MEET JORDAN
Mould Testing Technician (Australian College of Environmental Studies), HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning) Tradesmen, Student of Building Biology
Hi, I’m Jordan
Director of Build Well Live Well. I've been helping people and businesses to enhance their indoor environments since 2009.
I am passionate about creating spaces that support optimal health and wellbeing. In the pursuit of optimising my biology I have experimented with all kinds of diets, fads, treatments and biohacks. Eventually I came to realise the counter intuitive nature of relying on more complex, invasive and expensive technologies or medicines to combat the negative effects of our modern environment.
Through harmonising our indoor environments with nature and the use of minimal but high impact technology we can restore homeostasis and turn our homes into a sanctuary from the toxicity of the modern world.
Drawing on a wide range of influences from experts in environmental medicine, mindful consumption and biological optimisation from Nicole Bijlsma to Ben Greenfield, I seek to consume and digest the most up to date and relevant science. This is broken down to usable strategies for clients to modify their environments and most effectively support their individual health.
My Story
After spending most of my childhood with severe allergies, recurrent sinus / chest infections, taking numerous courses of antibiotics and seeing no long-term improvements I began to take back control of my health though self-investigation and the assistance of string of complementary medicine practitioners and functional medicine doctors. Eventually leading to studying two years of a Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) in the process discovering my true calling in field of Building Biology and Environmental Medicine.
As if by fate my partner and I moved into an old rental property with a severe but hidden mould problem around the time I switch to studying Building Biology. We both developed allergies and never felt rested after a night’s sleep, my partners health spiralled downwards rapidly. She developed severe brain fog, excessive thirst and eventually chronic fatigue. As she is a qualified Naturopath and we both lived healthy lifestyles, consuming all the right foods and supplements we were initially baffled by her symptoms that became increasingly concerning the longer we spent in this property. During my studies I began to recognise that her symptoms mirrored those of someone with severe mould allergy (present in approximately 24% of the population) that is triggered by repeat exposure to mould and bacterial biotoxins present in a water damaged building.
We initially tried to make the house / our bedroom more inhabitable for my partner through increased ventilation, filtration, cleaning and trying to manage drainage every time it rained. While it did seem to provide some alleviation there is only so much you can do to a rental property and her symptoms continued to get worse. We sought the help of specialist Doctors and practitioners trained in Environmental Medicine protocols and she was diagnosed with CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) a complex fatiguing syndrome common to those exposed to water damaged buildings. She was advised to remove herself from any water damaged building as soon as possible.
Using instruments, laboratory testing, case taking and a thorough investigation into the history of the property I discovered it had a long line of mould and moisture problems which had resulted in previous tenants having to leave. Each time the owner would have the property superficially cleaned and repainted, hiding the extensive damage and contamination from longstanding drainage issues. After presenting these reports and hard evidence to our landlord he promised to rectify the issues, but in reality, was unwilling to spend the money to thoroughly and permanently remediate the property. After some back and forward he eventually released us from lease and we were able to begin the journey of finding a home that would support our health and individual needs.
With my newly honed Building Biology skills we were able to sift through the often damaged, dangerous or suspicious properties on the rental market eventually finding the right home for us. My partners health immediately began to improve and by following a rigorous CIRS protocol she was able to detoxify the biotoxins from her system and her health slowly returned to near 100% over the following months. During this process we identified the room she spent most of her childhood sleeping in had an undiagnosed water entry issue. This long-term exposure likely primed her immune system to present with full blown CIRS later in life.
Having gone through huge ups, downs and frustrations not being able to find the answers to our health issues despite doing ‘all the right things’. Finding Building Biology and Environmental Medicine was a game changer and a field that I am now passionate to share with others to help them on their journey.