Period Proud Peers in action
Hear from Alice, Amelia, Evie and Jasminder on helping young people learn more about periods and breaking down stigma
Girlguiding has teamed up with Plan International UK to bring their Period Peers Programme to Guide and Ranger units.
The programme gives young people the opportunity to become a Period Proud Peer and lead fun, friendly period‑related activities within their unit. The aim is to help break down stigma, build confidence, and create safe spaces for open conversations about periods.
Hear from Alice, Amelia, Evie and Jasminder, 113th Bradford Guides and Rangers, about why they became Period Proud Peers and what the experience was like. And find out how you can become a Period Proud Peer and run similar activities in your own unit.
Q: Why did you want to become a Period Proud Peer?
A: To tell our peers about periods so that, in the future, they don’t feel embarrassed to talk about their periods and don’t feel ashamed. We loved the badge too!
Q: How did you plan the activities?
A: We made sure we felt prepared beforehand. The book was great because the activities were already there. We then looked on other sites, like Pinterest, for more ideas to use in our session.
We had an idea to send the girls home with their own period kits. We asked our leader to see if we could get some donated from our local supermarket, Tesco, to use in our session and give out to the Guides. We wanted it to be really interactive so that the Guides would want to get involved.
Q: Tell us about your experience of running the activities
A: At the start of the evening, it was a little bit embarrassing for everyone until we all became comfortable. To help, one of us brought in a toy giraffe, which we handed around the circle when someone wanted to speak. This encouraged the Guides to get involved. We also created some group guidelines to help everyone feel comfortable.
We did lots of activities during the evening to give the girls information and create a fun space. We joined in with them and made examples to encourage everyone to take part.
We were given a period kit from Girlguiding. That was helpful because we hadn’t seen some of the stuff before. For example, we had never seen a menstrual cup before! The Guides wanted to know how much liquid a tampon could hold, so we put one in a cup of water to test it out. If they weren’t comfortable asking questions, we made a question box so they could put them in there. We had 6 to 7 questions to answer at the end of the session.
The bracelets activity was great for helping us to have conversations with the Guides. They were asking us questions about how many beads to use to represent the different parts of their cycle. Everyone had a different number of beads, and that was ok!
One of us made drawstring bags before the session. We really wanted the Guides to be able to take home some period products. In the bags, they put the period products and a body spray.
We then added some fun extras, such as sweets and make some positive messages for the Guides to look at if they were having a bad day!
By being confident and prepared to discuss anything about periods, we helped the Guides to feel more comfortable.
Q: What is something new you've learnt as a Period Proud Peer?
A: We learnt about all the different products out there. Some of them we had never seen before, so it was new for us as well as for the Guides. We feel more confident to lead activities within our units.
Q: What would you say to encourage other Rangers and young leaders to become Period Proud Peers in their own units?
A: Don’t be afraid to speak out. Take it as an opportunity to learn something new yourself!
Q: What were your favourite parts?
Amelia: Hearing the Guides’ reactions to the products they hadn’t seen before.
Evie: Seeing the Guides become more confident during the session.
Jasminder: Making the bags and helping the Guides to fill them.
Alice: All shouting “we are period proud” at the end!
What do leaders think about the programme?
A month before the session, we shared the handbook and information (stats, examples and how it works) from the leader workshop with them. They completely took ownership of the project and were so enthusiastic about leading the activities for the Guides.
It was brilliant to see them develop their confidence and leadership skills, and to see the Guides become more confident speaking about their periods with each other. We had so many lovely comments from parents after the session, as well as interest from other leaders asking about how to get involved.'
-Amy, leader, 113th Bradford Guides & Rangers
Interested in running a Period Proud Peer session with your unit?
Find out more about the programme and sign up to our workshops for leaders, Rangers and young leaders.