Introduction
A new director, and a clearer purpose.
Period & Pause is a community interest company teaching menstrual and menopause health with warmth, evidence and no embarrassment. Here is who leads it, what we believe, and where we are going.
Director
Amy Collins
Amy took over as Director determined to give menstrual education the standing it deserves. Her previous work with the Metropolitan Police, in magistrates' courts and in family court put her alongside people at their most vulnerable — and showed her how often a lack of basic health knowledge made things harder.
She leads Period & Pause on a simple principle: bodies are not a specialist interest. Everybody should understand periods and menopause, including the boys and men who live and work alongside those going through them.
“Sex is a consensual choice. Periods are not. Basic menstruation education deserves its own space — not just a passing science lesson.”
Our mission
To make menstrual and menopause knowledge ordinary.
We exist so that no young person is frightened by their own body, no employee quietly leaves a job they are good at, and no adult has to guess. As a community interest company, every fee we earn goes back into reaching settings that could not otherwise afford us.
Evidence first
Everything we teach is grounded in NHS guidance and specialist charity expertise, in language a Year 6 pupil can follow.
No shame, ever
Rooms are mixed where schools want them mixed. Questions are welcome. Nobody is made to feel odd for not knowing.
Inclusive by design
Sessions are adapted for SEND, faith settings, trans and non-binary pupils, and for boys who will one day be partners, colleagues and fathers.
Built to last
We leave staff notes, handbooks and follow-up support so the learning continues after our facilitator has gone.
What we won't do
A few principles we will not bend on.
- We don't separate menstruation from menopause — both belong to the same body, across a lifetime.
- We don't teach in whispers. Clear, plain words are how shame gets undone.
- We don't treat this as a girls' topic. Boys, men, managers and fathers are part of the room.
- We don't parachute in once. Every session leaves materials and staff confidence behind.
Future aims & goals
Where Period & Pause is going next.
Now
Make the essentials their own subject
Establish basic menstrual education as a distinct, timetabled topic rather than a paragraph inside sex education or a single science lesson.
Next 12 months
Reach 100 settings a year
Grow delivery across London schools, youth groups and councils, with a bursary route so funding is never the reason a school says no.
Next 3 years
Train the adults, not just the pupils
Scale Educator Training and Menopause at Work so every setting has confident in-house staff and a working menopause policy.
Ongoing
Publish what works
Share our resources, evaluation data and lesser-known facts openly so other organisations can build on them.