We are activating a groundswell of people, all taking action to build more compassionate, safe and high quality health and aged care services.
Learn more about the revolution“We urgently need to build a world where we are supported and encouraged to notice the distress in ourselves and others and act to alleviate that distress with the support from those around us.”
– Mary Freer
Dr. Neil Cunningham is an Emergency Physician at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. He is a passionate advocate for junior doctor welfare and training and was awarded the Victorian Clinical Educator of the Year in 2017, and has just taken on the role of Clinical Director, Medical Workforce. and has recently taken on the role of Director of Medical Workforce.
Nellie Flagg (nee Taylor /Charles) is a descendant and Traditional landowner of Wemba Wemba, Dja Dja Wurrung and Boonwurrung. Nellie has worked for and with Aboriginal people for over 30 years. Nellie lives in Wathaurong Country (Geelong) and is married with two sons and three grandchildren. Over the years, Nellie has worked in community in many different roles, within State and Commonwealth government agencies as well as community organisations. Many of Nellie’s roles have been state-wide positions, which have given her the opportunity to grow and develop and have an impact on matters regarding Aboriginal Affairs. During this time, Nellie has had the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and has built up a great, respectful relationship with people all over Australia. Nellie is proud of who she is and where she has come from.
Karen is passionate about community development, public health, gender equity, communication, the arts and social justice and the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Contributing to these environments inspires her do her best. Her work as Prevention Coordinator for cohealth includes Wellness Dreaming – a strength-based training program which enables people to focus on what’s strong, not what’s wrong in the lives and communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Karen is also a writer, presenter and MC and civil celebrant.
Kim is an independent consultant, coach and facilitator. She is an experienced CEO and strategic thinker with over 30 years of management and leadership practice. She has worked in all aspects of Mental Health service delivery across the age range in hospital and community settings. Kim is well known for her advocacy role at VICSERV (now Mental Health Victoria) and as part of Community Mental Health Australia (CMHA). In 2017 she was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in recognition of her contribution to mental health.
Kim consults to a wide range of organisations including the National Disability Insurance Agency, DHHS and a range of mental health, domestic violence and refugee health community organisations. She has completed a Master’s of Business Leadership at RMIT, Postgraduate Certificate of Executive and Organisational Coaching at Swinburne University and is a qualified meditation teacher. She is also a registered occupational therapist (AHPRA: OCC 0001984633).
Micaela Cronin has held leadership and service delivery roles across a broad range of fields, both in Australia and internationally. In April 2019 Micaela moved back to Australia to take up the role of Director at the Future Social Service Institute in Melbourne. Prior to that spent three years living in Cambodia, as the global CEO for Hagar International, working across Asia and building global service delivery and strategic partnerships to tackle human trafficking and human rights abuses.
Micaela is proud to be a third-generation social worker, following in the footsteps of trail blazing women in her family. In 2014, Micaela was awarded the Robyn Clark Memorial Award for service and leadership in the children, youth and family services sector. She is also a past CEO of MacKillop Family Services and has extensive leadership and governance experience including being President of both the Victorian Council of Social Services, and the Australia Council of Social Services.
On the 15th of December 2014, the country came to a standstill as news broke that a gunman was holding ten customers and eight employee’s hostage at the Lindt Café in Martin Place, Sydney.
Louisa Hope and her mother Robin had visited the café for a cup of coffee on an ordinary Monday morning. They were trapped for 16 terrifying hours until the Police Tactical Operations Unit stormed the café. Fifty-four year old Louisa, who has multiple sclerosis, was chosen by the gunman as a human shield. Though she suffered a bullet wound to the foot, Louisa and her mother were blessed to survive the ordeal.
Louisa spent much of the next three months in Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick. As an expression of gratitude for her care and determined to get something good out of the terrible situation, she founded the Louisa Hope Fund for Nurses. The Fund has been her ‘happy place’ since the siege, providing grants for equipment, education and research.
Gregory Phillips is from the Waanyi and Jaru Aboriginal Australian peoples, and comes from Cloncurry and Mount Isa. He is a medical anthropologist, with twenty-five years’ experience in leading change.
He developed an accredited Indigenous health curriculum for all medical schools in Australia and New Zealand, founded the Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network, and co-wrote a national Indigenous health workforce strategy. He established the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation Ltd in the wake of the federal apology to Indigenous Australians, has advised federal ministers on Indigenous health inequality, and was honoured in 2011 with an ADC Australian Leadership Forum Award.
Gregory has a PhD (‘Dancing With Power: Aboriginal Health, Cultural Safety and Medical Education’), a research master’s degree in medical science (‘Addictions and Healing in Aboriginal Country’; published as a book in 2003), and a bachelor degree in arts (Aboriginal Studies and Government majors).
Gregory is Chief Executive Officer of ABSTARR Consulting and is a Professor of First People’s Health in the School of Medicine at Griffith University (Adjunct). He serves on several boards and committees, including chairing the Cathy Freeman Foundation and AHPRA and the Australian Medical Council’s Indigenous health strategy groups.
Dr Isabel Hanson is a physician, writer, yoga and mindfulness facilitator, and a passionate advocate for a more kind and compassionate world. She is the Resident Wellbeing Officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where she recently founded an all-staff hospital choir to promote joy in healthcare.
She is an executive committee member at Life for Koori Kids, a community non profit supporting inner city Aboriginal families. Before her career in medicine, Isabel worked as a Policy Analyst in the Prime Minister’s Department, and taught Political Economy and conducted research in Behavioural Economics at UNSW. Most recently she coauthored Healing Alone, a narrative comic in The Guardian that has been translated into Spanish, Mandarin and French to be used as a teaching aid at medical schools across the world.
Safdar Ahmed is a Sydney based artist and academic. He is the author of Reform and Modernity in Islam (IB Taurus) and the Walkley Award-winning documentary web-comic Villawood: Notes from an immigration detention centre. He is a founding member of Refugee Art Project, for which he conducts regular art workshops with asylum seekers and refugees in Western Sydney.
Safdar is currently working on a graphic novel about the refugee issue in Australia, called Still Alive, to be published later this year by Twelve Panel Press.
Lucy Mayes is an author, facilitator, presenter, story catcher, wisdom collector, space holder, team builder, purpose finder, consultant & coach. Her work focuses on compassionate, humanist, authentic leadership for our times, and on developing individuals, teams, organisations and communities to enhance wellbeing, connection and purpose. Lucy’s unique skillset draws on her background as a lawyer, company director and social worker, having worked across multiple settings including corporate, education, local government and not for profit. Lucy’s pioneering work in leadership development has been recognised with her being awarded the Australian Rural Women’s Award, Victorian Runner Up in 2008, and a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow in 2000. She is author of Beyond the Stethoscope: doctors’ stories of reclaiming hope, heart and healing in medicine, inspired her doctor husband’s journey with burnout. The book is a collection of raw, intimate, provocative and inspiring stories of surviving and thriving in medicine, by compassion warriors across Australia, New Zealand and internationally.
Adjunct Professor David Plunkett is the Chief Executive of Eastern Health.
David has worked at Eastern Health since 2002 and was appointed Chief Executive in September 2016. David is responsible to the Board of Directors for the overall management and performance of Eastern Health. Prior to this appointment, David was the Executive Director of Acute Health/Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, along with a number of other roles. David’s focus on the patient and outcomes has been enhanced by his work as a surveyor with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. Prior to joining Eastern Health, David held senior roles at Epworth Richmond and Latrobe Regional Hospital. He holds an MBA, is a GAICD and is a fully qualified perioperative (theatre) nurse.
Mark Crosweller is currently the Head of the National Resilience Taskforce for the Department of Home Affairs within the Australian Government. In this role, Mark is responsible for liaising extensively at the national level across governments, NGOs and the private sector to lead nation-wide reform to reduce the impact of disasters on Australian communities and the economy through disaster mitigation and resilience policy.
Mark’s extensive career spans across the private sector as well as local, state, territory and federal governments. During this time Mark has led large and diverse workforces at division, group and agency level in all aspects of strategy, operations and corporate governance.
In his previous role over a five year period as Director General of Emergency Management Australia, Mark was responsible for the coordination of Australia’s response to crises, including natural disasters and to terrorist and security related incidents both domestically and internationally. Mark also led and directed National Emergency Management Strategy and Policy and the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements as well as coordinating the delivery of protective security to Australia’s Holders of High Office, events of special significance and to the diplomatic community within Australia. He was also responsible for briefing Australia’s Prime Minister and the Cabinet of the Australian Government in relation to all aspects of disaster management.
Rachel Callander is a TEDx presenter, speaker, trainer, award winning artist and the author of the Outstanding Book of the Year Award 2015 IPPY New York, Super Power Baby Project. This exceptional book celebrates the lives and abilities of children with chromosomal or genetic conditions, and was inspired by Rachel’s late daughter Evie, who was born with a very rare condition herself. This book is Evie’s legacy, as is Rachel herself, and both have much to teach us about ourselves, and how we negotiate conflict, grief, hope, uniqueness, celebration, and a meaningful life.
Rachel is a highly sought-after speaker at conferences around Australia and NZ. She teaches how the first words used at diagnosis critically shape how a parent perceives their future: the words can allow the parent to be their best, and find meaning even in pain; or they can create anger, mistrust, frustration, and can break down the crucial relationship between the parent and the health professional.
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Tony Walker ASM is Chief Executive Officer of Ambulance Victoria. He is a Registered Paramedic with over three decades experience working in a range of senior clinical, operational and leadership roles within the ambulance sector. Over the past four years Tony has led significant transformation at Ambulance Victoria to improve the health and wellbeing of their workforce and the response they provide to the community.
Tony holds an adjunct appointment as Associate Professor in the College of Health and Biomedicine at Victoria University and is a Fellow of Paramedics Australasia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders, and a Board Director of the Emergency Services Foundation, the Australasian Council of Ambulance Authorities and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. Tony is a recipient of the Ambulance Service Medal (ASM) for his contribution to the development of ambulance services at a state and national level and has also been awarded the National Heart Foundation President’s Award and the Australian Resuscitation Council Medal for his significant contributions to improving cardiovascular health and resuscitation practice and outcomes.
Dr Marie Bismark is a medical practitioner and health law academic, who leads the Law and Public Health Group at the University of Melbourne. In addition to her academic role, Marie works in psychiatry with Melbourne Health and serves on the board of a number of health sector companies, including GMHBA Health Insurance and Summerset aged care. In 2004-2005 she completed a Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy at Harvard University, researching alternatives to medical malpractice litigation. Marie has published widely on patient safety and healthcare complaints resolution. Marie and her husband Matthew have three teenage children.
Dr Ari Horton’s infectious focus on compassion and kindness in healthcare, even in critical care settings, is part of a sustained process for supporting a revolution in the way we think about holistic healthcare and wellbeing
Committed to improving workplace culture, education, clinical ethics and communication, his research looks toward improving the outcomes and journeys of staff as well as patients and families by reforming the system. Having recently completed his training journey he has a particular focus on the care of junior staff and students in the hospital system.
Mary Freer is a social change maker and a much needed voice for a braver posture of compassion in our health and aged care services across the world.
Mary has a long career in healthcare having worked as a clinical social worker, policy writer, primary care manager, national health executive and now as the Executive Producer of Compassion Revolution and Director of Freerthinking.
Dr Ian Summers is an Emergency Physician and Educator and Director of Simulation at Monash Health. He has been Director of Emergency Training at St Vincent’s and helped recruit and set up the emergency team at Casey Hospital as its initial deputy director. You can find him out wandering through the bush with his family, taking photographs of sunsets or wildlife. (Instagram @summphotos) or on twitter as @IanMeducator.
Dr Robin Youngson is a physician and anaesthetic specialist in New Zealand, internationally renowned for his leadership promoting compassion in healthcare. He is the CoFounder of ‘Hearts in Healthcare’, a global social movement for health professionals, students, patient activists, health managers and all those passionate about rehumanising healthcare.
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We live on a planet inhabited by 7.53 billion people. Half of the world’s wealth is now in the hands of 1% of the population. In a world full of injustice and inequity, violence, war and famine there are striking moments of care, compassion, love and bravery. We need to create systems and micro interactions that grow compassion and kindness.
We all have the right to feel safe. Our health and aged care systems must provide high quality and safe services without compromising a compassionate approach to both patients, clients and staff.
We need to continue to strive towards creating a world where we are all safe to move freely in the world. A world that addresses sexism, racism, domestic violence, homophobia and ageism.
Despite the hyper-connectedness of the modern world, loneliness and isolation are still very much with us. Loneliness has real and damaging health consequences.
A compassionate response builds connection and finds ways to bring people together.
Gill is globally known as a survivor of the London terrorist Bombings on 7 July 7, 2005.
There are few people who have endured such unimaginable trauma and are able to rejoice and celebrate just being alive. Equally there are few people who can speak about a tragic event in such an engaging and uplifting manner. Her appreciation and gratitude is infectious and offers a brilliant reminder of just how precious our lives are.
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Shannon leads efforts to end HIV by day and hangs anonymous love notes in public spaces with her three teenagers by night. She is a serial social entrepreneur, having launched several HIV-informed sexual and reproductive health initiatives that have served thousands locally and impacted tens of thousands around the globe.
Shannon has received the 2018 UCSF Chancellor’s Award for Public Service, and has taught on stages from Durban to Hong Kong. Shannon has published over 30 peer reviewed articles and is the author of Show Up Hard: A Roadmap for Helpers in Crisis.
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Dr Fiona Kerr is founder of the NeuroTech Institute, an independent body working at the intersection of neuroscience, emerging technology and ethical practice.
Fiona advises and works with organisations ranging from US Defense to Cirque du Soleil, with projects including how soldiers interact with autonomous systems in decision making, how to design multimodal gadgets which have a positive cognitive impact, and why face-to-face interaction with a nurse makes a patient heal better.
She is an international speaker, appears regularly in media and works across five countries with companies, research bodies and governments such as Finland’s steering committee to design their future AI program.
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Professor Helen Sanderson shows new ways of working, where the wellbeing of patients and people matter, where communities benefit. This has to start with compassion, for ourselves, each other and together in communities.
Helen leads the social enterprise, Helen Sanderson Associates, working internationally to embed person-centred practices in the heart of organisations and communities — creating better lives together. She is also co-founder of charity Community Circles, creating solutions to loneliness together. She was recently named by NESTA as one of 50 New Radicals in the UK and is the author of over twenty books and is a TedX speaker.
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Dr James Doty is the author of the best selling book Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart. As director of CCARE, Dr. Doty has collaborated on many research projects focused on compassion and altruism including the use of neuro-economic models to assess altruism, use of the CCARE compassion cultivation training in individuals and its effect, assessment of compassion and altruistic judgment. Presently, he is developing collaborative research projects to assess the effect of compassion training on immunologic and other physiologic determinates of health, the use of mentoring as a method of instilling compassion in students and the use of compassion training to decrease pain.
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