So much of women's lives and so many of our experiences are hushed up, not spoken about and hidden. The Hidden World of Women is focused on bringing awareness to the experiences of women. There is no shame, no secrecy. Just women talking openly about their and our experiences. We want to let women know that you aren't alone, we want to bring awareness and shine hope for women.
Episodes
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
In this weeks episode of the Hidden World of Women, Emma is joined by Serena.
Serena is one unit away from completing her masters in counselling and was diagnosed with ADHD when she was 54.
While this episode was going to focus on studying and careers with ADHD, in true ADHD fashion we went everywhere!
This episode talks about Serena’s path to diagnosis, her experiences as a child of a mother with ADHD and what it’s like starting a new career pathway in your 50’s.
One subject Serena talks about in depth are the ways in which women are often more expected to mask and hide their ADHD symptoms due to the societal expectations on how a woman “should” behave.
At 57 Serena is still unlearning those masking behaviours and marvels at her youngest daughter who doesn’t seem to have learned them while she and her eldest daughter learned ways to modify her behaviour to fit within a the expected mould.
Young boys are expected to be hyperactive, fidgety, athletic and to take part in risk taking behaviour and it’s theorised this is why young boys are less likely to hide their ADHD traits. It’s the disruptive nature of external ADHD symptoms that get children diagnosed early, while Serena internalised her symptoms and got comments on her report like “Serena needs to focus more but she’s a pleasure to have in class” which resulted in her learning to look like she was listening rather than actually developing the skills to listen and learn.
Serena talks about her academic career and the ways it has been shaped by her ADHD. In her life she’s jumped from passion project to passion project and had found she often wouldn’t work within the area afterwards. It’s only now she’s diagnosed and treated her ADHD that she feels like counselling will stick for her and that she’ll continue doing it after she graduates.
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested.
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
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We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Monday Nov 20, 2023
Monday Nov 20, 2023
In this week’s episode of the hidden world of Women we are joined by Ginger. Ginger has been in the adult industry for the last nine years and shared her experiences as a stripper and skimpy worker. She started stripping after returning from the UK and needing a job and source of income fast.
The social expectation of a stripper is that they’re people who have “gone off the rails.” (A real thing people have said to Ginger!) in Gingers case however it was her motivation to get and stay sober, her way to pay to go back to university to study Law and her way of travelling the country.
This episode talked about the experience of men trauma dumping on dancers. It’s not uncommon for people (typically men) to book a room to sit and talk saying ‘this will be the easiest money you make all night!’ The reality is the dancers are left with the pain and trauma that they have just heard with no time to process it before having to go back out with a happy smile to entertain the other patrons. Emma had expected stories of drunk men behaving inappropriately and was shocked to hear the high incidence of vicarious trauma.
Having stripped before and after Covid, Ginger has perspective on the way the industry was impacted by the pandemic, including stories of having to strip and give lap dances while still wearing a mask (which sounds so very sexy).
If you want to support people in your life who are thinking of this profession, remember to keep an open mind and be supportive! It’s hard work that takes skill.
Find Ginger on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gingerzephyr
Find Ginger on Instagram: @highvibehustler
Find Ginger on Tiktok: @gingerzephyr
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested.
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
In this weeks episode of the hidden world of women we continue the “Working Women” series. We’re joined by Kiah, a professional declutterer and organiser.
Kiah started her business in 2019 after her husband suggested that she use her skill set and passions and start Declutter with Kiah. With the support of her friends and family she started helping people make their spaces enjoyable to live in.
In this episode Emma and Kiah talk about shame, shame around not being able to do it alone, shame in asking for help. So many people are wrongly led to believe that being unable to keep their home organised without hiring external help is the sign they’re failing. Emma shared how she decided to start reframing the way she thought about asking for help, pointing out that when she hired someone to clean her home she was employing another woman and giving her the ability to provide for her family.
Kiah talked about the shame some people feel about having their clutter seen and the perception of judgement from other people. With all her clients she wants to make sure they know that she has seen it all. There is nothing embarrassing about needing help learning a skill.
Decluttering and organisation is a skill. People aren’t born innately understanding how to put things away, sort, organise and dispose of their possessions. Kiah’s father instilled in her the ability from a young age. Like you would hire a plumber to fix your sink you should think about hiring the right professional to help with your home.
To find Kiah on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/declutterwithKiah
To Find Kiah on Instagram: @declutterwithkiah
To find her website: https://declutterwithkiah.services/
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested.
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
October sees the celebration of Frocktober for ovarian cancer awareness. As we’re a women's health organisation we had to do an episode talking about it.
In this episode of The Hidden World of Women, Emma is joined by former host: Melanie Brown!
Melanie shares her story losing a friend to ovarian cancer and caring for someone who was dying. This experience prompted her to start participating in Frocktober, a month long event of wearing dresses every day to raise awareness and funds for ovarian cancer research.
This year Melanie is spending the month wearing her wedding dress. She talks about the experience of doing something so outrageous as a generally introverted person.
As Melanie and Emma are both passionate about healthcare, self advocacy and women's health they talked about the experience of being a patient and caring for a patient and as always the episode goes places that were unexpected and unplanned 😀
Here are the links Melanie mentioned in this episode:
Understanding ovarian cancer booklet (PDF): https://www.cancer.org.au/assets/pdf/understanding-ovarian-cancer-booklet
Latest research on a potential new blood test for ovarian cancer: https://www.ocrf.com.au/news/107/melbourne-team-on-the-verge-more-accurate-ovarian-cancer-test
Link between ovarian cancer & endometriosis: https://www.ocrf.com.au/news/108/ovarian-cancer-versus-endometriosis
The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation: https://www.ocrf.com.au/
Frocktober general info: https://www.ocrf.com.au/get-involved/fundraise-for-ovarian-cancer-research/frocktober
My Frocktober fundraising page: https://www.frocktober.org.au/my-fundraising/3516/melanie-brown
Instagram: @meljrobson
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested.
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
September is the month with the highest rate of births in Australia! In episode of Hidden World of Women we’re asking the question “what is a doula?” Emma sat down with Michelle to find out.
Michelle talked about how she felt like she’d been an unofficial doula for the last 20 years after helping advocate for her friends and family within the hospital system. She became a doula officially after she realised how difficult the medical system is to navigate alone and she wanted to do something to help people.
Often, when we think of a doula, people think of a hippy woman who’s job is alternative medicine or we think they’re some sort of midwife. For Michelle, she views her calling as filling in the gaps to support people in the birthing space, from fulfilling physical needs like bringing someone food or drinks to doing emotional support work reminding women in labour they have options and a voice that should be listened to.
Michelle and Emma are both passionate advocates for supporting families in the perinatal period and so they also discuss mental health, lowering standards, the importance of setting realistic expectations, as well as covering how to become a doula and the pros and cons of the role.
In the episode Emma spoke about the Preparing for Parenthood course, more info is available here:
Michelle spoke about Vicki Hobbs - Doula Training Academy, more info available here.
If you want to find Michelle her business is Perth Doula Services and you can find her website here: and her Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/PERTHDOULASERVICES
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested.
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Monday Sep 04, 2023
It’s women’s health week! Given this podcast is brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services (https://whws.org.au ) we couldn’t let it pass without a podcast episode related. This year’s theme is Grow Your Knowledge. As always there is a different prompt for each day and Monday is Check Me Out – women’s health checks including cervical screening self-collection, heart health and vulval self-checks. As we are still trying to focus on our theme of different occupations Emma was a little bit creative and spoke with Kath Mazella OAM who is a multi-award recipient gynaecological health advocate.
The episode covers Kath’s career and the personal story that led her here and it’s done in the usual Hidden World of Women meandering way. Kath is a survivor of vulva cancer and uses her experience to motivate her activism for women’s health. In today’s episode Kath speaks about her experience recovering for cancer, the search for community, her experiences entering the women’s health field including some of the barriers and the progress that has been made since she started working. Kath said that a big motivator for her to start working was hearing the stories of other women who had suffered like she had. Recently the Australian government put out a call asking people to share their stories. This call aims to provide information that would guide positive change. If you have a story you’d like to share please click the link below. https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-ged-kearney-mp/media/call-for-women-to-share-their-stories Kath also speaks about wearing vulva socks as an easy way to support gynaecological research.
Today the staff at King Edwards memorial hospital are wearing them to help destigmatise and start conversations about vulval health. https://agcf.org.au On the 10th of September at Kings Park Kulbardi Pavillon, there is a picnic being hosted to help raise awareness for gynaecological and vulva health. Bring your picnic gear and celebrate a great cause.
If you want more information on Women’s Health Week you can check out the Jean Hailes site https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/womens-health-week with information about each day’s prompt. If you want to get in touch with Kath you can find her website here https://www.kathmazzella.com/
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
In this week’s episode of Working Women, Emma spoke with Kitty Woodhouse, The Maiden of Metal. Kitty shared her experience as a professional metal artist.
Emma asked about what drew Kitty to metal art (a broken gate that will one day be fixed….maybe) her experiences learning the craft (spite is apparently a good motivator) and the impact it has on Kitty’s mental health.
In te episode Kitty spoke about having PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and agoraphobia (https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/agoraphobia?fbclid=IwAR0wrC63VXhtFNtU4CD75RGpiZo80EvN3Epn3vLjzElZN2kP-2ezpUtuh7E) . She describes her work teaching metal workshops as “intense exposure therapy” that forces her to face her fears head on.
When asked about how to start metal work Kitty gave a list including TAFE courses, YouTube or you could learn from Kitty herself in one or the workshops she runs for “Women on the tools.”
You can follow Kitty on socials
Instagram: @the.maiden.of.metal https://www.instagram.com/the.maiden.of.metal/?fbclid=IwAR0JK2ALs9uOtOmVEOKINCx-Ymc6T0gl9UVrDBP64N53IxHjYAOEAA4YusI
Facebook: @themaidenofmetal
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100083096270970
Check Out Women on the Tools: @WOTTPerth
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100077399405954
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
In this second episode of the ‘Working Women’ series Emma spoke to Linda Gerwar. Linda is a truck driver on the mines in Western Australia. Mining is something people talk about a lot but you don’t necessarily hear about the specific jobs on site.
In this episode they talked about Linda’s career change later in life and the motivations for it, what drew her to the mining industry in particular and the parts of fly in fly out (FIFO) work that you wouldn’t expect.
Linda has spent 4 years on mine sites and started working on sites with her husband (which is one of her favourite parts of the job!) in that time she has been both trainee and trainer driving the big trucks. She started driving them when she was 57 with no experience driving big trucks and perhaps even a more than healthy dose of fear of them, proving it is never too late to try something new that excites you and it doesn’t matter if you’ve never done it before!
Throughout the episode Linda stresses that if FIFO or mining work interests you that you should give it a try for 3 months. In that time, you’ll have the opportunity to try it fully and get a feel for the routine.
For Linda and her husband the routine works well.
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Welcome back people! After a hiatus we return with a new series “Working Women.” This series was created after numerous conversations with women saying they don’t know what they want to be when they grow up (some of these women were in their 40s, 50s and 60s and some were in their teens and 20s) and one of the reasons; they just don’t know what’s out there. To try and shed some light on different employment options, this series will talk to women from all walks of life.
Our first episode in this series is interviewing Delza Skye. Delza is a beautician and burlesque dancer, performer and teacher. In this episode we talk about what drew her to the world of beauty (who knew you could enjoy giving pedicures?) and the ways her career has changed throughout the years she’s been doing it. She also talked about how she started burlesque dancing and the ways it has changed her self perception, body confidence and bravery. She went from a very shy woman who wouldn’t go to the beach in a bikini to confidently getting down to pasties in front of an audience (with her mum watching!)
Delza also runs a burlesque school in Perth “Skye high burlesque” for more information on the classes she offers check out her website:
https://delzaskye.com/workshops-shows/
Or find her on Facebook (Skye High Burlesque) and Instagram (@delzaskye or @skyehighburlesque)
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/
Monday Nov 28, 2022
Monday Nov 28, 2022
November is PRIDE month in Australia. Pride month provides an opportunity to celebrate the impact that LGBTQIA+ community has had on the world. For many in the Pride community it is a chance to celebrate how far we have come as a society (while still recognising that we have a long way to go!)
In this episode I spoke with Emma Atkinson about her experience living in a heterosexual marriage with two children and then, after divorce, exploring her sexual identity and questioning who she is attracted to. We touched on ‘coming out’ to her mum and children, what it was like to not only navigate dating after years of marriage (when the internet wasn’t even invented the last time she was dating, let alone internet dating!) but dating in a same sex relationship for the first time, we talk about labels, acceptance and the celebration that Pride can be as well as so many other topics in between.
In the episode Emma spoke about a TV show but couldn’t remember the name, it was It’s a Sin.
I am always grateful that people agree to be guests and they are so open with sharing their experiences. This interview is Emma’s public ‘coming out’ so I am beyond grateful that she trusted me enough to participate in the podcast episode. Thank you!
The Hidden World of Women is a podcast brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services. Help us get the word out about the podcast by hitting subscribe and sharing it with people you know who may be interested.
And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with what we are offering at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services www.whws.org.au
Check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthandwellbeingservices
We also continue to add content to our Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju-8oH3lDHZYi18wvgSJTQ
WHWS (and this podcast) rely on donations to support our community. If you would like to make a donation you can head to our Give Now page. https://www.givenow.com.au/whws
Or check out The Hidden World of You our online learning platform https://hiddenworldofyou.com.au/