Protean therapy:
“Protean” is the capacity “to change frequently or easily.” “Therapy” is any “treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.” Protean therapy helps people adapt to a rapidly changing world.
Protean man:
Entomologist E. O. Wilson and psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton wrote about accelerating environmental changes. Rapid technoindustrial, cultural, and ecological evolution is challenging the biopsychosocial adaptability of modern humans. Human survival depends on the prudence of wise individuals (i.e. homo sapiens) and the pragmatic versatility of changeable people (i.e. homo proteans).
Sociality:
Humans leverage cultural evolution to create technology that transports us across oceans, through the skies, and into the depths of the sea. All these superpowers are built on sociality. E.O. Wilson referred to Homo sapiens as a eusocial species. We must live and work together to survive. But humans, especially in the Western Hemisphere, often identify as individuals.
Biocultural Adaptation:
Humans can supplement their bodies with substances, tools, implants, or other materials. These intentional interventions (e.g. crop cultivation and consumption, technoindustrialization, and cosmetic, replacement, or repair surgeries) can slowly change environments and societies as well as individuals. The more extensive, enduring and extreme these changes are over generations, the greater their impact may be on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) — the hereditary molecule that carries genetic instructions for the development of living organisms.
Terraforming & Eco-Evolution Feedback:
Since humans have been modifying their environment for thousands of years, these changes have been highly consequential for other species as well as homo sapiens. Sapiens are known as a keystone species because they have a disproportionate impact on the survival of many other species. Generations of humankind’s biocultural adaptations are changing the biological and ecological realities of the Earth’s biosphere… for better and worse.
Speciation:
Biology experiences small, slow changes. Animals cannot spontaneously grow fins or wings but descendants that live near water or treetops may develop traits that promote diving and gliding. Over millions of generations, species may evolve to breathe underwater or fly through the air.
Biological Inheritance:
Inherited traits are largely locked in over the course of our lifetime. Short people cannot make their bones grow six inches longer and males cannot choose to be pregnant. But people can make their bones stronger by exercising, eating well, and sleeping. And men can efficiently and effectively care for infants. Shorter people can have taller offspring, especially if they have healthy pregnancies with taller people. A male can indirectly experience many of the ups and downs of pregnancy if he maintains a close relationship with his pregnant partner.
Mutations & Antifragility:
Humans cannot change their inherited physical traits, but bodies do change – for better and worse – during interactions with the surrounding environment. This relationship between inherited traits and human behavior/environment is known as epigenetics. Mutations such as skin cancer as a result of UV radiation or other malignancies resulting from overexposure to environmental/behavioral stressors (e.g. overconsumption of toxic substances) are harmful while post-traumatic growth or antifragility (e.g. acquired immunity, hormesis/autophagy, etc.) are helpful.
Individualism:
You have a unique set of traits, strengths, and weaknesses that makes you, you. So, any treatment designed to help you live a happier and healthier life should be tailored to you and your needs. You are the only person who has always been there for you, so you are your best advocate in your quest for health.
Nature, Nurture, & Nuance:
Life is constantly changing. Health changes with it. Health depends on heredity, behaviors, and environments (i.e. genetic, epigenetic, & environmental interactions). Healthier habits, upbringings, inherited traits, and environmental exposures begin with improved awareness of nature, nurture, and the nuances of their interactions.
History + Habits = Health:
Your past history and present habits determine the future of your health. Since you are a member of a (eu)social species, much of your past, present, and future is shared with others. Health demands a better understanding of the biopsychosocial and geopolitical reality of the world you inhabit.
Helping yourself to a healthier life:
I’m here to help you use your past and present to build a bright future. My writing and services bring actionable context to complex topics. All you have to do is read and subscribe. Are you ready and willing to help yourself to health?
Josh Telfer, BSc, DPT/PT, CLT, MPH
Bottom Line Up Front:
Josh’s broad health sector exposure and background providing care in hospitals, clinics, and homes helps him better understand and empathize with his clients. As a licensed Physical Therapist (PT), Certified Lymphatic Therapist (CLT) and Master of Public Health (MPH), Josh is trained in physical rehabilitation, lymphedema treatment, and disease prevention. His collaborative client-centered approach aims to help you help yourself to a longer and healthier life.
Individual Health:
Josh was born in the middle of the United States and spent parts of his childhood as a “missionary kid” in Lisbon, Portugal and Maputo, Mozambique before completing High School in Warren County, Missouri and studying exercise science at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Josh gained health service experience working as a patient safety and aftercare assistant in hospitals and clinics during his years in University. Josh received his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from Oklahoma Wesleyan University in 2013 and a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree from Missouri State University in 2016 before providing physical therapy services as traveling therapist, civil servant, and public health officer.
Population Health:
Josh completed a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Arizona Online in 2021. He also gained experience in incident command logistics and disease/disaster response while working on public health projects and missions. After working as a physical therapist (PT) and public health officer in New Mexico, Southwest Missouri, and Oklahoma, Josh returned to the greater St. Louis area in 2025. The health companies Josh has worked for over the last 15 years include a mix of non-profit, for-profit, public, private, and government organizations: SSM Health, Elder Care, AMN Healthcare, Indian Health Service, United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Integrity Home Care & Hospice, Select Medical, Mercy, Cox Health, and FYZICAL.
Hobbies:
Outside of reading, writing, & creating, Josh enjoys indoor & outdoor physical activities involving conversations, team sports, and travel with family & friends.
Health scout:
Josh is a health scout who enjoys exploring how the world can be a healthier place for all of us. His expertise, education, exposures, and experiences across various health systems give him the range necessary to write at the intersection of history, habits, and health. Josh synthesizes biopsychosocial and geopolitical events into practical awareness that can help you improve your life. So, subscribe and stay tuned because his next scouting report is pending…
What is more important than your health?
Health is simple. You need water, food, shelter, and society to thrive. But life is full of distractions and things that hurt your health. Protean people don’t flee, fight, or freeze in response to stress and fear. They adapt.
The strategy is simple: study your routine, then remove the things that are hurting your well-being. If you want to simplify your physical health by removing the things that are making you less healthy, please subscribe for weekly updates and FREE resources that can help you achieve your health goals.
Website: Proteantherapy.com
Youtube: Protean Therapy
LinkedIn: Josh Telfer
Mission-Vision-Values-Motto-OKR’s:
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ProteanTherapy.com is dedicated to doing less harm to people and populations through application of the precautionary principle (i.e. falsification, via negativa, neti neti).
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Values:
(1) People
(2) Practicalities
(3) Principles
(4) Processes
(5) Protocols
(6) Physical Therapy
(7) Public Health
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Mission
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Using the precautionary principle to do less harm to people and populations attempting to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
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Mottos
Do less harm.
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Vision
– Self-Cultivation –
Cultivation of worldwide access to healthy sleep, eating, activity, mentality, & sociality.
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Objectives and Key Results (OKR’s)
2026 Objective: Average 1 post/newsletter post per week in 2026. – NOT MET (Tues 6 Oct 2026)
2027 [Input] Objective = (a) 1 factual/evidence-based post/week, (b) 1-2 vlogs/week, & (3) 1 paper/month in 2027
2027 [Output] Objective = Weekly access to factual/evidence-based [health] info/reporting in 2027
2027 [Impact/Outcome] Result = BiWeekly awareness (Ave. 1-2 posts/week), 1,000 visits/month, and podcast.
