Welcome to The Aletheia Project

A space for truth-telling, education, and health advocacy for all female-identifying, LGBTQIA+, culturally and linguistically diverse youth. Somewhere between silence and shame, a truth went missing. A truth about pain. A truth about health. A truth about being a diverse young person in a world that too often listens too late, or not at all. About sitting in a clinic waiting room rehearsing your symptoms twice over, only to be told to ‘come back if it gets worse.’ About watching your mother, friend and peers shrink into silence because no one believed their pain or dismissed it all. This is where we begin to find it again.

Welcome to The Aletheia Project.

This isn’t just a blog, or an Instagram account. This is a space built on fire and memory. It was born from stories we were told not to share. From friends who were left unheard. From youth—especially those from CALD and queer communities—who were told their pain was imaginary, their experiences too much, their bodies too complicated.

I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I remember a friend, Sri Lankan with just a slight roll to her “R”s, who went to a GP four times about her pain. Every time, they told her it was “just stress”, even when she could barely stand upright. She stopped going. She stopped talking about it. She said she didn’t want to be dramatic.

I remember a girl from our volleyball team, quiet and quick-witted (and one heck of a good setter) whose periods would leave her crying in the locker room. She told a male doctor, who laughed and said, “That’s what being a woman is.” No referrals. No follow-up.

I remember a friend who’s queer, who sat through an entire health class where every diagram and example assumed she was straight. She whispered to me after, “Am I just… not supposed to exist?” She shares that story alongside a million other individuals part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

And I’ve felt it within my own story, too. My mother had endometriosis, and like so many women, her pain went unnamed for years. During my own pregnancy, we faced complications that were met not with empathy, but indifference. What I learned- painfully and permanently- is that this isn’t just a personal issue. It’s generational. And generational problems need generational courage.

That’s why The Aletheia Project exists. Not to fix everything overnight , but to say clearly, lovingly, and loudly: we deserve better. That our health is not a footnote. Our voices are not interruptions.

The name Aletheia comes from Ancient Greek. It means truth. But not ‘truth’ as in a cold, hard fact. Truth as in unconcealment. Truth as in bringing into light what was always there but kept in shadow. It’s the kind of truth that makes silence uncomfortable , and healing possible.

So what is this project? The Aletheia Project is a youth-led health advocacy initiative for all female-identifying and LGBTQIA+ youth in Victoria, with a targeted focus on marginalised communities within CALD youth. Through education, storytelling, and youth empowerment, Aletheia aims to cultivate health confidence, dismantle stigma, and amplify intersectional experiences.

Our mission is simple: To empower young people to understand, advocate for, and own their health—through truth, voice, and reform. We are here to create a future where young people talk about one’s health with pride, not fear. Where cultural silence is replaced with open conversations. Where a young person from any background can stand up, speak clearly, and be heard when they say, “This hurts,” or “This matters.” Because we’re tired of being told it’s “just a phase.” Tired of being told it’s “just a little pain.” Tired of being told to sit still and stay quiet. This platform isn’t about waiting for systems to change. It’s about building pressure, momentum, lifting each other up—story by story, voice by voice—until change becomes the only option left.

Why We Exist

This wasn’t about one moment. It was the patterns - quiet, repeated, devastating - that made this necessary. The peer who got misdiagnosed three times before a doctor even ran tests. The girl whose translation was filtered through a parent too ashamed to talk about periods. The queer friend who couldn’t find a single inclusive sex-ed resource that reflected their body, their identity, their truth.

This is the silence we’re trying to interrupt.

The need is real, and it’s urgent:

• In many cultural and linguistic communities, girls grow up believing their pain is taboo, their health is shameful, their voices are disruptive.

• Queer and gender-diverse youth face erasure, ridicule, or medical care that doesn’t understand (or want to understand) them.

• Across the board, young people are not taught how to stand up for their bodies—and the system is not taught how to listen when they do.

• School systems are built on rigidity and claim that such things are too “sensitive” to teach to a general population of students. But for change to happen, a shift in the youth must be encouraged to build a better society and not perpetuate current issues.

We’re not here to speak for everyone. We’re here to speak alongside. To create the kind of resources, reflections, and reform that come from lived experience. To offer education that empowers, and advocacy that echoes beyond a single moment.

Our Vision

We imagine a world where every young person is treated with respect the moment they enter a clinic — not because they had fought for it, but because it’s her right. A world where young people speak about menstruation, pain, consent, sexual health, reproductive rights and mental health without flinching or whispering. A world where CALD and queer youth aren’t below health systems — they shape them. They see themselves in the curriculum. They find strength in their stories. They grow up not learning to hide their pain, but to name it, understand it, and demand action. They sit in health class and don’t have to translate diagrams in their heads. They open textbooks and see skin like theirs. They walk into a clinic and don’t have to choose between explaining their pain or protecting their dignity.

We believe health is not just about medicine. It’s about dignity. Visibility. Inclusivity. And being able to say, “I know my body. I know what’s wrong. And I know I deserve help.”

This isn’t about creating a perfect world. It’s about building a better one and we’re starting from our body.

Everything we build at The Aletheia Project comes back to a few simple ideas. It starts with helping young people understand their bodies and how the health system works. It means being honest about what it feels like to be dismissed or not taken seriously by doctors, and why that does real harm. It means making space for conversations about health in families and communities where it’s often treated as shameful. And it means making sure CALD and LGBTQIA+ young people can actually see themselves in health education and advocacy.

This is also a youth-led project, because young people shouldn’t have to wait until they’re older to speak up or make change. Sometimes that looks like sharing stories, sometimes it’s building resources, and sometimes it’s just helping someone find the words to ask for help.

What’s Next?

Over the next year, The Aletheia Project will explore everything from endometriosis to language barriers in health clinics. We’ll break down period stigma. We’ll unpack what dismissal looks like and how to respond. We’ll talk about cultural shame, sexual health, mental health, and medical rights. We will share info packs on fostering health literacy in youth. There will be real stories, reflections, and resources. Some weeks it might be quiet. Some posts might be fiery. But each word will be chosen with care — and with you in mind. If you are a young person who has ever been silenced, dismissed, excluded, this is for you. If you are part of a culture where no one taught you how to talk about your body, this is for you. If you are queer, CALD, or both, and you feel invisible in the health system, this is for you. And, if you’ve just never been told how to listen to your own body — let alone speak up for it — this is for you too. This is where truth comes back to life. And it’s only the beginning.

With fire & unconcealing the truth,

The Aletheia Project

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This piece was originally written and published on The Aletheia Project's Medium:  https://medium.com/@aletheiaproject.au