Focus on Family Planning

The start of my time at Fantus Family Planning Clinic has been filled with many learning moments and excitement of what the next 9 months will hold. The clinic is utilized primarily by women and families who are interested in birth control/family planning methods and patients who are looking to be screened or treated for STIs/HIV. At Fantus Family Planning Clinic, the mission is to assist in family planning choices, to contribute to positive birth outcomes and to improve the health outcomes for its patients. Through education, prevention, affordability and effectiveness, Family Planning is able to offer reliable birth control methods and work through different patients' preferences to find the best individualized options for all.

During Pre-Service Orientation, we learned the techniques of motivational interviewing. Motivational interviewing is a technique used by many health care professionals to produce a personalized plan for patients and to change health behaviors. As a Health Educator at Fantus, I will be using this technique when I counsel patients on what future family planning options they are considering. I will be able to work through very personal contraceptive choices with patients without imposing my thoughts on them. By engaging and focusing the patient, two key themes in motivational interviewing, I will assist patients in finding methods to prevent pregnancy. I'm eager to apply this tactic to real world situations!

Along with motivational interviewing, Pre-Service Orientation provided the importance of collaboration and innovation in the public health world to address health disparities. Part of my role at Fantus is to improve outreach for the clinic in order to increase the number of patients that use the clinic. The first STI/ HIV testing event, OktoberTest, has already been planned for October 27. I am excited to see the turnout for this event. My wonderful partner, Katarina, and I have already started brainstorming different original ways for the clinic to provide services to more people.

This blog post was written by NHC Chicago 2016-17 member Becca Biddick.

Becca is the Health Educator at the Fantus Health Center Family Planning Clinic.