{"podcast":{"title":"Sober Awkward","slug":"sober-awkward-3755954","podcast_index_feed_id":3755954,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6595ff3d9616e6001613f21f","website_url":"https://soberawkward.com","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6595ff3d9616e6001613f21f/1769653010047-dccec8a0-9cea-4376-b2b2-14885759a862.jpeg","author":"Victoria Vanstone","episode_count":414,"summary":"Winner, Best Well-Being Podcast at The Australian Podcast Awards 2024 Have you ever woken up after a big night out and declared, “I’m never drinking again,” only to find yourself waving $50 at a barman by Happy Hour? Yep, Vic’s been there too. Join Victoria Vanstone, award-winning podcaster, author, and former binge-drinking party animal, as she explores what it’s really like to be sober in a world absolutely soaked in alcohol. Each week on Sober Awkward, Vic dives into boozy topics, social pressures, anxiety, identity wobbles, and the messy reality of quitting drinking, opening up the shame shed of humiliating stories so you don’t have to feel alone in yours. With humour, honesty, and zero judgement, Vic tells it like it is, from vomit and one-night stands to life on the other side of destructive drinking. If you’ve hit a wall, you’re fed up with anxiety, headaches, and blackouts, or you’re just quietly sober-curious, pop the kettle on and learn how to feel the awkward, and do it anyway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-25T04:19:56.661306+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954"},"episode":{"title":"Sober in the Country - with Shanna Whan AM","slug":"sober-in-the-country-with-shanna-whan-am","published_at":"2026-05-17T14:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954/sober-in-the-country-with-shanna-whan-am","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954","url":"https://soberawkward.com","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6595ff3d9616e6001613f21f/e/69f5d6ede11f5963ab94eb07/media.mp3","summary":"It feels like this conversation has been a long time coming. Vic is genuinely honoured to have Shanna Whan AM on the podcast this week. Shanna is the founder and CEO of Sober in the Country, a national grassroots charity that’s been driving radical social impact and real change across rural and remote Australia over the past decade. Through laser-focused bush advocacy, peer-to-peer support, and a refreshingly straightforward message, she’s helping shift a deeply ingrained culture. And the message is one we can all get behind, whether we drink or not: it’s always #OK2SAYNO to booze. Shanna was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2025 for her significant contributions to rural community health. She was named National Australian of the Year (Local Hero) in 2022, and also took out Marie Claire’s national Advocate of the Year award that same year. So yes… she’s not just talking about change, she’s making it happen. In this episode, they chat about life in rural Australia, the pressure to be strong, stoic, and self-reliant in farming communities, the isolation of rural life, and how hard it can be to say no to alcohol when it’s so deeply ingrained. They also explore how that’s starting to shift, slowly, but meaningfully. And they establish very early on that Vic would absolutely not survive in the outback, (even if she did have a hat with corks hanging off it!) This one takes you beyond the front gate and into the reality of life in the outback, an honest, eye-opening conversation with a truly remarkable human. To find out more about Shanna and her incredible work head to https://www.soberinthecountry.org or follow them on socials @sober_in_the_country and to help raise awareness please add #OK2SAYNO to your socials. 💛 Resources & Links 📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousan…","meta_description":"It feels like this conversation has been a long time coming. Vic is genuinely honoured to have Shanna Whan AM on the podcast this week. Shanna is the foun…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3048,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sober-awkward-3755954/episodes/sober-in-the-country-with-shanna-whan-am/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954/sober-in-the-country-with-shanna-whan-am.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}