I discovered him by internet search--someone purporting to customise chairs for people with back problems. This sounded promising. I had fractured a vertebra six months previously, and sitting, chairs and pain had become wrestling partners. So I called him up the next day during normal office hours. He clearly wasn’t ready for customers; his name ..read more

I figured my stories could interest him. Many years ago my family and I were lunching with Bob, a surgical colleague, and his family. The occasion was winding down, and he and I had subsided into a corner to share work perspectives. Both of us had unusual work histories. He was an altruistic and principled ..read more

The Covid-19 pandemic has provoked much discussion regarding the meanings of this huge global event. The New Zealand Christians in Science organisation invited Brian Broom to speak on “Finding meaning in disease”. This video comprises his talk and his responses to the many questions coming from the audience ..read more

How is it possible to be whole person-oriented and still feel that our work is manageable? Surely, we can't be all things to all people? Biomedical diagnoses and treatments of the ‘mechanical’ (sic) body are largely grounded in recognizing typical clinical patterns, objectively measured and verifiable physical changes using reliable testing methods, and statistical evidence ..read more

Recently I lunched with a younger physician colleague, who is making a significant shift in career, in his forties. Like me, though somewhat differently, he has worked hard at showing, persuading, promoting what can be done when what I call a ‘whole person-centred’ or ‘mindbody’ approach is applied to physical disease, or when we re-focus ..read more

It is difficult manoeuvering in the normative healthcare space, which, typically, is constructed and confined by questions and answers. It is difficult to find room for my whole person-oriented language, to find a whole person space for the patient and me to occupy, and into which the storied metaphors of our human suffering and complexity ..read more

What really counts is the heart of a story. We forge our own stories into ‘wholes’ by choosing particular and special details, linking them together in the ‘present moment ..read more