On The Couch – Détails, épisodes et analyse

“Awareness doesn't come about by silence”. Naomi is joined by Naomi Hoffman, a clinical sexual health nurse and HIV positive speakers Tasha and Mel. Listen as they discuss testing and treatment options available in Australia and the importance of raising awareness of women and HIV. 

Naomi shares her clinical experience working with and supporting women living with HIV in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Sexual Health Clinic. As a proud Kamilaroi women, Naomi works to educate the wider community to remove stigma associated with HIV. 

Tasha and Mel, from the Positive Speakers Bureau, share their lived experience with HIV, their advocacy for marginalised communities and their impact in education and prevention.  

Take some time and experience the real and honest stories from Tasha and Mel and expand your knowledge of HIV through a new lens. 

This episode was recorded in November 2024  

CONTENT WARNINGS: This episode references physical and emotional trauma

Read transcript here    

Check out our webpage for more information  

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook  

Recommendations 

Positive Speakers Bureau 

World AIDS Day 

National HIV Testing Policy 

NSW Health DBS (dried blood spot) Testing 

My Test 

Positive Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Network (PATSIN) 

References    

Positive Speakers Bureau 

Positive Life NSW 

Shingles 

AZT 

Red Cross 

Albion Centre 

Disability Support Pension (DSP) 

T150 

ACON 

You Can't Ask That 

CALD 

IBAC Unit, St. Vincent's Hospital 

National Association of People With HIV Australia (NAPWHA) 

ASHM 

Pregnancy and HIV 

Ending HIV - Injectable HIV Treatment 

PrEP 

PrEP Access Now (PAN) 

U=U (ASHM) 

Word On The Sheets 

Gilead 

Credits   

Host: Naomi Viret  

Guest: Naomi Hoffman, Tasha and Mel 

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson  

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

Join Naomi as she chats with Rachel Wotton and Mohammed Samrah about the importance of people with disability’s access to sexual and reproductive health services. Rachel, a sex worker and academic in the field and Mohammed, a man of lived experience have a dynamic and eye-opening conversation about sex as a human right. 

Rachel shares parts of her PhD research and elaborates on the role the NDIS plays in the disability communities' access to sex worker services. Mohammed eloquently shares his own lived experience and how sex worker services have transformed his life. 

This episode was recorded in September 2024 

Read transcript here  

Check out our webpage for more information 

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook 

References   

Charles Sturt University 

Co Culture Communication 

Petbarn 

NDIS 

Administrative Review Tribunal 

Changes to NDIS Legislation 

Bill Shorten 

Rachel Wotton PASA - Research 

PTSD 

Rachel Wotton TED Talk - Open Your Mind to What Goes on Behind Closed Doors 

Rachelwotton.com 

PLISSIT Model 

Bumble 

Tinder 

Hinge 

Scarlet Road Website 

Caddyshack Instagram 

Caddyshack Facebook 

Credits  

Host: Naomi Viret 

Guest: Rachel Wotton & Mohammed Samrah 

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson 

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

Join Maddy as she sits down with Ruiqi Fan, a clinical nurse specialist working at the Sydney Sexual Health Clinic. Ruiqi talks about being an international student to now working with international students in a clinical setting, providing insight into the experience. Listen as we better understand why having multilingual nurses and interpreters is important in delivering sexual health services for the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities in Australia.

This episode was recorded in June 2023 

Read transcript here

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Recommendations

The International Students Health Hub & Sydney Sexual Health Centre 

References

Sydney Sexual Health Centre 

International Student Health Hub 

RMB – Chinese Yuan currency 

The Guardian 

The Daily Telegraph 

CPR training 

Vaginal douching 

Sexual Health Infolink 

Australian Healthcare System 

Provincial – China health/hospital cover 

Medicare 

ACON 

Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service 

Translating and Interpreting services 

PrEP campaign – ending HIV 

Caddyshack Project Instagram 

Caddyshack Project Facebook 

Credits

Host: Maddy Stratten

Guest: Ruiqi Fan

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson 

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript)

NSW Health social media community guidelines

How can we treat ourselves with kindness when unexpected emotions arise? Naomi sits down with psychologist Chris Cheers and reflects on the mental health impacts of lockdown on the queer and creative community. His book, The New Rulebook is a practical game changing guide to embracing uncertainty offering radical, evidence-based solutions to improve wellbeing. Providing individual psychology services and workshops to artists and creatives, and the LGBTQIA+ community, Chris is passionate about creating accessible, accepting and safe spaces.

This episode was recorded in May 2023

Read transcript here

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Recommendations    

 The New Rulebook & QLife 

References   

Emotional Agility Susan David 

Acceptance commitment therapy 

Viktor Frankl Man’s search for meaning 

Friends by Robin Dunbar

Credits 

Host: Naomi Viret   

Guest: Chris Cheers 

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson 

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

Maddy catches up with Kirli Saunders and dives into the importance of language, decolonization, feminism and queer space. Kirli is a proud Gunai Woman and award-winning multidisciplinary creator and consultant. Awarded NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year in 2020, Kirli is an experienced speaker and facilitator advocating for the environment, gender, racial equality and LGBTIQA+ rights. In this episode Kirli shares her passion for continuing connection to Country and reads a powerful poem called Based On Us from her book Returning.

This episode was recorded in October 2022

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this episode contains the name of and discussion around a deceased person. This episode may contain words, descriptions and terms which may be culturally sensitive and reflect the views of those at the period in which the content was created. 

Read transcript here

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Recommendations

AIATSIS, Kindred & Returning

References

Vale Aunty Velma Mulcahy  

Cyanotype 

Joyce Saunders

The Incredible Freedom Machines 

Matt Otley 

Bec Young 

Red Room Poetry 

Tamryn Bennett 

Jo Featherstone 

Kirli Saunders Consulting 

Bindi 

Kindred 

Returning 

Going Home Play 

Department of Education on language 

United Nations Indigenous Decades of Language 

Brotherboys and Sistergirls 

Uluru Statement 

Griffith Review Dr Lilly Brown and Genevieve Grieves 

Raise the Age 

Alok 

Heartbreak High  

Tony Birch The White Girl 

Melissa Lucashenko 

Ellen Van Neerven 

Jazz Money 

Florence Given 

The Front Left  

Gang of Youths 

Frontier War Stories 

Horror Show 

Based On Us – Poem from Returning 

Credits

Host: Maddy Stratten

Guest: Kirli Saunders 

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson 

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

Curious about sexology and the difference between a sex therapist, body therapist, sex coach and sex worker? Maddy chats with Aleks from The Pleasure Centre to explore why an individual or couple may seek sex therapy. Offering a safe and inclusive place, Aleks' practice is guided by multiple evidence-based therapeutic approaches. Hear about the Sex Buffet and Queering Sex concepts and how to put pleasure and desire on the menu. 

This episode was recorded in September 2022

CONTENT WARNINGS: This episode references sexual trauma  

Read transcript here

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Recommendations

The Pleasure Centre & The Science of Sex 

References  

Tanya Koens 

Matt Tilley 

PLISSIT model 

Polyvagal Theory by Stephen Porges 

Sapiens 

Schitts Creek 

Credits

Host: Maddy Stratten

Guests: Aleks Trkjula 

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson   

Music:  Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

Join Maddy in conversation with Frances Turner from Nurse Nettie, answering the most commonly asked sexual and reproductive health questions by young people. Nurse Nettie is an online service that provides qualified sexual health information to young people living in New South Wales, Australia. Fran provides a glimpse behind the curtain of how the team approach answering questions without judgement, making health information accessible and inclusive. 

This episode was recorded in June 2022

Read transcript here

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Recommendations

Nurse Nettie & Sexual Health Infolink (SHIL) 

References

Nurse Nettie 

NSW Health Play Safe 

Pronouns 

Sexual Health Infolink 

LGBTIQA+ community 

Labia Library  

FemFresh 

NSW Health 

Caddyshack Project 

Medicare Card 

Herpes 

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) 

Sexually Transmissible Infections (STIs) 

Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) 

Sexual Health Clinics 

Aboriginal Medical Services 

Child Protection Units 

Mandatory Reporting Guidelines (MRG) 

Can I get an STI from that? 

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) 

Cervical Screening (Pap Smear)

Diethylstilboestrol (DES)

Premature ejaculation 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) 

Citalopram 

Credits

Host: Maddy Stratten

Guests: Frances Turner from Nurse Nettie

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson   

Music:   Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

Listen as Naomi chats with Liz and Jan from Relationships and Private Stuff about their lived experience of working with people with disability. People on the autism spectrum, with disability or brain injury face the same issues as other people when it comes to relationships. Friendship is important. And the desire to love and be loved, whether as a friend or an intimate companion, is a drive that defines a person in a way that no disability ever can.

This episode was recorded in May 2022

CONTENT WARNINGS: This episode references sexual assault  

Read transcript here

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Recommendations

Planet Puberty & Sexuality, Education, Counselling and Consultancy Agency (SECCA) 

References

Relationships and Private Stuff 

Lotus Project 

Family Planning 

Dateables 

Love on the Spectrum 

Sex, safe and fun guide 

Shine SA 

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) 

Jewish Care 

Participate Australia 

Anglicare  

Credits 

Host: Naomi Viret

Guests: Liz Dore & Jan McGuire  

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson   

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

Join Naomi as she unpacks the transgender experience with Sophie from ACON’s TransHub. TransHub is a digital and resource platform providing clear and easy information about gender affirmation and healthcare for all trans and gender diverse people in NSW. Sophie dives deep into the history of transgender language and provides insight into the trans and non-binary experience.

This episode was recorded in February 2022 

Read transcript here

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Recommendations

Transhub & Disclosure 

References

Transhub 

ACON 

Trans Definition

Census 

Marriage equality 

Asexual 

Gender identity vs Sexual orientation 

Cisgender 

Cisalpine and Transalpine Gauls 

Pronoun 

Gender dysphoria 

Elagabalus 

Brotherboys and Sistergirls 

Gender Fluid 

Social affirmation 

Legal affirmation 

Medical affirmation 

Gender affirming doctors 

Informed Consent Medical guidelines

Top surgery 

Tucking 

Binding 

Transphobia 

Pansexual 

RuPaul's Drag Race 

Courtney Act 

Disclosure 

Norman Bates (Psycho movie) 

Ally 

Credits  

Host: Naomi Viret

Guests: Sophie Keeffe 

Producers: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson   

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines

In this special edition mini-episode, Maddy and Winnie sit down with Public Health Placement Student Jade Scott at the University of Wollongong recording studio. Listen as they reflect on Jade’s project that explored podcast production and how it can be better used as an innovative tool for sexual health education and promotion.  

This episode was recorded in October 2024 

Read transcript here 

Check out our webpage for more information

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

References  

Caddyshack Project On The Couch 

The Infinite Dial 2023 Australia from Edison Research 

Keegan Julia, Cooper Spring Chenoa, Porter Andrew, Ciervo Courtney, Khalid Rafia (2023) Unlearning and relearning sexuality: a qualitative exploration of The Sex Wrap, a sex education podcast. Sexual Health 20, 531-537. 

Talking Frank  

Love Clews  

Sticky Q’s  

Sydney Sexual Health Centre  

Sexual Health Matters  

Doing ‘IT” 

University of Wollongong 

Sexual Health Victoria 

Sexual Assault Support Service 

Sydney Sexual Health Centre 

University of Technology Sydney 

Caddyshack Instagram 

Caddyshack Facebook 

Credits 

Host: Maddy Stratten & Winnie Adamson 

Guest: Jade Scott

Producers: Maddy Stratten, Winnie Adamson & Jade Scott

Music: Little Pastries Instrumental (descript) 

NSW Health social media community guidelines