Hot Air, Cool People

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Helen Butlin, a registered psychotherapist and researcher. 

They discuss how cancer care can feel incomplete even when treatment is excellent. Spiritual and emotional support can help people face fear, suffering, and mortality. They then trace how “soul” and “wisdom” drifted out of Western medical language, then turn to practical ways nature, self-compassion, and the humanities can bring healing back into care.

These themes are captured in Dr. Butlin's spoken word poem I Am Wisdom, which plays at the end of the episode.

Recording Date: 2023-01-24 & 2026-10-15

Episode Production & Management Team:
Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and Abby Peters

Show Artwork: Laney Beaulieu

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Tom Cull, a poet, educator, and community organizer. Together they explore the connection between local environments and social justice.

Dr. Cull discusses his 11-year journey co-founding the Antler River Rally in London, Ontario, transforming a simple weekend garbage cleanup into a grassroots movement. Moving past pristine, romanticized myths of nature, he explains how embracing "dirty nature" allows us to face the real-world impacts of colonialism and the housing crisis, finding a shared purpose and building true community along the riverbank.

Recording Date: 2023-01-28

Episode Production & Management Team:
Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, and Abby Peters

Show Artwork: Laney Beaulieu

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Sean Kidd, a clinical psychologist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and professor at the University of Toronto. 

In this episode, we dig into how climate change amplifies mental health risks through poverty, housing insecurity, and unequal exposure to heat and environmental harms. We also explore what the research says about the effects of heat waves on youth's mental health and brain development. The conversation moves into adaption, eco-distress, and building community in healthcare.

Recording Date: 2024-03-04

Episode Production & Management Team:
Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and Abby Peters

Show Artwork: Laney Beaulieu

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Nicole Struthers, a combined Master of Physical Therapy student and PhD candidate at Western University. 

Nicole’s work explores environmental physiotherapy and nature-based interventions, with interests in planetary health and integrating environmental perspectives into physiotherapy education and practice.  

They also dig into what “healing” means, including social connection, Indigenous land-based healing, and the changes healthcare needs to make room for more ways of knowing. 

Recording Date: 2024-07-26

Episode Production & Management Team:
Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and Mariah Abby Peters

Show Artwork: Laney Beaulieu

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Melissa Lem

Climate change is not a distant forecast, it’s already shaping symptoms, stress, and risk in the people we care for. In this episode, Dr. Anna Gunz talks with family physician and researcher Dr. Melissa Lem about what it means to practice medicine where planetary health is part of primary care and why prevention has to include the environment patients live in.

Dr. Lem shares her journey from a love of the outdoors to rural medicine and how a “nature deficit” in urban practice pushed her to dig into the research on green space and health. We explore the development of the nature prescription program (PaRx) and how this can improve stress, mood, and overall well-being. 

If you’ve been looking for a hopeful, actionable take on climate change and health, this conversation delivers. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and check out the PaRx program at the link below.

https://www.parkprescriptions.ca/

Recording Date: 2023-07-31

Episode Production & Management Team:
Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and M. Abby Peters

Show Artwork: Laney Beaulieu

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Ingrid Waldron (Part 3) 

Dr. Waldron emphasizes education to dismantle systemic racism, noting how Western-centric systems - like Canadian healthcare - marginalize communities. While privileged groups may struggle to grasp these lived experiences, she believes empathy and tolerance are crucial bridges to driving progress.

Dr. Waldron shares her belief that people with privilege may struggle to fully comprehend the challenges faced by marginalized communities. However, empathy and tolerance are crucial in helping these individuals understand issues such as racism or disability.

Recording Date: 2024-11-22

Episode Production & Management Team:  

Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Mariah Peters, and Amaan Thawer

Show Artwork:   

Laney Beaulieu 

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Ingrid Waldron (Part 2) 

This episode covers Bill C-226, Canada’s first environmental justice law, which Dr. Waldron co-developed to create structural solutions to environmental racism. We break down how environmental racism drives poor health outcomes, looking at how factors like toxic air quality and climate change disproportionately harm marginalized communities.

Dr. Waldron gives us a preview of her upcoming book, which explores the heavy intersection of race, mental health, and colonial history. She tackles head-on the systemic misdiagnosis of Black individuals in psychiatric settings, as well as the ongoing stigma surrounding mental health in Black communities.

Recording Date: 2024-11-22

Episode Production & Management Team:  

Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and Mariah Peters

Show Artwork:   

Laney Beaulieu

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Ingrid Waldron (Part 1) 

In this episode, Dr. Waldron opens up about her personal background and early aspirations, including how her family shaped her academic path. She also shares about her struggles with finding a sense of direction and times when she felt  lost and unmotivated.

We also hear about her chance encounter with an environmental activist that sparked her interest in the intersection of health and environmental justice, ultimately leading to her groundbreaking focus on environmental racism and its impact on community health.

Recording Date: 2024-11-22

Episode Production & Management Team:  

Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and Mariah Peters

Show Artwork:   

Laney Beaulieu 

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Gordon McBean 

This episode confronts the reality of the climate crisis, framing it around the UN’s "code red for humanity." Reflecting on a career dating back to the 1970s, Dr. McBean shares insights from helping form the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and breaks down how political shifts historically derailed major agreements like the Kyoto Protocol in Canada.

The conversation highlights the urgent need to balance emissions mitigation with adaptation as severe weather disasters worsen. It also calls out the fossil-fuel-funded interests that have successfully manufactured delays in climate action for decades. Ultimately, the discussion focuses on our ethical duty to future generations, calling for deep collaboration across sectors, including healthcare. Despite these massive hurdles, Dr. McBean finds optimism in the rising energy of young activists and a growing corporate recognition of the crisis.

Recording Date: 2022-12-16

Episode Production & Management Team: 

Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and Mariah Peters

Show Artwork:  

Laney Beaulieu

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This episode is hosted by Dr. Anna Gunz, with guest Dr. Myles Sergeant

Healthcare has a massive environmental footprint, and making it more sustainable is something we can't ignore. In this episode, Dr. Anna Gunz talks with Dr. Myles Sergeant about practical solutions to reduce that impact.

Dr. Sergeant shares realistic advice on how to actually start green initiatives in your own practice, and explains why he’s optimistic that we can solve these problems if we work together.

If you're looking for solutions to bring sustainability into your healthcare workspace, this episode is a great place to start. Check out more of Dr. Sergeant's important work at: greenhealthcare.ca

Recording Date: 2022-11-24

Episode Production & Management Team:

Jakob Wilk, Emma Cornell, Abby Walker, Olivia D'Andrea Brooks, Emily Douglas, Danielle Pineda, Amaan Thawer, and Mariah Peters

Show Artwork: Laney Beaulieu