February 2025
Quote
“Heal, so you can see that attention is not love, attachment is not connection and bare minimum is not effort.”
Useful Fact
Have you heard of 'stealthing'? In Victoria, it's considered an act of sexual violence. Learn what stealthing is to make sure you always have your partner(s) consent and treat them with respect.
This video was produced for Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) Yeah, Nah project - affirmative consent education by and for young people.
Featuring Laura Crozier the Affirmative Consent Officer for YACVic who we hosted On The Couch in 2024 speaking about ethical consent and empowering young people.
Instagram Highlight
We love hearing your feedback! So we thought we'd share what people are saying 💬 This month's review is for 𝗢𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗮𝘇 from @abundant_body 🎙️
"𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝘼𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩.
𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙖 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.
𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙭𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠. 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙖 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜."
Follow us on Instagram to access posts like this one!
Founder of Cheer Up Luv, Eliza Hatch.
Campaign & Events
Cheer Up Luv is a globally renowned photo series and platform retelling accounts of street harassment.
The project combines photography with journalism, activism, and social media, and has gained interest from all over the world.
Eliza Hatch founded the campaign after being told to "cheer up" by a stranger in the street. After her male friends dismissed the experience as a “compliment”, she felt inspired to prove them wrong. She realised that not only was the issue completely normalised, but there was a huge lack of awareness surrounding it.
Eliza began taking portraits of her friends in public places and posting the photos online. With each location reflecting the testimony of harassment, the effect was empowering survivors by turning a negative memory into something positive. But most importantly, taking back control of the experience and reclaiming the space.
Since 2017 Cheer Up Luv has steadily been growing as a platform and expanding into new mediums. The platform aims to raise awareness of the prevalence of misogyny and sexual assault in our daily lives and facilitate helpful conversations while crushing harmful taboos. Above all, Cheer Up Luv is a project which aims to empower survivors, while tackling the normalisation surrounding sexual harassment.
You can also listen to the Podcast.
Know Your Websites
The idea for Cliterate sparked from a clear absence of resources to support body, sex and intimacy education within the disability population. The existing diagrams and models in the education sector are inaccurate and unrelatable to many people. Brains can be wired differently so we need helpful resources that consider multiple learning needs. The resources should be accurate and based on the latest available research.
And let’s not forget the big “awkward”. The daily use of anatomical language is not a comfortable space for most people, including health professionals and educators. We tend to use slang and fall into humour despite the importance of being empowered with knowledge about our body. Their aim is to help everyone overcome the awkward and to talk about this area…and talk a lot!
Founder of Tender Funerals Jenny Briscoe-Hough
Who are?
Tender Funerals is a not-for-profit funeral service model offering choice and transparency in delivering personalised meaningful and affordable funerals. Their vision is for all Australians to have access to affordable, meaningful funerals. They are part of a movement towards reclaiming the rites and changing the culture around death and dying. By delivering community education on rights and responsibilities around death, dying, and end of life, they aim to foster open conversations and empower people to take control of their dying, their deaths, and their funerals.
They encourage practices that promote healing, including offering people the opportunity to participate in any elements of their loved one’s funeral they would like. For those who want to participate in this last significant rite of passage, it can be an enriching and life-affirming experience. Or if preferred, they can care for their loved one on their behalf. Ultimately they are focused on enabling people to have the funeral experience they want to have. For more information please contact: illawarra@tenderfunerals.com.au
On the Blog
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a metaphor depicting the end of times in the New Testament. They describe conquest, war, hunger, and death respectively.
The Gottman Institute uses this metaphor to describe communication styles that, according to their research, can predict the end of a relationship.
The Four Horsemen are: Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, and Stonewalling.
The presence of these four predict relationship failure with over 90% accuracy if the behaviour isn't changed. So, what can you do?
We are not even going to attempt to paraphrase the Gottman Institutes excellent work so here in their own words is an explanation of each communication style.
Resource
QGuides are for health professionals working with LGBTIQ+ people. They describe and discuss a range of common, often complex topics, to help people feel able to work with all kinds of people on LGBTIQ+ matters.
The QGuides are developed for Health professionals and have guides on a range of topics including:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Asexuality, Privilege, Power & Oppression, Anti-Oppressive practice, Sex Workers, LGBTIQ+ people with a disability, Non-binary people, Family & Intimate partner violence, Intersex, Relationships, Resilience, Gender diversity, Coming out, inviting in & disclosure, Young people, Bisexuality, Online environments, Families, Self worth, Suicide prevention, Rural & Regional, Multi gender attraction, Religion and spirituality, Financial abuse-safety planning and Older LGBTIQ+ people.
Diary Dates
Upcoming On The Couch episodes for 2025 include:
19 February 2025
Kath Albury will share with Maddy some of her Fellowship research which explores the impacts of digital transformation, ranging from enterprise technologies to everyday digital practices, on the sexual and reproductive health workforce.
19th March 2025
Jennifer Power will explore her research focused on sexuality, sexual health and HIV with Naomi. Be part of the live audience and hear about the study of sex and the impact of the social scripts in society.
Register and get your free tickets to be in the live online audience for On The Couch episodes HERE.
Listen to or watch previous episodes HERE.
Complete free modules about sexual & reproductive health in your own time.