Community Experience

     For  my community experience, I interviewed Selena Petters, a woman who currently works for Summit Women's Center (a local gynecologist office for women age 80-100 according to Selena), and who spent 10 months with Maple Lake Academy for Girls (a residential treatment center for girls ages 12-18 with behavioral, emotional and mental issues).

     At Maple Lake, a majority of Selena's time was staying with the girls and making sure they got to their individual and group therapy sessions, lunch, and rec therapy. In the afternoons, Selena spent time helping with art classes, game nights, and other activities with helped the girls learn how to interact in social settings so they'll be better equipped when they leave the center.

Maple Lake Academy for Girls (maplelakeacademy.com/Girls)

     One thing which surprised me is that Utah is known for its treatment centers, and there are a ton out there. People from all over the US will send their daughters to Maple Lake, either as a word of mouth reference or a specific google search. The girls who stay there usually attend for a year to a year and a half, though some stay for longer. One girl Selena mentioned stayed at Maple Lake for three years. The stays are based on the needs of the girls, though once a girl turns 18 they are no longer allowed to stay.
      The problem with Maple Lake is that it's incredibly expensive. Selena made note that she would never have been able to attend growing up because of the price, close to $10,000 a month per girl. While Selena insisted that Maple Lake did amazing work, the price is restrictive. "We really only saw daughters of business men and CEO's and Doctor's and stuff."
     While it may not entirely relevant, I also asked Selena what it was like for her to work in the two places. Her response to Maple Lake was fairly expected; it's incredibly draining to work in mental health, emotionally and physically (some days, Selena had to pin girls to the ground to keep them from harming themselves or others). Once, said Selena, she was punched so hard a contact fell out of her eye. "But--when you see the change happening in the girls, it's so so so worth it." A bit like teaching, I imagine.


     At Summit, the majority of time is spent with pap smears, breast exams, and massive amounts of sex education, since many of the women living in Utah never had clear or correct sex education with their parents, church, or school. Many of the exams are annual check ups or premarital exams. So pap smears and sex. There was also a lot of correcting misinformation about women's health. Many women were surprised to learn that painful cramps during menstrual cycles were neither natural nor healthy, and that there are steps you can take to alleviate those pains.

Summit Women's Center (intermountainhealthcare.org)

     The majority of Selena's patients at Summit simply google the nearest OB/GYN, and appointments are only 30-60 minutes, though they usually return since, according to Selene, "Once you've let someone see your lady business you tend to want to stick with that doctor instead of going through the awkwardness with someone else."
    Unlike Maple Lake, Summit is pretty financially accessible. As a part of Intermountain Healthcare, the women's center offers financial assistance and payment plans for low-income families. Her experience working at GYN office in Utah has been difficult for her because of how taboo it is to talk about sex/vaginas/women's health in general. Selena sees a lot of 18 and 19 year old girls coming in before marriage with no idea how sex works or their own anatomy. She is responsible for giving these girls "the talk". Selena then spent the next five minutes ranting about the need for more openness regarding women's bodies and sexuality.

     When I asked Selena what else she thought was important, she told me about her experience in Uganda, where she worked with a women's empowerment project. Selena went into rural villages and talked with women about consent, making their voices heard, and being able to stop a physical assault, as well as teaching them health, english, math, and finances. Selena was only there for two months, but she felt like it was an incredibly sustainable project; there, most of the women had their first child at 13 years old, with men more than 3 times their age. They have no voice and no say in what happens to them or their bodies. It was incredibly fulfilling, Selena says, to see the change when they realized they could say no, that they could fight back, and that their voices were important.
     "Clearly," says Selena, "I've worked a lot with women. Empowerment is incredibly important to me and women have been looked over and pushed down for too long, so I'll continue to work with women for the rest of my life. But Uganda was one of the most rewarding, eye-opening, spiritual experiences in the entire world."

     There are a couple of things that I think are important to analyze more regarding Selena's experiences working in women's health centers. The first is that Maple Lake is not free. It's not even a possibility for many of the girls in Utah who need it the most. Advice to 'get help' can be alienating for families who can't afford the help their daughter, sister, friend needs. I tried to find free mental health resources for women in Utah after my conversation and I found 'Strong Hope Women's Mental Health Program' which is mental health services for female veterans, 'Utah MMHC' for new mothers and families, and the Utah division of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) which holds free support groups. There are also a myriad of rape crisis centers and women's health centers that are free or catered to low-income families. What I couldn't find was a clear resource for young women seeking help, though I imagine most of these function through school nurse's offices. I'm a bit worried about the availability of mental health resources for school age girls who don't have adult mediation. From talking to Selena I found that most of her patients learn about Maple Lake and Summit through google searches. If I can't find resources through a google search, could my students?
    If students need health services (or other), then unless they have access to adult guidance, school is one of the only places they may be able to get that help. Especially as a DoD teacher, my students will likely be unfamiliar with the community they've just moved into. It might be my responsibility as a teacher to be aware of the resources available to my students, and ready to direct them to the right places (with consideration of parental preference).