Go Well

Living A Life With Purpose: RONNI KAHN

In this interview, Presenter of Go Well Cate Mercer speaks with Ronni Kahn AO, social entrepreneur and founder of food rescue charity in Australia OzHarvest. OzHarvest is a non-denominational charity that rescues excess food which would otherwise be discarded. The food is then distributed to charities that support the disadvantaged and vulnerable around Australia. OzHarvest now "delivers the equivalent of 25 million meals a year that would otherwise be dumped". Ronni also created the NESTprogram – Nutrition, Education & Sustenance Training – which aims to educate vulnerable Australians about nutrition and healthy eating, providing valuable life skills to disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Ronni has been known to say that "If food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of carbon and methane gas after the US and China".

Art Therapy: CARLA VAN LAAR

Presented Cate Mercer talks with Carla van Laar who is an Artist and Arts Therapist who currently lives and works in Victoria, South Eastern Australia, on the traditional lands of the Boon Wurrung people in Inverloch. Carla has 30 years’ experience working with people and the arts for health and wellbeing in community organisations, justice, health and education contexts. She has also lectured and supervised Art Therapy students and insists on being part of a creative revolution in which art re-embodies lived experience, brings us to our senses, makes us aware of the interconnectedness of all life and is an agent of social change. 

Michael Lockwood: Living with Treatment Resistant Depression and ECT

Michael has a Master of Creative Industries from Queensland University of Technology, and a professional career that spans across senior executive government positions. With a lived experience of mental illness, Michael was diagnosed with treatment resistant depression ten years ago. Today, Michael manages his illness with a healthy lifestyle, medication and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). He spends his spare time nurturing his creative passions which include outback photography and videography.

DR DEBRA CAMPBELL: Psychology and Where Its At

Debra is an author and psychologist consulting on everything from relationships to panic, depression, anxiety and grief. The desire to continually deepen her understanding of psychology led to her PhD with her thesis on love and emotional intelligence won the Relationships Thesis Award from The Australian Psychological Society. Debra’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals in Australia and the US including Spirituality in Clinical Practice and The International Journal of Yoga Therapy. 

MIRANDA MUELLER: Permaculture

Miranda Mueller lives in the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, Australia. Her business Go to Ground, is a herb and vegetable seedling nursery, that adds to her simple lifestyle, rich with activism and a love of all things green. Miranda’s passion however is permaculture and she regularly opens her farm gates to encourage others to reconnect with the art of growing food, for people's health as well as for the earth's wellbeing.

Dr Elissa Burton: Healthy Living Strategies for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Older Adults

Dr Elissa Burton is a qualified sports scientist and Senior Research Fellow at Curtin University in Western Australia (WA). Elissa’s research focuses on helping older adults to live in their home for as long as they choose, through healthy living strategies. Much of Elissa’s work has been with older adults who receive home care services, preventing falls in this population, and encouraging healthy older adults to participate more in strength and balance training. Elissa is currently conducting a large NHMRC research study in WA for people living with mild cognitive impairment to reduce the rate of cognitive decline and falls and improve physical health and quality of life.

Ronni Kahn: Living A Life With Purpose

Ronni Kahn is a social entrepreneur and founder of Australian food rescue charity OzHarvest that distributes food to the disadvantaged around Australia. OzHarvest delivers the equivalent of 25 million meals a year that would otherwise be dumped. Ronni also created the NESTprogram – Nutrition, Education & Sustenance Training – which aims to educate vulnerable Australians about nutrition and healthy eating, providing valuable life skills to disadvantaged and marginalised communities.

Ben Milbourn: Autism and Lived Experience

Dr Ben Milbourn, Ph. D is Senior Lecturer, (teaching and research) in Occupational Therapy, Curtin School of Allied Health-Curtin University, Western Australia. Ben trained as an occupational therapist (OT) in the United Kingdom (UK), working in New Zealand, Australia and the UK practising occupational therapy in mental health and disability.  Ben is a member of Curtin Autism Research Group (CARG) and is interested in research with a strong community focus, working alongside autistic individuals to promote social inclusion, wellbeing and positive mental health. Ben is passionate about co-produced research and developing strengths-based programs in the community. In this conversation with Cate Mercer, Autism and lived experience is discussed.

Carla Van Laar: Art Therapy

Carla van Laar is an Artist and Arts Therapist. Carla currently lives and works in Victoria, South Eastern Australia, on the traditional lands of the Boon Wurrung people in Inverloch. Carla has 30 years’ experience working with people and the arts for health and wellbeing in community organisations, justice, health and education contexts. She has also lectured and supervised Art Therapy students at a number of institutions and in 2018 received an Artist Fellowship at RMIT’s creative research lab, “Creative Agency”. She insists on being part of a creative revolution in which art re-embodies lived experience, brings us to our senses, makes us aware of the interconnectedness of all life and is an agent of social change. Carla’s first book “Bereaved Mother’s Heart” broke social taboos about maternal grief, and her latest book “Seeing her stories,” is based on her Doctoral research and continues her mission of making unseen stories visible through art.

Karin Lindgaard: Embodiment Therapies and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy

Karin Lindgaard has a PhD in philosophy from Swinburne University in Australia and is a registered Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist. In this podcast, Cate Mercer asks Karin to explain embodiment therapies, and how they can be useful as a different approach to mental health and wellness. Karin has also written a book about feeling and embodiment entitled Taking Heart and Making Sense: Feeling in the Body in the World.