Nothing Off-Limits in ‘Just for Teens’ Sessions

A Gynecology Specialists note: The Virginian-Pilot featured our own Dr. Zenette Leao and her “Just for Teens” sessions in a December 2010 article by Vicki L. Friedman. Here is a summary of the story.

The Pilot profiled the monthly “Just for Teens” sessions Dr. Leao started at our Greenbrier-area office — hour-long Wednesday evening programs where girls between 11 and 19 can get straight answers about menstruation, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, and anything else on their minds. No preaching, and no judgment.

The format is simple: girls come, watch a slide show on a select topic, and then ask questions about that topic or any other. You don’t have to be a patient to attend. Parents drop their teens off and return at the end of the session, and all discussion inside is confidential — girls who don’t feel comfortable asking a question aloud can write it on an index card.

As Dr. Leao explained in the article, she sees too many teenagers who have already had issues before they ever come in to the gynecologist, and too many who get erroneous information from the internet, friends, or even family members. The sessions are about awareness and getting factual information out there before problems start. The session the Pilot attended covered viral sexually transmitted diseases — HPV, genital herpes, and HIV — and the sobering statistics behind them, including that condoms do not provide full protection against HPV.

One 15-year-old regular attendee summed up the appeal: she liked being able to be really open and ask any question — fun, even though it’s serious stuff.

The article also introduced readers to Dr. Leao herself: a Norfolk native and 1992 Booker T. Washington High graduate who studied at the University of Virginia and Eastern Virginia Medical School, with a long-standing interest in adolescent health and in giving back to the community where she grew up.

If you are a teenage girl looking for information from a trusted gynecologist about menstruation, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, and other gynecology issues, please contact our clinic at (757) 312-8221. We are here to help you.