“Do you mind if I ask, are you married?” asked one of my clients during a follow up. I don’t mind that question, and it’s a valid question to ask when they notice that I’m not wearing a wedding ring (unless, of course, I’m in Rome wearing a fake engagement ring. Italian waiters….if you know, you know) and teach the Creighton Model System. People are further surprised to hear that I in fact, as all practitioners do, teach no less than a handful of girls who are younger than 18 to help with their sometimes painful/abnormal cycles or are just learning for cycle and fertility appreciation. We also teach women who are nowhere near dating, those who are dating, and those who just want to learn for fun. Lest you think that learning for fun means something immoral…let me hash out some ways Creighton can help you or someone you know.
The Creighton Model System isn’t just for planning or avoiding a pregnancy (though it is a really important aspect for married couples desiring to use it that way or engaged couples preparing to use it during marriage). It is also used for identifying biomarkers, which is a fancy term for things that a practitioner is trained to identify on your chart that signals abnormalities. What does that include? Here are some examples: abnormal bleeding (happens more often that you think), low progesterone (sometimes identified with brown bleeding or extended premenstrual spotting), PMS (I’m looking at you, extra carb cravings, anxiety before your cycle begins, crankiness, crying at the thought of anything that hints as being sad), etc.
The Creighton model system can also identify biomarkers for some of the heavy hitters as well, which often concern women. This means looking for things like miscarriage risk (often identified by the quality of your mucus or by your post peak phase), as well as the ever so common PCOS/PCOD (polycystic ovarian syndrome/disease), endometriosis, or in other cases hormone imbalances/risk for other reproductive issues.
Creighton is highly specialized. Yes, this means that if it’s been 60+ days since your last cycle, you only ever have one single day of not so great mucus, or you have a highly specialized case like having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a bleeding disorder, bleeding almost every day, a period every couple of weeks, or other specialized case - we can still teach you to chart and help get you to a Napro doctor, who can further help treat or refer you. I, for one, love helping women in these highly unique situations.
Creighton teaches you to appreciate your entire cycle and your fertility. No matter what stage of life you are at: just beginning your cycles, 25 years into cycles, perimenopause, and everything else in-between: each stage teaches women to appreciate that state that you’re in. Not that you’ll always feel grateful, but it puts you in a place to understand what’s happening in your body through its many changes and stages of life. Understanding and knowledge can lead to love and appreciation, even if you may wish that it could be different. It puts you in a situation where you can better appreciate how God has designed a woman’s body, and in particular your body/fertility even if you don’t feel like it’s a gift, or when it downright feels like your fertility is more of a burden than a gift. We are here for you through that all.
It can calm fears associated with fertility or help get you to the right place to address issues if they are in place, before it becomes more problematic. I’m thinking of the countless women (sorry to my friends who hear my nonstop rant about the benefits of the Creighton Model System) who are dating and afraid, due to family history, that they will struggle with fertility, suspect a hormone imbalance, or other concerns they may have. The biomarkers I discussed earlier help to identify all of those. The good news is - if it’s identified on your chart, there is a lot that you can do about it. Bringing fears into light helps to dispel them, and when there is an abnormality, there is a good chance there is something you can do to help it.
While this list isn't exhaustive, and if you made it to the end congratulations to you, we are here for you and available to chat to see if Creighton is a good fit for you!

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