Case Study – Menopause
In September 2022, WHISE delivered a webinar titled "Hot topic: A free public webinar on menopause and how to manage," in partnership with the Victorian Women's Health Network, the Women's Spirit Project, the Victorian Women's Trust and the Epworth Hospital. The event received over 250 registrations and over 150 people attended the webinar live, exceeding our expectations and demonstrating significant community interest and need in this topic. WHISE subsequently reached out to partners and stakeholders, as well as people with lived experience of peri- and menopause who attended the webinar, inviting them to register their interest in a working group on peri- and menopause.
The inaugural menopause working group meeting was held in November 2022, and resulted in the ideation and development of two key projects for delivery: a case study examining the impact of policies introduced by employers to support people experiencing peri- and menopause in the workplace, and community-based information sessions designed to increase participants' knowledge of peri- and menopause and their confidence to navigate the healthcare system for symptom management. The case study was published in October 2023 and features qualitative data from interviews with Modibodi and Future Super. The information sessions, of which we initially intended to deliver four, were scheduled from June to October 2023, and in total 19 sessions were held with over 340 participants.
WHISE has subsequently also delivered a webinar on "Your Mind on Menopause", examining the impact of peri- and menopause on mental health and wellbeing and supported the professional development of our menopause working group members through presentations from key knowledge experts such as Wendy Tuohy from The Age, Professor Amanda Vincent from Monash University, Dr Andrea Binks from Wollongong Hospital, Dr Karin Stanzel from Monash University and Dr Alex Hawkey, Western Sydney University.
An article published by Wendy Tuohy contains some of the key topics and areas discussed in the above meetings - Menopause and perimenopause: women advocating for more open discussion of this major life change as a way to end the stigma at work (smh.com.au)
Further, we delivered a submission to the Senate Inquiry on issues related to perimenopause and menopause, and appeared before the Committee for the Inquiry. WHISE was also successful in securing funding through the women's support group grant from the Department of Health, to deliver a community-based program for people with lived experience. Our program, Mastering Menopause, is underway with 13 local participants joining us for participatory health promotion information sessions, facilitated discussions and enrichment activities designed to increase participants' self-efficacy and self-confidence. This program will run until June 2025, with a second group of participants due to begin in July 2025.
Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs
WHISE has worked with partners and stakeholders through the regional network, Good Health Down South, to enhance access to high-quality, safe, and respectful sexual and reproductive health services that are free from stigma, racism and discrimination as well as evidence-based health promotion information. In addition to delivering community-based programs, we have improved the skills, knowledge and confidence of our regional health workforce to deliver best practice sexual and reproductive health testing, treatment and care for women, girls and gender diverse people.
Consent Matters Program
Together with Sexual Health Victoria, WHISE delivered a pilot program to increase knowledge and understanding of affirmative consent legislation and principles among youth and community service professionals, to enhance their knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver primary prevention information, support and resources for young people to understand and engage in respectful, equitable and consensual, sex and relationships.
The program comprised the co-design, iterative piloting and evaluation of a comprehensive training program, featuring online modules and a full-day workshop with youth and community workers in metropolitan and rural Victoria, supported by Women's Health Loddon Mallee, the Multicultural Health Support Service and Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health, municipal youth services in the City of Greater Dandenong and Cardinia Shire, the Zoe Belle Gender Collective and the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria.
Delivering three pilot workshops, with over 100 practitioners in total, provided professionals with the skills to respond to disclosures and refer victim-survivors to appropriate support services.
Through the delivery of Consent Matters, Sexual Health Victoria and WHISE improved outcomes for young people who are disengaged from mainstream education and thus, may not have access to the Respectful Relationships program. The pilot program was successful in increasing professional understanding of sex-positive and trauma-informed approaches to education and support, health relationships and teaching strategies for affirmative consent.
Webinar - Egg Freezing as Assisted Reproductive Technology
Egg freezing received increased attention on social media and in the news as a fertility preservation tool for women and people assigned female at birth. To support consumers to thoroughly understand the financial costs, the efficacy or success rate, and the physical and emotional demands of egg freezing and encourage informed decision-making, WHISE worked with the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) to host a webinar in September 2023.
185 people registered to hear from Dr Karin Hammarberg, Associate Professor Michelle Peate, and Joanna Anagnostou. With a clearer understanding of the potential benefits and limitations of egg freezing, one participant noted that it’s important to be “mindful not to be influenced by information provided by social media and women do need to be well informed and educated before making a decision to egg freeze.”
Affirmative Consent Webinar - Joint PVAW SRH Activity
In October 2023, WHISE hosted a two-hour webinar on affirmative consent with Yumi Stynes and Dr Melissa Kang, authors of “Welcome to Consent” and “Welcome to Sex”. Almost 400 people registered for the webinar and 195 attended the live event, featuring Vanessa Hamilton, founder of Talking the Talk Healthy Sexuality Education and Anne Atcheson from Sexual Health Victoria, on the affirmative consent pilot, “Consent Matters” Program.
The webinar was jointly hosted by the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Sexual and Reproductive Health portfolios; and sought to increase practitioners’ knowledge of the connections between gender equity, primary prevention of violence, and sexual and reproductive health outcomes, as well as the current context of changes to consent legislation.
The event was hugely successful, with one participant reporting:
I provide sexuality and consent education, but this webinar reinforced the obligation we have as health professions and teachers to discuss this information. This helped to instil greater confidence to have these conversations (in age-appropriate ways), even if there is backlash.”
SRH Professional and Capacity Development
Early Medical Abortion Training
WHISE, in partnership with Gippsland Primary Health Network, Peninsula Health, Women's Health Victoria, Gippsland Women's Health, and Women's Health East delivered a capacity-building session for doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals, aimed at enhancing early medical abortion service provision.
Currently, less than 10% of GPs in Australia are registered to prescribe medical abortion, with even fewer providing these services in primary care environments.
Held in May 2024, this forum was successful in enhancing participants' understanding of early medical abortion, detailing the necessary steps for establishing service provision and highlighting professional networks that support implementation at various organisations. The session featured insights from Dr. Lucy Donovan of Peninsula Health and Monash Health Community, and Emily Duyen Dang, a stakeholder engagement coordinator from 1800 My Options and Women's Health Victoria.
Becoming an Implanon Provider in Mornington
With generous support from Mornington Peninsula Shire council, WHISE and Sexual Health Victoria delivered a subsidised capacity-building session for doctors, nurses and midwives in October 2023 to provide practitioners with accredited training for Implanon NXT. The session, held in Hastings, supported clinicians based in Mornington Peninsula to provide long-acting reversible contraception to patients, with clear increases in knowledge and confidence evident from the evaluation. One participant shared: “With initial supervision, I feel that this would improve woman centred care.”