A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDERS

Well Beings was founded by two vets with a vision to provide holistic veterinary care to all animals big and small.

Rebecca

I am so excited to be bringing this new concept in veterinary care to the pet owners of Melbourne.

Although Western Medicine is a vital part of the Wellness picture, as a young veterinarian I noticed it’s limitations by focusing on treating one ailment rather than looking at the whole body and environment. I was introduced to Holistic Medicine as a child through my Mum. We were the kids who had brown bread in our lunchboxes and were taken to the Naturopath or the Osteopath if we had an ailment. I see the rewards of those good practices in my Mum now. She has just turned 80 and is still at the gym three times a week, volunteers helping others in her local community and is our practice bookkeeper, having taught herself to use Xero at the age of 74!

My exposure to Holistic Medicine as a child led me to studying Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture through IVAS in 2005. I am still astounded everyday how beneficial acupuncture is. There are several pets that were told by specialists that would never walk again that come trotting through the doors of Well Beings. I am on a continual journey of learning about new ways to assist our pets with natural medicine. I’m always keen to trial them on my two senior Labradors Poppy and Barney.

It’s no surprise that I am passionate about assisting our senior pets to live their best lives. Age is no barrier to good health and we have so many more options available to us now, one of the reasons why our pets are living longer. Many of these newer treatment options are available at Well Beings including hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, osteopathy, herbal supplements and superior diets. One of the first clients to trial my skills as a Veterinary acupuncturist on her beloved Poodle Lucy was my dear friend Ruth, who has a consultation room named after her at Well Beings. She was a woman ahead of her time and pursued her career passions at a time where woman were expected to remain at home and care for their families. “Same age as the Queen” as Ruth always used to tell me, she passed away recently at the age of 96. Ruth was a qualified Pharmacist and at 40 and as a single Mum she studied to be a psychologist. In her work as a Pharmacist she saw the pressing need to help our caring professions deal with their everyday stressors. There wasn’t a term for it back then but since COVID it has been recognised as “compassion fatigue”. Ruth taught me that as practitioners but also as owners of pets with chronic ailments we take on a huge mental load in caring for these animals. If we don’t take care of ourselves then we are not in the best position to help them. I am passionate about this unique aspect of veterinary practice and why it is an important part of my holistic wellness consultation to discuss how pet owners are caring for themselves as well as their pet.

It is now well described in the media how there is a shortage of veterinarians due to a large number of talented, well qualified people leaving the profession. At Well Beings we have created a space where passionate vets and nurses can gather for self-care and reflection with activities such as yoga and meditation. This area also serves as an education space where we conduct puppy pre- school and client information sessions on topics such as nutrition and first aid.

We welcome you to come and experience the unique difference of Well Beings and I look forward to assisting your pets live a long and healthy life.

Founders of WellBeings

Rebecca & Gloria