Formerly at Planned Parenthood
Raising daughter and preparing for graduate work in library science
Williamstown, MA
I was an English major, with a concentration in Women’s Studies, and I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do after I graduated. At some point, I thought, “I’ve gotten all this theoretical background in feminism – what if I pursued that, and tried to put it into practice, make it concrete?” I started researching various women’s organizations, and ended up working and volunteering at my hometown (Billings, MT) Planned Parenthood.
I worked in the abortion clinic for a year, and did a little of everything that wasn’t strictly medical: I answered phones and made appointments, I checked patients in on clinic day, I did short-term counseling with patients. It was an incredible experience – I was a fairly naive young 21-year-old, and the inside of an abortion clinic is a really intense place, on an everyday basis. I used to drive home at the end of the day, totally exhausted, but saying to myself “I really helped someone today.” At the same time, I volunteered with an education program they had, which was a program designed to raise self-esteem and prevent teen pregnancy for young Native American girls.
I moved a few times and ended up with different jobs, but eventually found myself back at Planned Parenthood, in Seattle. There, I worked in administration, assisting both the education and the marketing departments. While there, I got a promotion and became the Training Coordinator – I learned a lot about staff training and professional training, and I was in charge of a monthly New Employee Orientation.
Then I moved back to Montana and back to the first Planned Parenthood I had worked at. This time, I was the Health Educator. My main responsibility was presentations – primarily to teens, but sometimes to adults as well. In such a conservative state, we were not allowed in the schools, but mostly worked with kids who were somehow “in the system” – wards of the state, or in custody, or in treatment (sexual offenders, substance abuse, etc.). I spoke to college classes, high school government classes, to parent groups, to church groups – anyone who would invite me. I loved working with issues of sexuality and reproductive rights….
My Women’s Studies classes were some of my favorites at Williams, and they still inform everything I do.