FELICITY COHEN
Felicity Cohen is on a mission.
The winner of the Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year ‘Wellness Warriors’ category – sponsored by Chempro – wants as many women as possible to be able to access treatment for what she calls “morbid obesity”.
In her own words, she says: “My ultimate vision is to have an impact on reducing the burden of obesity in Australia; allowing people the freedom to live without the need to manage lifestyle diseases but just to focus on living their best quality of life every day.”
It is a problem – and the statistics don’t lie – obesity is a scourge which impacts one in three Australians.
She has the credentials to back it up her self-proclaimed mission to tackle it. The founder and CEO of Weightloss Solutions Australia is a passionate research advocate, active member of the Paediatric Obesity Health Transformers Committee, Australia and New Zealand Metabolic and Obesity Surgical Society and the International Federation of Surgical Obesity.
She is on a mission in large part driven by a childhood heavily impacted by her own mother's weight-related issues and illness after an accident. Ms Cohen started Weightloss Solutions Australia in 2000. Since then, her team have helped more than 12,000 people reshape their health and lifestyles. Think Type 2 Diabetes. Think Hashimoto’s disease. Think sleep apnea.
It’s no fad diet approach. Ms Cohen and Weightloss Solutions Australia is about “longer-term, sustainable transformation”. It helps guide patients towards a more balanced life by providing expert advice and support in four key areas – healthy eating, movement and physical wellness, stress management and mental wellness plus lifestyle “redesign”. We could all do with a bit of that. Ms Cohen says: “Weight related health complications across all pillars of health; medical; mental health; physical health and quality of life are continuing to escalate at an alarming rate. Developing systems; offering best interventions and finding solutions to end obesity is at the forefront of my business objectives daily. I still get excited to go to work everyday. As the business has evolved and grown I have launched my Wellness Warriors Podcast; recently launched a new research institute (The Research Institute For Future Health); developed an obesity prevention program for kids among other initiatives.
“If I can touch as many lives as possible, to transform people to lead to better more active healthier lives, more productive and happier, I will have created at least a small impact.”
BELINDA NORTON
A health and physical education teacher, author, mother and motivator, her nominator wrote: “Belinda is a fulltime teacher who inspires others to live with true happiness by striving for optimal health through eating well and exercising.” Ms Norton herself says: “I began writing to the women stuck in a rut whether it be a pre-post baby rut, or for the women who couldn’t feel or see a celebration in their own body. I wanted to give women simple, effective, wholesome fitness skills and easy fit food options for all the family to share optimal health. If I was to wave a magic wand it would be for families to cook, eat and walk together daily. (But) I can’t believe a teacher, a tri hard (as I call myself) is amongst this prestigious group.”
JODIE BRADNAM
An experienced clinical psychologist, educator and speaker with over 20 years experience working with teenagers, adults and couples in clinical and educational settings. The person who nominated her, writing from personal experience, noted: “I have developed crippling anxiety which I would not have been able to talk about before (meeting) Jodie,” adding you could not encounter “a more kind, understanding and amazing soul”. “My once crippling and shame generating health anxiety has been completely resolved.”
Weight-related health complications are continuing to escalate at an alarming rate