Meet Chris, a GP, teacher and our Health Program volunteer.

The ASRC’s health clinic runs on the generosity of skilled medical practitioners who give their time freely. One of these wonderful volunteers is Chris, an experienced GP and Monash medical students’ teacher, who has volunteered at the ASRC for eleven years. 

Chris was first encouraged to volunteer by one of his own children, though he didn’t need much convincing. He was already concerned about the treatment of people seeking asylum in Australia and felt he had to do something about it. “I felt strongly that Australian government policies were harsh,” says Chris. “And that I must play my part in alleviating the hardship of people seeking this country’s help.”

Once he started seeing patients at the ASRC, that feeling only deepened. “I was meeting actual people who had often suffered greatly in their home countries and who were now facing great difficulties and endless uncertainty in Australia,” reminisces Chris. “They were real human beings, suffering real problems. And they were lovely, wonderful people.”

Alongside his private medical practice and teaching commitments, Chris gives one afternoon a week to the ASRC, seeing around six patients each time. Some presentations are routine. Others are far more complex – shaped by mental health issues, illnesses rarely seen in Australia, or the lasting effects of torture and mistreatment the patients had fled from. 

“It is sometimes hard to help some patients, because of their complex conditions, but it is very satisfying when we can turn them around,” says Chris. He is very moved by how the kindness of the clinic staff towards clients in difficult circumstances and how that kindness flows between colleagues. “There is such a lovely atmosphere in the clinic,” he remarks. When someone on the team is shaken by a client’s story, others are quick to rally around and support them. It’s a tight-knit community built on a shared purpose of helping people become healthier.

None of this happens without challenges and frustrations – from the ageing, unreliable computers in the clinic that take valuable time from helping clients, all the way to the harsh government policies and lack of housing access impacting people’s recovery. 

Like everyone at the ASRC, Chris is frustrated with government policies that leave people in uncertainty for long periods. He and his colleagues follow their patients’ visa journeys closely, knowing how much a person’s wellbeing depends on the outcome. “There’s real joy in the clinic when we learn that a client has finally been given permanent residency,” he says. “It takes a huge weight off their shoulders and allows them to rebuild their lives here.” As Chris sees it, people who are given permanency tend to go on and thrive, which makes every visa refusal a double loss: harm to the person seeking asylum, and a missed contribution to the society.

Genuine friendships have formed in the clinic over the years, and a group of GPs and other practitioners meet up every few months for a catch-up dinner outside of ASRC hours. Chris speaks so highly of the experience that he’s encouraged several friends to volunteer too.

Away from the clinic, Chris enjoys babysitting grandchildren, playing tennis twice a week, a regular book group and mountaineering with his son. Living in an outer suburb, he loves waking up to the sight of kangaroos outside.