First Periods & Growing Up
A two-session school workshop that prepares girls for their first period — calmly, honestly and without embarrassment. Delivered at your school, in English, for girls approaching menarche or in early menstruation.
Two-session school workshop
- For girls aged 10–14, approaching menarche or in early menstruation
- Two sessions of 75 minutes, delivered at your school
- Groups of 15–25 girls · in English
- Schiedam · Rotterdam · The Hague + surrounding areas
- €650 all-inclusive
Why two sessions?
A single lesson can inform. Two sessions can prepare.
In the first session, we explore what a first period is, what changes in the body, and what daily life with a period can look like — practically and honestly.
Between the sessions, there is time to digest. Questions surface at home, in the days afterwards, when a girl isn't sitting in a classroom.
In the second session, we return to those real questions together — the ones that only come up once the first information has settled.
What girls explore
What a period actually is — and what is happening in the body
The cycle beyond the bleeding days
Practicalities: products, being prepared, and handling a period at school
Feelings: curiosity, nervousness, embarrassment and everything in between
Questions girls rarely get to ask out loud
How it works
I come to your school and work with the same group of girls across two sessions, in a format shaped together with the teacher or coordinator.
The atmosphere is calm and matter-of-fact. Nothing is forced to be celebrated, and nothing is treated as shameful.
Positive doesn't mean forcing celebration. Girls are offered an alternative to shame and dread — without anyone prescribing how they ought to feel.
The real questions girls carry
What if it happens at school?
What if I leak?
Can I still swim?
Who do I tell?
When these questions have honest answers, a first period becomes something a girl can meet prepared.
What they take home
A clearer picture of what is coming — and the knowledge that it can be talked about.
Practical confidence: what to do, what to carry, who to ask.
And the beginning of a different story about periods than the one most of us grew up with.
About the facilitator
I'm Irida Hysenbelli, founder of Women's Den. I hold workshops and circles for women and girls around the transitions of their lives — including first periods. I trained in Menstruality Leadership with Red School, where I also completed the Menarche Course (2023), and bring a background in education and anthropology. Schools can expect a well-prepared, professional and gentle presence in the classroom.
More about IridaFor parents
Supporting your daughter towards her first period can raise questions at home too. A small collection of parent resources is being prepared.
Coming soon
The First Period Booklet
A small printed booklet for girls approaching their first period is in preparation — something to keep, read slowly and return to.
A first period doesn't need to arrive as something a girl is expected to already know how to handle. We can prepare her.
Prepare her — calmly, honestly, together.
Two-session school workshop · 2 × 75 minutes
For girls aged 10–14, approaching menarche or in early menstruation
Groups of 15–25 girls · delivered at your school · in English
Schiedam · Rotterdam · The Hague + surrounding areas
€650 all-inclusive