Meet our Team
Trustees
Peter Donebauer BSc, MA(RCA)
Peter has had a life long commitment to holistic life views and is a lay person trustee. He has had two careers, ten years as a pioneering video artist before video took over the art world, and over twenty years running Diverse Production Ltd, in its day one of the UK’s most respected producers of broadcast factual programmes. Website & Wikipedia
Darryl Edwards FBSLM
Founder of the Primal Play Method, Coach & Speaker
Darryl Edwards is a fellow of the BSLM (British Society of Lifestyle Medicine) and a former investment banking technologist turned movement coach and author. He is the founder of the Primal Play Method and a physical activity, health and play researcher. His April 2019 TED talk “Why working out isn’t working out” discusses the issues with exercise and what we should do about it. The Primal Play Method fuses the science of evolutionary biology, exercise physiology and play psychology. Darryl wants to inspire humans regardless of age, ability or disability to transform their health by making physical activity fun and engaging.
His work has featured on documentaries, TV, radio, podcasts and international press. Darryl is author of the best-selling book Animal Moves and has released a range of fun fitness cards for adults, juniors, infants, office workers and fitness professionals called the Animal Moves Decks. Darryl resides in London, England and publishes about playful living at PrimalPlay.com.
Dr Marina Malthouse MBBS, DipPalMed, MA(Med Hum), EdD
Current roles: Retired Palliative Care Consultant, Charity work
From 1982, working in diverse medical environments (anaesthetics, heart transplantation and General Practice) led me into my passionate vortex for palliative care. From 1995 to 2015, working in an area of medicine that only deals with death and dying meant expanding my medical toolkit by studying how to develop my care for patients and their families in additional ways. I also researched how medical education addresses end of life care. Through narrative, I researched how doctors might ‘know’ death in ways other than as a medical failure and that when personal and professional experiences consciously merge, a more compassionate care emerges from within. Education to healthcare practitioners was fundamental to my work that included the arts for its qualities of slowing down perception and expanding our conception of the ways in which we know. Also, writing and using stories to learn from, rather than be traumatised by significant experiences in medical lives. After 33 years, I retired from medicine in 2015 in order to pursue additional identities and interests. This has included volunteering for refugees in Greece and in a holistic education centre in Greece, learning about permaculture, qualifying as a TEFL teacher, and marking MSc’s and Doctorates for Cardiff and Middlesex Universities.
Dr Thuli Whitehouse MBBS, MRCGP
GP, Yoga teacher, Editorial Board Journal of Holistic Healthcare, Student Ambassador Lead
Thuli is a GP and a Yoga Teacher. She has studied Ayurvedic Medicine and Anthropology, completed two yoga teacher trainings and worked in India. She now runs yoga classes and retreats alongside her work in General Practice. She is dedicated to uniting the scientific and holistic paradigms to bring ever improving health.
Dr Antonia Wrigley BSc (Nutrition) MBBS Dip Phyt MRCGP AFMCP FRSA
Vice-chair & Chief Officer, Editorial board Journal of Holistic Healthcare, Founder Real Food Campaign, Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner
Antonia has had an interest in health and healing potions from an early age and went on to study various healthcare disciplines, working in and out of the NHS, over the past 25 years. Antonia has worked as a GP, a herbalist and most recently as a lifestyle and functional medicine practitioner. She has diverse interests including food, meditation, spirituality, nature connection and sustainability. Some of these have led her to set up the BHMA’s new collaborative project The Real Food Campaign.
Staff
Gail Davidson
Marketing and Operations Manager
Gail is a regenerative storyteller, communications and content geek, death doula and mentor, grief tender and ritualist, community activist and fibre artist, living aligned to the natural cycles of birth, death and renewal. She supports people and communities to share their stories in life and write their endings in death, and at a systemic level explores what it means to ‘hospice modernity’. Read more about Gail and her work: www.bigseeds.co.uk.
Advisory Board
David Balen
Managing Director Balens
David is Managing Director of Balens, one of the largest Independent Insurance Brokerage Firms for Health and Well-being Professionals in the UK and the ROI and a 3rd generation Family business. Formerly a long-standing BHMA trustee and a trustee of two other charities, David is passionate about the benefits of Natural Medicine and is seeking to facilitate metadata analysis regarding its benefits. He regularly lectures and writes journal articles on Insurance and Risk Management.
Dr Ashish Bhatia BSC (Hons), MBChB, DFFP, RCGP, ITEC (holistic massage), IYN, CBT I (sleep optimisation)
Current roles: GP, University tutor, Founder of Humble, Dad
Ashish is a father, friend and the founder of Humble. He loves these jobs because he helps people bring out their best and they bring out the best in him too. His work emerged from over 20 years of experience in frontline medicine, holistic healthcare, pioneering research and a year sitting on a mountainside watching a waterfall. Perhaps it is arrogant to call his work humble because sometimes he may stumble. Yet he feels blessed to simply show up with kindness and honesty and to have witnessed profound changes for people, their families, their work and communities. He feels honoured to support the BHMA which over the years has reminded him to appreciate life and inspires him to be a better Dad, gardener, university tutor and GP (which playfully means gentle presence to him). He is fascinated by all aspects of health, specialising in being, sleep and performance optimisation.
Simon Mills MA FNIMH MCPP
Current roles: Self-care lead College of Medicine, Herbal Strategist Pukka Herbs, Board Member British Herbal Medicine Association
Simon is a leader in herbal medicine in the UK and internationally. He is a past President of The National Institute of Medical Herbalists and past Chairman of the British Herbal Medicine Association. In Exeter he co-founded the first University centre for complementary health studies in 1987, the first integrated health programme at a UK medical school in 2003, and from 2002 the first Masters Programme in herbal medicine in the USA. Since 1997 he has been Secretary of ESCOP, a European network of experts in herbal medicine and on its behalf led the first major EU-wide scientific project in herbal medicines. From 1993 he created and led the development of EXTRACT, a powerful database tool to help those using herbal medicines in practice: the Herbal Hub will be the platform for this facility. Co-author of the modern classic The Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy, Simon founded SustainCare, a CIC and network to promote sustainable self-care (www.sustaincare.net).
Professor David Peters MB ChB DRCOG DMSMed MFHom FLCOM
Current roles: Editor in Chief of The Journal of Holistic Healthcare
David trained as a family doctor, and later in osteopathic medicine, then as a musculoskeletal physician From 1990 until 2005 he directed the complementary therapies programme at Marylebone NHS Health Centre, a ground-breaking Central London GP unit exploring new approaches to inner city healthcare. He has co-authored six books and many articles about integrated healthcare. Until 2010 he chaired the British Holistic Medical Association and still edits its Journal of Holistic Healthcare. David co-founded Westminster Centre for Resilience at the University of Westminster to address concerns about the wellbeing of people working in the NHS and the increasing pressures experienced by leaders in industry, and to develop courses and inter-disciplinary research in this area. The Centre’s Healers and Leaders project is running resilience learning programmes for students, junior doctors, GPs, NHS community staff and leadership teams in industry and education.
He has led on a series of R&D projects bringing non-pharmaceutical treatments (including osteopathy and acupuncture) into the NHS. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework he was awarded a 4-star rating for his impact in this field of work. His current research focuses on doctors’ wellbeing and the impacts of nature connectedness on resilience and wellbeing
Dr David Reilly FRCP MRCGP Hon DSc
Current roles: Independent Consultant in Wellness Enhancement, Director of TheWEL and The Healing Shift Programmes, Founder and Director of the TheWEL Foundation Charity
David is an internationally renowned leader in holistic healthcare with over four decades of experience. His groundbreaking work has sparked a paradigm shift in public health, emphasizing the importance of holistic approaches to wellness. As the lead of the NHS National Centre for Integrative Care in Scotland, National Clinical Lead for Integrative Care for the Scottish Government, and international academic roles, Dr. Reilly has influenced policy and practice on a global scale. Currently, as Director of TheWEL Organisation, he continues to empower individuals through innovative courses and programs.to improve their well-being and health in the face of the challenges of modern life.
Dr Alison Sabine MB ChB MRCP
Current roles: Consultant Rheumatologist & Health Coach
Alison has worked in the NHS for over 28 years. She is a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Her experience, both as a patient and as the parent of a patient, has radically changed her view of the way we practice conventional medicine.
She became interested in how our food and lifestyle impacts our health and wellbeing and has become increasingly aware of the importance of the mind-body connection and how accessibility to real food has the potential to change lives.
She has trained as a Health Coach, Nordic Walking and Fitness Instructor and is also a Certified Leadership Coach.
Dr David Zigmond MB ChB MRCGP DPM
Current roles: Physician in Psychological Medicine, Retired GP
My initial medical training was in the 1960s. My subsequent decades of work have been as a frontline practitioner: as a small practice GP and a large hospital psychiatrist and psychotherapist. From the beginning of my work I have been intrigued by how we may best understand, balance and weave together art and science; humanism and technology; imagination and data. I believe that much of our current malaise in healthcare services is due to losing sight of these questions, and then our better sense and sensibility.
Student and Junior Doctor Ambassadors
We have a growing number of active ambassadors. For more information visit our Student Ambassador page
Patron
Clarke Peters
“When Professor David Peters asked if I’d like to be a patron of the BHMA, I didn’t hesitate. I come from a family who have always looked after their well-being holistically. My uncle John, who lived to 102, grew his own food, meditated (in his fashion) and exercised daily in his garden. I grew up with the belief that Mother nature has all we need to maintain health. Yet as we move forward, I’m worried, we are being encouraged to seek quick remedies for age old ailments: remedies sold with a litany of contraindications, doctors who won’t take responsibility for their diagnoses, and now a pandemic that has brought a runaway train to an abrupt stop. For a lot of people, myself included, the stop is good. It’s given us time to reassess where we are, who we are, what we are, and now, how we’re going to heal. The plethora of conspiracy theories circulating has people questioning their responsibility in the healing process, individually and collectively. There are more online yoga and exercise classes than before, culinary courses, people sharing home herbal remedies, allopathic and homeopathic discussions and, of course, spiritual discourses. Everyone is looking for something to make them feel good, to help them understand the world in which we live. Many are realising it takes all of it to heal: the herbal, the allopathic, the prayer, the meditations and the exercise. When I developed a prolapsed disc in 1989, the doctors wanted to slice me open and fuse the discs. Professor David Peters suggested subcutaneous injections of homeopathic medicine to strengthen the area of weakness. I added to this healing treatment with acupuncture, tai chi and a regime of daily meditation. I’m happy to say that today, although very conscious of my back, I’m healed. No one sliced me open, no one fused the discs. I realise it took a holistic point of view to bring about the wholeness of my healing. So, if I can be a part of or In any way further the philosophy and practice of Holistic medicine, I would consider that a blessing. I share from experience.”