Let's Talk About It

Here are some topics your provider may bring up

• 1 Family planning

  Family planning

  Family planning is deciding when (or if) you want to have children, how many to have and how to space their births—and taking active measures to follow your plan through the use of contraception. Your provider can help by answering any questions you have about fertility, becoming pregnant and birth control.

• 2 Relationships

  Relationships

  Relationships are the personal connections and emotional bonds between people that are often formed and strengthened by mutual experiences. They can be family relationships, friendships or romantic relationships. Healthy relationships are free of physical, emotional or sexual threat or abuse. Ideally, they are kind, honest, respectful and emotionally supportive. Talk to your provider if you need help dealing with an unhealthy, stressful or abusive relationship.

• 3 Emotional wellbeing

  Emotional wellbeing

  Emotional health and wellbeing refers to our ability to cope with the stresses of everyday life in a positive way and recognize and manage negative emotions, like stress, anger and sadness. Emotional health is very important to physical health because when you’re not able to process negative emotions or manage stress, it can impact sleep or lead to unhealthy coping strategies—such as substance abuse, emotional eating, etc. If you’re having a hard time sleeping, your relationships are suffering or you’d like help finding healthier coping strategies, talk to your provider about a referral to one of our behavioral health specialists.

• 4 Abnormal bleeding
• 5 Contraception
• 6 Disease prevention

  Disease prevention

  Sometimes your risk of developing a disease–such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes–is linked to family history or genetics. But there are often steps you can take to reduce your risk. (The fancy term for this is “modifiable risk factors.”) Examples of modifiable risk factors include not smoking, not drinking alcohol excessively, exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, and controlling high blood pressure and cholesterol. Talk to your clinician about your health and family history and what you can do to minimize your risk.