This week Isabela sits down and goes through three things that happened during the month of June - the wildfires in Canada, important news regarding plasma donations in Australia, and the recent riots in France.

As always, we are so grateful for every single person that listens and shares. When you get a moment, we'd be so grateful if you left a review on Apple Podcasts, rated us on Spotify, or tagged us in your stories on Instagram, @amateuractivistpod

This episode was recorded using Zencastr. Use my special link (https://zen.ai/theamateuractivist) and use (theamateuractivist) to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr

Connect with me on Instagram, @belagiirrll

This week the Amateur Activist brings you a conversation on allyship. It's the middle of June, and the world is celebrating Pride Month. There are a lot of exciting things that we can be a part of as activists, queer people, allies, etc. This week, we look at what allyship can look like this month (and beyond), if Christians can really be allies towards the queer community, and the cost we should be counting as allies.

As always, we are so grateful for every single person that listens and shares. When you get a moment, we'd be so grateful if you left a review on Apple Podcasts, rated us on Spotify or tagged us in your stories on Instagram, @amateuractivistpod

This episode was recorded using Zencastr: Use my special link (https://zen.ai/theamateuractivist) and use (theamateuractivist) to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr 

Connect with me on Instagram @belagiirrl

This week the Amateur Activist sits down to talk about mental health - her own history and experiences with mental illness, how to manage your own mental health in relationships, how to navigate feeling like a burden and unlearning toxic independence & learning how to be dependent and reliant on people. Isabela is vulnerable and honest in how she sees herself, in some of the things she continues to struggle with, as well as some of the things she's learned that have helped her take care of her mental health, learn how to ask for help, and be more comfortable letting those who love her take care of her.

As always, we are so grateful for every single person that listens and shares. When you get a moment, we'd be so grateful if you left a review on Apple Podcasts, rated us on Spotify or tagged us in your stories on Instagram, @amateuractivistpod.

This episode was recorded using Zencastr: Use my special code (theamateuractivist) to save 30% on your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr

Connect with me on Instagram @belagiirrll

This week the Amateur Activist sits down with you for a one-on-one and sheds some light on the behind-the-scenes of how she engaged with current events and news this week. Isabela highlights the sources and news platforms she goes to in order to inform herself, how she picks which topic to do a deep dive into, and goes a little deeper into two big things that happened in American news recently. 

As always, we are so grateful for every single person that listens and shares. Let us know how you engage with news and what you’d like more information on by connecting with us on Instagram, @amateuractivistpod

This episode was recorded using Zencastr: Use my special link (https://zen.ai/theamateuractivist) and use (theamateuractivist) to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr 

Connect with me on Instagram @belagiirrll

This week, the Amateur Activist is joined by Kate Boyd (for the second time!). Kate is a writer, Bible teacher, and host of the Happy & Holy podcast. Kate's first book has just been published, and Isabela gets an opportunity to talk to her about untangling, the journey back to church, and all the bits Isabela loved about the book. If you haven't listened to the first episode with Kate Boyd on the Messy Middle, we encourage you to go listen to that as well (it's a good one).

This episode was recorded using Zencastr: Use my special link (https://zen.ai/theamateuractivist) and use (theamateuractivist) to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr

You can connect with Kate at:

Website: kateboyd.co

Instagram: @kateboyd.co

Twitter: @thekateboyd

This week Isabela is joined by Jocelyn Clark. Jocelyn is a registered nurse who specialises in women's health, has a Master of Women's Health Medicine, is a midwife and currently juggles multiple roles, one of which is her work as a clinical nurse specialist working in women's health clinics caring for women who may not want to access mainstream healthcare. She is extremely passionate about helping women and education.

This week, Isabela and Jocelyn discuss a variety of topics regarding the body - how to examine your breast and chest area, what vaginismus is, the myths and misconceptions about the vulva and vagina, and how they both feel about hormonal birth control. They cover it all (or at the very least, a lot).

This episode was recorded using Zencastr: Use my special link (https://zen.ai/theamateuractivist) and use (theamateuractivist) to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr

A big thank you to David Andrew for producing the music for this season. Follow him here.

If you've been around since July 2021, thank you. Thank you for listening to episodes, for sending kind words and for sharing episodes that made you think or feel something. It's March 2023 and we are launching season 2 of Amateur Activist shortly and I am so bloody excited. I'd love it if you would listen to this short 2.5-minute trailer for season 2 so we're all on the same page.

If you're new here and found this space while I was on summer break, this small re-introduction to this space would be a great place to start.

A massive thank you to David Andrew for producing the music that will be featured on every episode this season.

A big thank you to Jana Preuss for the photography for this season's cover.

And I have to thank all of you that continue to listen & share episodes.

This week Isabela is joined by Susan Smith, a seasoned counsellor whose help and guidance have helped and impacted countless people. She obtained her BA in Behavioural Science from Swinburne University, her Diploma in Counselling from the Australian Institute of Counselling and a Graduate Certificate in Pastoral Counselling from NFP Leadership College. This week, they discussed attachment styles and models - what they are, how we can identify ourselves in one of th models and why it's important to know which style you most engage in and how this impacts how you engage in activism.

This episode was recorded using Zencastr: Use my special link (https://zen.ai/theamateuractivist) and use (theamateuractivist) to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr

A big thank you to David Andrew for producing the music for this season. Follow him here.

The Amateur Activist is joined by author, media commentator, blogger, and advocate for women and girls - Melinda Tankard Reist. Melinda is best known for her work addressing sexualisation, objectification, the harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women. She recently authored her 7th book, He Chose P*rn Over Me. She is also one of the founders of the grassroots campaigning movement Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation. Collective Shout names and shames corporations, advertisers, and marketers who objectify women and sexualise girls to sell products & services.

In this episode, Melinda and Isabela talk about the effects of pornography on young people, the lie that the porn industry sells to young women in particular about sexual liberation and empowerment, and why we as amateur activists should care about this issue at all. 

This episode does discuss sensitive material regarding the effects of porn on relationships and the effect is has on children as young as Year 4 who are effected by the porn they watch and the pornified culture they are growing up in. 

You can connect with Melinda on Instagram, here, or head to her website. 

You can connect with and follow Collective Shout on Instagram, here, or on their website.

Melinda's new book, He Chose P*rn Over Me, is available here. 

We are wrapping up our first season of Amateur Activist and we would love to connect with and hear from you! If you enjoy the show and episodes, could you take a moment to rate and review the podcast on your platform of choice? This helps new listeners find us. 

You can connect with Amateur Activist here or with Isabela here.