Full transparency - this is a straight up fundraising blog post for our Peer Education/Sexual Health Education program, BUT BEFORE YOU LEAVE THIS PAGE, please know it was written by one of our Peer Educators Lily. Lily is truly an incredible young person and we really hope you will take a minute to listen to [...]
Welcome to Part 2 of Gender Identity 101: Kids Want Pizza Rolls, Not Gender Roles! Every time I take my three year old to pretty much any store, we have to have the same conversation about how silly it is that there are separate aisles for “boy toys” and “girl toys.” Our world pressures kids [...]
I’ve always cared about righting what I see as injustices. But once my daughter, Lucy, was born, it became deeply personal. In the 3 ½ years since she was born, every time I hear of a child being harmed, neglected, bullied or mistreated, I think, “What if that was Lucy? She deserves better.” All children [...]
To say my daughter was planned would be an understatement. When we were still dating, I told my now-husband that my greatest dream was to be a parent and if my nieces and nephews didn’t like him when they met him, it would be a signal that he wasn’t the one for me. Thankfully for [...]
The holidays can be stressful. From unpredictable weather to the art of gift giving, coordinating school events to plotting out travel plans – managing the festivities can turn into quite the balancing act! Coupled with a child going through puberty, some frustrations may come out during the “most wonderful time of the year.” The following [...]
The route’s planned, the gear’s packed, and the great outdoors are calling. But… what if you or your kid gets their period on the trail? Everybody’s (okay, nobody’s) favorite monthly visitor can be anxiety-producing in many occasions, but if you’re far from modern plumbing, periods pose additional challenges. There are lots of options for navigating [...]
What is HPV? A not-so-fun fact: Virtually every person who is sexually active will get Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) at some point in their life if they do not receive the vaccine. HPV is definitively THE most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, with 79 million people currently infected. Every year, about 14 [...]
Despite not having any kids (thanks to the wonderful information about contraception I received as a Peer Educator with Bridgercare!), I am familiar with how intimidating “The Talk” can feel for everyone involved. However, the benefits of establishing an open line of communication from an early age are so compelling that I would encourage parents [...]
Starting with… what the heck is a LARC? Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (whew, it’s a mouthful) are birth control methods that last for years, are super effective, and require no action whatsoever aside from insertion and removal. It’s basically a long-term relationship with your birth control (that you can break up with whenever you please, because [...]
As everyone knows, Bridgercare stands with Planned Parenthood! Bridgercare and Planned Parenthood work closely together and fully support one other, so we get a lot of questions as to who does what, where, and why. As family planning and reproductive healthcare are highlighted in the national spotlight, we figured we’d dig in into what makes [...]
Reflections on the 4-point plan By Sofia Shomento, daughter of Dr. Stacy Shomento, OB-GYN, REI. When my younger brother came home from his 6th grade puberty talk he declared, “they got most of it right...” For my siblings and me, the lousy ‘stork explanation’ of where babies come from didn’t cut it, not even [...]
Throughout the United States, rates of sexually transmitted infection continue to rise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that from 2013 to 2017, syphilis rates nearly doubled, chlamydia remained at record highs, and gonorrhea cases increased by 67%. The CDC estimates that 1.1 million people in the US have HIV, but 1 [...]
So you’re in your appointment at Bridgercare, and you’ve decided that you want to use the birth control pill. They’re affordable, safe and effective (as long you take them every day at the same time). However, birth control pills aren’t all the same, so how do you and your provider decide which pill is the [...]
No one can deny that the Gallatin Valley has changed (a lot) in the last few decades. Population has grown by about 20,000 since 1995, and Bozeman is now ranked the fastest-growing area of its size in the nation. Montana State University has drawn attention nationally and globally- in 2018, 46% of students were out [...]
We put together some snazzy infographics on the current state of sexual health education in Montana. Check it out!
