Dr Jane Barker
Jane has been qualified for over 40 years now, having trained in paediatrics and general practice psychiatry, and now works as a medical educator. Her passion is to bring love back into medicine, to make medicine a more compassionate profession, both for patients and the people who care for them.
Honouring the body we touch
Touch has been used in healing since ancient times. Touch can be a way of connecting with our patients, a way of expressing compassion. The tender holding of a...
A knock on the door
30 years ago, a young doctor in overwhelm had planned to kill himself. He is now the President of a specialist College and wrote recently of his despair and...
Trees as Teachers, Trees as Healers
We revere ancient trees, in awe of their size, their age, their beauty and the stories they may have told us if only they could speak, but do we...
Shame and Imposter Syndrome – a Cause of Doctor Distress?
A high proportion of our doctors are distressed – are shame and Imposter Syndrome contributing?
Shame has been identified as a risk factor for physician suicide, and that is but...
New Year’s Resolutions – Let your Heart Lead the Way
The practice of Medicine is always a balance between head and heart, science and art, medical care and compassion. Sometimes our decision making, both in our medicine and in...
And so this is Christmas
I love Christmas.
I am sitting here looking at the palm frond we have decorated as our Australian Christmas tree. Looking down from the highest stem is the Christmas fairy...
Bullying – time to say “No means NO”
Bullying is the antithesis of compassion; a way to break others down, to humiliate them and to challenge their sense of their own self-worth and competence. How can this...
6000 signatures: doctors call for the release of children held in...
Many in the Australian medical profession would endorse the views of Dr Karen Phelps, GP, past president of the AMA and newly elected independent member for Wentworth, when she...
Violence against women: Dr Denis Mukwege and the Nobel Peace Prize
Medicine is a noble profession, so it is confirming and uplifting when we hear stories of those who have used the power of our profession and their own love...
Women and Alcohol – The Lily Livers
“Sober is the New Black”, “Mind Your Drink”, “The Sober Diaries”, “The Sober Revolution”, “Drunk Mom”, “Mindful Drinking”, “The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober”, “Glass Half Full”, “Girl Walks...
