talk about the language that maybe you use in those resources and whether you think when we talk about periods or educating our children and young people on periods, whether you think that we have to use different language depending on their age and how that will support them, or whether you just think it’s just like it’s all out on the table? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (07:42): 

That’s like saying, “Don’t say vagina.” Do you know what I mean? Then how does a girl know when if it’s don’t touch a JJ? What does JJ mean? Go and tell the teacher that someone touched a JJ. They’re just body parts. Age appropriate is important, but the word period, mom gets a period every month, and this is what happens. I need that pad. Can you go and get that from the bathroom or from my handbag? That shouldn’t be something that we don’t talk about. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (08:06): 

And there’s a safety in that, I think, as well, you are equipping them with the knowledge and language to talk about their body and talk about what’s going on with their body, and then they can be helped. If they have had a bleed and they need to explain that to somebody, then they can use the right language to get the help that they need. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (08:24): 

Absolutely. And you know what? An eight-year-old is, what, grade three? That is so young. I can’t imagine how scared that little girl would be if she got her period, and no one had told her anything about it. At the age of 13, I was a bit older, and there’s a little bit more maturity, but we’re talking about 12% of girls getting their period from the ages eight through to 11. That’s so young. It’s just so young. Make sure that your girls know what is happening and the basics. If you get blood down there, you come and let me know. That’s probably your period. I think we overcomplicate everything. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (08:56): 

I think that’s a really great starting off point and letting them know that you’re open to those conversations and you’re showing them the products, and you’re there if they need you. And that is a whole supporting their mental health and their wellbeing to know that the adults in their life have got them. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (09:11): 

It’s so important for dad to also have that conversation with her because it’s so incredible how many girls get their period when they’re only around their dad. And if their dad has never said anything to them, then they don’t feel safe in going to him. So whilst mom says something, it’s really important that dad says something too. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (09:29): 

You’re so right. It’s not ever perfect when you get your first periods. You can be really anywhere, and you want to be safe with your dad and knowing that you can go to him with that conversation. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (09:40): 

There was this really great story that I went and spoke at our principal’s conference. And one of the principals had got a Dignity Vending Machine in their school, and he happened to have a period pack in his glove box, he said, because the kids had put too many anyway. He ended up putting it in his pocket, and he put it in his glove box, never thought about it again. 

(09:59): 

And him and his two daughters had gone camping on the school holidays, and his youngest daughter got her first period, and he’s like, “I’ve got the period pack in my glove box.” And how cool is that, that he actually had something on him and, as a dad, he was able to help her? 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (10:14): 

So empowering for him as well to be able to be equipped with the equipment, but also with the knowledge to help her and it not be this thing that our generations were raised to not really talk about it. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (10:26): 

I would say to all dads, all men carry something somewhere because you never know one of your friends around you may need it. Let’s just chuck a couple in the glove box. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (10:35): 

I love that. I love that. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (10:37): 

… because we can never find them when we need them. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (10:38): 

No. This is exactly right. They’re never there when you need them. Rochelle, you mentioned the Share the Dignity Vending Machines, and so I wanted to go back, I guess, to the beginning of Share the Dignity and if you can tell us a bit about how it came to be. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (10:52): 

Yeah. So back in 2015, I think my kids were, what were they, 13 and 14 and a half. I had my own personal training business, but I’d read this article that talked about the fact that there were 48,000 women who didn’t have somewhere safe to call home, but what I read next changed us forever, which was that they were using socks and newspaper and wadded up toilet paper to deal with their period. 

(11:13): 

And I thought, “How bad is that?” I’d never even thought that that could be a problem for someone. I had suffered severely with endometriosis. So for me to have a tampon and a pad and if I had to drive somewhere for more than two hours, I would have to sit on a towel, but I still thought I was privileged compared to people. I didn’t even think that that could be a problem for somebody. 

(11:31): 

So at that stage, I asked all my clients to bring me a packet of pads or tampons for every wine they had in the month of March 2015. Some of my clients would just bring me a bag and say, “Let’s not count them, babe. Let’s just start training.” My daughter had set the Facebook page up on the 1st of March 2015 so that we could share the stories of where people had been able to donate to us. 

(11:53): 

So really, I then gave them out to five local charities, homelessness, DV, all in my local area. I didn’t even know they existed. I didn’t come from a wealthy home. My parents worked two jobs. They were hardly ever home. We lived in a housing commission house. And so I didn’t grow up in privilege. And I say that because people would think that people that have always had money would always have access to things and never know that those things. 

(12:16): 

Now, I wasn’t wealthy, and I still didn’t know those things existed, but I never, ever didn’t have access to period products or a shower or a washing machine to wash my clothes should I have had an accident or a hot water bottle, Maltesers, Nurofen, all of the things that you need and should have when you’ve got your period. 

(12:34): 

So I felt like Share the Dignity was about how do we all play a role in sharing the dignity and making sure that this doesn’t happen. My job then and even now is to make sure that there isn’t a person in Australia who doesn’t know that the charity exists because we all play a role in fixing that. 

(12:51): 

So in March and August, our collection boxes go out now in thousands of locations. At the beginning, they were just on verandas. So in the beginning, they were on verandas. But the mission was always clear, no one should ever have to go without the very basic of essentials. 

(13:05): 

So if I look at now, we’ve now collected 5.5 million packets of period products that we’ve distributed to over three and a half thousand charities. We’ve in that been able to also give out, I think it’s close to half a million reusable period products, so menstrual cups, undies, all of those sorts of things, which means that that woman or that girl or that menstruator is then not having to put their hand out to get help with their period every single month. 

(13:34): 

And it’s so good for the environment. It means that if everybody did that, then one day we wouldn’t be needed. And that is absolutely my job is to make sure we go full circle, and Share The Dignity does not need to exist. By 2030, I literally want menstrual equity, which means that everybody everywhere has access to period products when they need them. 

(13:54): 

So that means that I want period products in every workplace, every council library, every swimming pool, wherever you’re playing sport, wherever you’re being educated, hospitals. You can get your head sutured and a CAT scan and morphine in a hospital, but it’s not guaranteed you’ll get a pad in a hospital if you end up with your period. That’s barbaric, right? 

(14:15): 

So for me, that’s what menstrual equity looks like. It looks like educating boys, girls, women, men, and everybody in between so that it’s not hushed because literally unless we educate, we can’t remove that shame and stigma. So I feel like we’re halfway there. I’m giving myself another five years, and then we’re done and dusted on that because that’s what I believe. 

(14:36): 

And I believe that when we have our Olympics here in Australia, we will be the first Olympics where menstrual equity is rife. It’ll be in every stadium. It’ll be in every training facility. It’ll be everywhere. So it won’t be a barrier to people doing what they need to do, whether that’s being educated, working, any of those sorts of things. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (14:54): 

That is just wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (14:56): 

It’s a really long story. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (14:58): 

It’s a long story, but it’s such an important one. And it also just shows how much work you have to do, and you’ve had to do to get this out there. The first experience I’ve had of period poverty was hearing about Share the Dignity. I’ve never been without menstrual products. I’ve never had to think about that in my life. 

(15:15): 

And when I heard about Share the Dignity and I read about period poverty, it just was so eye-opening to me, and it’s just something that I never thought about. And I, again, just never wanted anyone like yourself to have to experience that because, you know, feels like when you’ve got to try and rustle up a tampon from someone and ask. And then for someone to be experiencing homelessness on top of that and struggling financially, and you would never want that and you’d never want anyone to experience that. So what you guys are doing is just amazing. And, yeah, let’s have pads and tampons everywhere. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (15:48): 

They should be wherever you need them. Any bathroom, they should be on the back of any bathroom that you go into. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (15:54): 

Absolutely. Rochelle, I wanted to talk a bit about period poverty. What is period poverty, who it really affects, and how you’ve seen it I guess affect the mental health and well-being of people that you’ve met in particular young people. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (16:07): 

If I was to sum up period poverty, I will tell you about a story about a young girl. She was in her early 20’s sitting on the edge of a bed in a domestic violence shelter. Now, she lived in Adelaide. She lived at home with her mom, but living at home with her mom was unsafe. And so she lived on the streets of Adelaide. She was about 14 and knew to go in and get all the socks that were left over in the laundry mat to put into her undies to be able to deal with her period. 

(16:32): 

Now, I remember saying to her, “I will make sure with everything in me that no girl ever has to go through what you did.” How does that even happen? You can hear on our podcast, on Another Bloody Podcast, that’s what it’s called, Darien, who talks about growing up in foster care and having to go to the office every time she had a period and every four hours and ask for a pad. How embarrassing to start with, and why would somebody not just give her the whole packet? 

(17:00): 

To be brave enough to do that and for her and her story is exactly why we do what we do. So the vending machines for me are a way to have them at the touch of a button in the bathroom where you don’t have to have that conversation with anyone. And we came up with that as a world first. It’s now being rolled out in countries all around the world, and I’m really proud of that. The fact that Darien or any girl should ever have to go up and ask somebody, “Oh, I’ve got my period and I can’t afford it,” so that’s period poverty. 

(17:28): 

One, you’ve got your period and, two, you either can’t afford it or you bought the wrong handbag. That’s not period poverty. But do we care? If you went to work and you took the wrong handbag and your period products are in the other and you just got your period, shouldn’t your workplace just have period products in the bathroom? Isn’t that what you would want for your staff? It’s a no-brainer. 

(17:46): 

So how do we now move into a world where that is what it is? And I think that there was such a lack of data and education and communication on anything to do with menstruation or menopause, right? So menopause is a whole other topic that we could talk about for hours. Go back to what’s period poverty. Period poverty is when you’re unable to afford the very basic essentials to deal with your period. 

(18:10): 

And there’s thousands of stories that I could share with you. And every single one of them means that I don’t want my daughters to go through that. I wouldn’t want anybody I know or don’t know to go through. And that’s the beauty of Share the Dignity. You’re giving to somebody. You’re never going to meet her. You’re never going to turn around and say, “Thanks for the part or tampon,” but you know it’s a girl code, “We got you babe.” 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (18:30): 

I wanted to go back to something you mentioned earlier about the shame that people can feel or the stigma. How do we remove that shame and stigma around it? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (18:39): 

Shame comes when you don’t give it a voice. The more you talk about it and bring it out of the cupboard, the more we remove that shame. But also to the point of education. If we’re still in Victoria, two years ago, my niece was in grade five about to go on camp. The boys were asked to leave the room so that the teacher could have a conversation about periods and what was going to happen when they went to camp. That’s where shame starts. 

(19:03): 

And so there’s that fine line between how can we educate, how can we be culturally sensitive because there’s still men’s business and women’s business out there, but how can we as education, now, Bloody Big Survey had 153,000 responses, biggest body of data the world’s ever seen on menstruation. It’s fabulous. But it told us that more than 60% felt like we were not adequately educated on menstruation. 

(19:27): 

That’s women. Imagine if we asked that of men. I reckon that number would be about 5%. But that data has been a game changer for Australian women. Well, actually, it’s been used all around the world, but for the sake of some of the really key numbers in there like 78% of girls who go to university and TAFE can’t afford period products. 

(19:49): 

Okay. So now, what are we going to do about that because that’s not okay. So while we now have advocated for every state and territory to provide period products in primary and secondary schools, that’s fabulous. That’s really great. I’m really proud of that. And here comes my but. 

(20:05): 

But then we send them out to the world and ask them to be doctors and lawyers and nurses and anything else and get higher education the toughest time in their life when they’ve probably either moved away from home to go to university, working two jobs, and they can’t afford period products. Provide the period products for them wherever somebody’s getting an education. So whether they’re an apprentice or anything, they should just have period products accessible to them. It’s a tough time of their life. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (20:29): 

It’s about education. So starting education young and educating girls and boys and everyone that menstruates young and keeping them all in the same room and learning about it all together and giving them the language. But then we’re equipping them with that, and that really supports their wellbeing and their mental health that everyone’s on the same page, but then what happens when they go out into the real world? And we want to follow that through. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (20:51): 

Absolutely. But I think if that’s where the shame starts when you separate them, especially if you were brought up in a home where it wasn’t hushed. So then you go to school and have a conversation, someone goes like this at you because in their home, it is hushed or it’s, “Oh, we don’t talk about that in front of daddy.” 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (21:07): 

Yeah. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (21:08): 

I think that the parents nowadays who have now got young kids, I think that that’s changed. I think the tide had changed. So I think retrospectively, we’re now trying to change the behaviour of the moms, not just the children because the children are seeing stuff, and we’re starting to… At Share the Dignity, we have a great program called Period Pride. We take it out to all schools every year for them to enter the competition on what is a campaign that would help to remove the shame and stigma on menstruation. 

(21:34): 

And so some of the campaigns that we’re getting in are incredible, but it is the kids who are leading it because who can come up with a campaign that they’re interested in better than the kids who are in it? 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (21:44): 

Really empowering them to have those conversations and get that messaging right. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (21:49): 

You know what that group of kids, and some of them are boys and girls, who’ve done bodies of work, they’re sitting around having conversations. They’re talking about learning history or whatever it is. It’s no different. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (21:59): 

I really think that that is the way you overcome the shame and the stigma about periods and period poverty. Have you experienced any children or young people in your work overcome their shame and the stigma around it? And have you seen what that has done where they’ve maybe received a product or they’ve got the language now to talk about it? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (22:18): 

All the time, and I’m so proud of it. We went recently to Marsden. These amazing school captains, school leaders had really championed for two other vending machines in their school because only grade eights go to that bathroom. But what does seniors… So they were really championing what that was. 

(22:36): 

And one of those leaders was a male. He’s a footy player, male who’s like, “I believe in this. I believe that everyone should have access to period products.” And just because you’ve got your period, you shouldn’t need to be going 20 minutes down to another block of toilets. They should be in every single bathroom. And them just sitting there talking about it the same as you and I would be talking about anything else, it’s such a proud moment because, to be honest, that wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (22:59): 

And again, that goes back to that modelling behaviour. If the senior is doing that, then the younger students are seeing that, and that is they’re looking up to that person. And so that’s how it trickles down. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (23:10): 

And I think that from the perspective of the youth seeing it. They’re seeing a brand like Share the Dignity. They’re understanding that Share the Dignity was brought about to help people that couldn’t afford period products. So then, are they going to live in a world where they understand that they too have the ability to make a difference if they wanted to? And if you see something that’s wrong, it’s up to you to fix it. All of us play a role in making a better life for everybody. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (23:37): 

And how have you seen that affect someone, when you’ve been able to provide period products to someone that has not been able to get them themselves, how have you seen that affect their well-being when you’ve been able to give them those products that they have not had access to? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (23:51): 

Yeah. Look, it’s a really hard one. It’s really hard to get stories of how period products have changed the life. I will say that the work we do in remote indigenous communities is so very vitally important. It’s super easy to help Sally who goes to the school in the local area. 

(24:06): 

When we got period undies out to one community in the top of Northern Territory, they were overwhelmed with joy. Some of them didn’t even own underwear, let alone the ability to deal with their period. So when we send products, we send people options. So we send them period, undies, pads, tampons. It’s not for us to choose what’s right for them. It’s for them to have options. And I think that’s really important. And remember, we don’t actually deal with the end woman. We deal with the charities who are already doing great work in the area. 

(24:37): 

This is just one less thing that charity needs to worry about. It’s not like we’re solving homelessness or solving TV or any of those sorts of things, giving people a safe bed and all those sorts of things. This is just one little lane highway where we’ve gone. This is our niche. This is what we’re going to do. And we have incredible volunteers. We have three and a half thousand volunteers around Australia, but where those products are donated is where they stay. 

(25:02): 

So if your products are donated in… It could be Bunbury, Brighton, Ballarat, it could be anywhere. They stay in that local area. So you’re really helping your local women. It’s then the very remote communities and our drought stricken farming communities and areas that are not so people can’t give as much because they don’t have as much is where we then need to backfill all of that, which is why it’s so important for us to do our advocacy piece. 

(25:29): 

That advocacy piece will allow us to be able to make those donations go much further. So in March and August, we collect period products. We’ll collect maybe 200,000 packets of period products in each drive, but that’s only enough to help 50,000 women for four months. A period doesn’t stop because you are experiencing homelessness or extreme poverty or fleeing domestic violence. There’s 173,000 women who turn to homelessness services just last year. 

(25:55): 

So you can see the need for what we do is so much greater than we have the ability to fill the gap. Every woman everywhere should have access to period products. And just because you’re harder to help shouldn’t mean we shouldn’t be leaving you behind. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (26:08): 

And that’s what I wanted to ask for people wanting to help, wanting to know more about Share the Dignity, wanting to access your resources, where do they go? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (26:16): 

Just head to our website. Everything’s there, www.sharethedignity.org.au. We can never get enough volunteers. So if you’ve got a couple of hours in March and August and we do another campaign called It’s In The Bag of the last two weeks of November, which is like my favourite child, we can never have enough volunteers to be honest. So we need you. If you don’t have money to give, and if you want to give five bucks, that absolutely helps us. If you want to give us 5,000, that absolutely helps us. But if there’s one thing that I can’t buy, and that’s people’s time and the ability to collect those donations and get them where they need to be 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (26:49): 

Power in numbers and getting people out there. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (26:51): 

We are powered by volunteers. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (26:53): 

They’re wonderful. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (26:54): 

They’re the backbone of everything we do. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (26:56): 

Rochelle, thank you so much for talking with us today. It’s been an absolute honour to talk about Share the Dignity and learn more about period poverty and its effects in Australia, and really what you’re doing to support the mental health and wellbeing of the young people in our country. I wanted to ask you, if you could leave our audience with one thing from our chat today, what would it be? 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (27:19): 

Oh, have a conversation about periods today to anyone around you, and you don’t need to be… You can go and look at our website and maybe learn some more if you’re not so sure about what the conversation is. But even just talking about Show The Dignity is having a conversation about periods because did you know that people couldn’t afford period products in Australia? 

(27:39): 

I tell you, 10 years ago, I didn’t know that, and I was so embarrassed that I’d never thought that that could be a thing for someone. There’s lots of people who still don’t know about Share the Dignity. Lots of people that don’t know that the person beside you, their mortgage’s through the roof, their electricity, their food, their fuel, and they’re really living in a tampon for far too long because that’s period poverty, and that’s happening to people one in five of us in Australia. That’s a big number. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (28:04): 

Gosh, your stats are just… I’ve learned so much talking to you about that, but what an important piece of data collection that you’ve done to do that survey, because no one’s talking about it. We’re not getting those figures anywhere else. It’s amazing. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (28:17): 

No, that’s right, in the world. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (28:18): 

Yeah. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (28:18): 

It’s the biggest body of data in the world. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (28:21): 

Thank you so much, Rochelle. It was great to talk to you. 

Rochelle Courtney (Guest) (28:23): 

No, thank you. 

Nadia Rossi (Host) (28:24): 

And thank you to our listeners for joining us. If you would like to keep up to date with our latest conversations, we’d love it if you like and subscribe to our Emerging Minds Families Podcast channel. You can also find us on Instagram at Emerging Minds AU or on Facebook at Emerging Minds Families. 

(28:41): 

You have been listening to an Emerging Minds Families Podcast. If anything spoken about in today’s episode has been distressing for you or you find yourself struggling, please reach out for help. You can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or more resources for support can be found in our show notes. 

Narrator (28:59): 

Visit our website at www.emergingminds.com.au/families for a wide range of free information and resources to help support child and family mental health. Emerging Minds leads the National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health. The centre is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health under the National Support for Child and Youth Mental Health Program.