Quickword Podcast S2E3: March 2025

Hi and welcome to another episode of Quickword, where we give you the headline features from our e newsletter. This newsletter aims to connect and inform people that work with people about different health related campaigns, events, and resources in an uplifting and positive way.

We Acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands that were never ceded, that we live, work and record upon. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and to those who may be visiting our site or listening to our podcasts today.

My name is Jennifer Farinella, and I'll be talking you through what you will find in this month's Quickword. Let's dive in.

This month's Quote is

"When someone helps you saying, I owe you, it reduces an act of kindness to an accounting transaction. Generosity doesn't come with strings attached. It's not a debt to settle, it's a gift to appreciate. You reciprocate a favor by paying it back. You honor a gift by paying it forward.

This quote is by Adam Grant. Find out more at adamgrant.net

This month's Useful Fact

 Many young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, or of diverse sexualities and genders, LGBTQIA plus will experience higher rates of bullying, discrimination, self harm, suicidality, and other physical and mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression.

They experience these things not because of who they are, how they feel, or or how they identify, but due to external factors such as a lack of understanding and support from families, friends and service providers and in educational settings. One of the most effective ways to support young LGBTQIA plus people is through educating the whole school community, including teachers, staff and students, on creating a safer and inclusive learning environment for all students, which will help to support LGBTQIA plus students and understand the difference between sex, gender and sexuality.

 To find out more, go to reachout.com

This month's Instagram Highlight

What's on our mind? Glad you asked. Can you go from lovers to friends? We have some thoughts. Is it possible? What do you need to be aware of? Obviously, open and honest communication with clear and direct chats are needed to establish boundaries and realistic expectations.

Setting and communicating clear boundaries is great, but it's important to respect and stick to them. Keep checking in and adjusting when you need. You may need to take some time to adjust and give each other some space to process your feelings and move on in a healthy way.

Friendships are fluid. Sometimes we go through times where we are closer and other times where we are more distant, and that's okay. It's important to communicate when you feel uncomfortable, need a break from a friendship, or recognize that the friendship is no longer what you both want or need anymore. This can be hard and that's okay too.

Reach out to friends or professionals for support.

Follow us on Instagram to access more posts like this one.

This month's Campaign and Events

Be Unapologetic is a health promotion campaign by ACON's Can We project featuring LGBTQ plus community members who, in their own voice and style, talk about making choices to lower alcohol consumption.

These messages are about being comfortable in your own skin, making healthy choices and celebrating authenticity. The campaign focuses on what it means to live unapologetically, featuring LGBTQ plus community members, Benjamin Law, Kelly Lovemunster, Kirsty Webeck and Rudy Jean Rigg, in their unapologetic style, talking about making bold choices to lower alcohol consumption.

These messages are about being comfortable in your own skin.

Find out more at canwe.org.au

This month's Know Your Websites

The Forum of Australian Services to Survivors of Torture and Trauma has launched Witness to War, a free and confidential multilingual telephone hotline for people in Australia affected by overseas conflicts.

Staffed by mental health practitioners and bicultural support workers, Witness to War offers community members incidental counselling, information about available support and connections to other local services.

Witness to war staff can speak to call as an Arabic, Hebrew, Dari, Ukrainian, and English, and in other languages with an interpreter.

Find out more at fasstt double s double t.org.au/witness to war

This month's Who Are

In February 2024, Qtopia Sydney opened their doors to share the journey of the queer community in Australia. Qtopia is a welcoming and inclusive space devoted to the memory, education and celebration of the unique histories and lived experiences of the LGBTQIA plus community. A true cultural hub encompassing four unique locations, they have the largest footprint of any queer centre of history and culture in the world. They are storytellers committed to the core principles of empowerment and inclusivity.

Find out more at qtopiasydney.com.au

This month's On The Blog

One of our most popular blogs ever was Animal Sex. We do suspect that it wasn't what some people were looking for when it coughed up in a search engine.

 Anyway, seeing as we also get so much positive feedback from our animal selfie dating profile emails, we thought, let's just continue to anthropomorphise animals with a Part 2 blog edition of animal sex. What kicked off Part 2 was a quote from the ABC in January 2024.

“Polyamorous little penguins living in Phillip Island off Australia's southern coast are having so much sex there, and now more than

40, 000 of them, and it's all thanks to climate change”.

 Check out a great Instagram post on polyamory from Alex Trkulja, (she/her), the director of the Pleasure Centre and a certified sex relationship and body image therapist who works with all gender and sexual identities.

Read the whole blog at caddyshackproject.com

This month's Resource

The Gist is for young people who want real information about sex and relationships. If you learned about sex from porn or your school sex ed was too basic, this website is for you. This website is intended for young people aged 15 to 24 years.

It was made by sex education researchers at the Burnett and University of Melbourne, working with designers, artists, teachers and young people.

Find out more at thegist.org.au

This month's Diary Dates

For all our upcoming webinar dates, check our website where you can register for free and also complete free online modules on sexual and reproductive health in your own time.

You can read our monthly blog, find the map, which shows you where to access free condoms at services who are part of the Condom Dispenser Project in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven and order a free bag of 144 condoms, now with lube as well from Play Safe, New South Wales Health, Australia.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Caddyshack's Quickword.

We hope you learned something, found a useful link or can pass it on to a colleague, friend, or family member. You can find all the details on our homepage on the web at caddyshackproject. com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or check it out our On The Couch podcast series until next month.

Peace, love, and protection.