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Being (human) Well

Welcome to the Being - Well website. My aim is to share infomation to assist people to manage stress and reduce the symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma. This infomation is based on my understanding of published medical and scientific peer reviewed research, my clinical experience as a medical practitioner and my personal experience.

I have been fortunate to have lived in Gippsland for nearly forty years, working as a GP focusing on psychological medicine and relationship therapy.

Times of change....

This is a time of rapid change.

Humans are polluting and damaging the air, land and ocean, warming the planet and severely damaging the natural world.

Fortunately we have the knowledge to understand what is happening and the technology and resources to stop the damage and work towards rebalancing the climate system and heal nature.

The advances in clean energy, electrification of transport, medical and food production technology as well as rapid progress in automation, artifical intelligence and medical and food technology provide us with the possibilty of transforming our global society to one where all people have access to comfortable housing, abundant energy, healthy food, information, education and good healthcare. These changes will allow us to produce healthy food sustainably on a much smaller area of land. This will free up large areas of ocean and land for reforestation, restoration and rewilding.

The devastating bushfires of 2019/2020, the repeated floods and the COVID 19 pandemic have been difficult and heartbreaking.

It has been inspiring to see so many people in our community reach out to others with offers of help. Kindness is a powerful antidote to fear and loneliness.

Many people have lost jobs, livelihoods, and have had their dreams dashed. As we rebuild we have an opportunity to make a kinder, fairer, and more inclusive community.

The Australian Medical Association president has officially stated "The scientific reality is that climate change affects health and wellbeing by increasing the situations in which infectious diseases can be transmitted, and through more extreme weather events, particularly heatwaves." AMA statement on climate change.

This is a time for each of us to think about our dreams for a better future, to talk with others about our ideas, listen to them and to support each other.

The fires, floods and the COVID 19 pandemic has shown us some important facts including: 1) We really are all in this together. 2) We can make rapid changes to protect each other, and 3) Being guided by good science works.

By working together we have saved tens of thousands of lives and avoided severe illness, trauma, grief and suffering for many more people. If we apply a similar approach to tackling inequality and climate change as well as protecting and restoring nature we CAN create a clean, fair, and flourishing community and world.