Sister Speaks: How a group of TCOM graduates created a place to mentor young girls

By: Steven Bartolotta ◆ June 9, 2026

Let’s be honest, being a teenager or a tween is hard, and in the modern age of information overload, it's even harder to know what’s right, wrong, or who you can trust, but a trio of students from UNT Health Fort Worth’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program developed a program called “Sister Speaks” to change all of that. The program, which was started in 2023, was led by recent TCOM graduates Drs. Amelia Gillespie, Allison Hendon, and Krusha Shah as they partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Tarrant County to provide education and information to pre-teen and teenage girls on female anatomy, mental health, social media, and a variety of emerging topics. The program has become so successful that it has evolved into a student interest group that first- and second-year TCOM students are carrying forward.

“This first started in 2023 with us identifying the gaps with adolescents and females about basic reproductive health from anatomy, to menstruation, to even more detailed topics,” said Amanda Brosnan, MPAS, MPH, PA-C, physician assistant professor and faculty advisor. “We were able to partner with the Boys and Girls Club, and the students did a workshop. Amelia, Allison, and Krusha came to watch one of these presentations, took up the mantle, and over the last two years have really perfected the presentation.

“Seeing these students bring so much creativity, leadership, and passion to this work has been amazing. Their commitment to making a difference in their community is inspiring."

It was the spring of 2024, when Gillespie, Hendon, and Shah were in their second year of medical school, that they crafted their own presentation to be given to students ages 8 to 17. The after-school presentations created safe spaces for the girls to normalize conversations about a variety of topics instead of making them difficult.

“Our goal was where they could have a space to ask those uncomfortable questions that they aren’t going to a doctor to ask,” Hendon said. “We wanted them to know that other girls go through these things and it's normal to talk about women’s health, and we should be asking questions.”

“I wanted to make sure it was a safe space and make sure these young women could ask questions and not feel embarrassed to say anything to us,” said Gillespie.

The purposeful creation of the safe space played an important part in the conversations that were had, because the topics got personal, especially when it came to mental health and social media. When asked about how much time the girls spend on social media a day, the numbers were shocking. One said 10 hours, and another girl couldn’t even give a number. The figures were problematic for a variety of reasons, especially in an era of misinformation.

“They are getting a lot of influence from TikTok or their Instagram feed, which is telling them one thing, but they don’t really know these people they are getting advice from,” Gillespie said. “We emphasized to them that they need to be mindful of what they see on social media and have those conversations with trusted adults in the real world instead of getting advice from platforms.”

“We brought awareness to them that this is not normal to spend that much time on social media and that can be bad for their mental health,” Hendon said. “You need to be outside, talking to friends, and not just living your life online. With teenagers, that’s probably expected, but there were girls who were so young that they were spending their whole day online, which is scary. A kid needs to be a kid.”

The after-school sessions were gaining traction, and the trio made a presentation at True Worth Place. At most of the presentations, there was an opportunity to have a breakout session where the teens could ask questions in small groups and in a space where they were more comfortable talking about mental health, along with women’s health.

“We got a lot of questions about pads and tampons, when to use them, and how to use them,” Hendon said. “A lot of girls learn from their moms, but maybe they weren’t learning about this.”

For Gillespie, who is beginning her residency in psychiatry in July, the presentations and their impact won’t be left at medical school.

“I’m very interested in pursuing child and adolescence psychiatry, and for me, the biggest takeaway is that creating a safe space for people to ask those questions is really important,” she said. “It was really rewarding to be able to give them knowledge so they could think about things more, especially in mental health.”

Sister Speaks isn’t going away now that Gillespie, Hendon and Shah have graduated. The initiative has been handed down to the next wave of TCOM students led by second-year student Ashlyn Fogg. She is the president of the newly formed Health Education Initiative student group, a rebranded “Sister Speaks” with big plans to continue the program, but also expand it to include boys.

“We are focused on strengthening the community relationships that we already have with Boys & Girls Clubs in the Fort Worth area by continuing to present our 'Sister Speaks' workshop tailored towards girls between the ages of 8 and 16 years old,” Fogg said. “As a new organization, we decided that our first step towards expanding our audience would be to create a presentation that includes similar information tailored towards boys between the ages of 8 and 16 years old. The boy's “Brother Speaks” workshop will also aim to teach the boys about their anatomy, proper hygiene, changes they may experience during puberty, and mental health topics.”

The new organization already has 12 members and will be recruiting for more as it is open to all students at UNT Health. For Brosnan, she could never have imagined this type of success when the initiative started a few years ago with a couple of presentations.

It’s really special for me to work with young people who care so deeply about the next generation,” said Brosnan. “Watching this continue to grow, especially with the opportunity to expand our impact to both male and female adolescents, has been very meaningful.”