Healers with Hustles

A career pivot might change more than your work… It might shift your personality too, if you let it.

Clinical psychologist and researcher Dr Shannon Sauer Zavala joins Caitlin to share the science behind intentional personality change and how values can guide the traits we grow. We talk burnout, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and how the very traits that once drove our success might now hold us back.

Shannon shares how she’s taking her work beyond academia by building a public-facing platform, writing a book, and making science useful in real life. 

This ep is a must-listen for any health prof rethinking how they work, lead, or show up in the world.

Tune in to learn:

• How one statistic made Shannon question everything she believed about therapy
• How targeting a single personality trait can treat multiple mental health conditions
• What happened the moment she realised academia isn’t always about merit or meaning
• How rejection from book agents sparked an unexpected creative chapter
• The surprising lesson behind her first book cover being rejected
• Which personality trait predicts whether you burn out or bounce back
• How “supportive care” can sometimes hold clients back from deeper change
• What shifted to make her fall in love with marketing after months of resistance
• What she discovered when she stopped hiding behind data and started telling stories

Connect with Shannon

• Instagram
• Website

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

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“If your words could belong to anyone, they belong to no one.”

In this episode, Caitlin chats about the dreaded, but all too common realisation, that your content feels boring. She validates why it’s easy for health profs with side hustles to slip back into academic speak. From breaking down Apple’s clever headline tricks to giving you playful edits that add personality (think wordplay, asides, and sensory detail), Caitlin shows you how to make your content feel less stiff and more human. 

Tune in to learn:

• The common trap health pros fall into when they start writing for their business
• A creative writing trick you can steal from Apple’s copy
• The writing “mistake” uni lecturers marked wrong that your readers will love
• The editing trick Caitlin borrowed from shows like The Office (and how it works in copy)
• How to swap textbook words for language you really use
• What a cup of lukewarm tea teaches you about talking about your work
• Simple edit tips that makes your writing look human on the page and keeps readers hooked
• The potential promise of typos in the future
• The easiest strategy to make your content sound conversational and it doesn't involve writing!

Listen if you’re:

• A health professional-turned-entrepreneur struggling to make your copy sound less dull
• Feeling bored of your content 
• Ready to ditch the academic speak

Loved this episode?

Leave a review or send it to a friend who’s been feeling unsure about their health career lately. Your support means the world to me!

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

Ditch Academic Speak freebie

Are you basing life decisions on what YOU want or what someone else expects of you?

In this ep, Caitlin chats with Trang Nova, a former physio turned speaker and coach, about the messy, emotional, and liberating journey of walking away from a career that no longer fits.

Trang shares how one rainy run, and one very unlucky snail, sparked her quarter-life crisis. She opens up about why speaking became her most powerful healing tool, and how she navigated family expectations, rejection, and fear to leave the “safety” of a stable career, and step into something far more true.

If you've ever felt the pull to do something wildly different, but fear what others might say, this one's for you!

Tune in to learn:

• The snail moment that sparked Trang’s pivot from physio to personal development
• Why losing your professional identity can feel like grief—and how to move through it
• What she told her parents when they didn’t understand her career change
• The power of following your gut (even when it makes zero logical sense)
• The question she now asks to reframe fear before every keynote
• How she’s redefined “success” outside of job titles and degrees
• What one audience member said mid-keynote that nearly made Trang walk off stage (and what she did instead)
• The belief Trang leans on to show up online (even when she doesn’t feel ready)
• What she's learned about visibility, vulnerability, and being seen
• How Trang built a practice of being visible, even when vulnerability felt risky

Connect with Trang

Instagram

LinkedIn

Website

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

Is employment *really* the safe option or just a false sense of security?

In this ep, Caitlin chats with Leesa Tuffnell, occupational therapist, coach, and founder of The Mindful OT, about what it takes to build a sustainable business as a health professional. Leesa shares how her own experience of burnout led her to combine OT frameworks, somatic regulation, and business strategy to help health professionals step into their CEO role (without losing themselves in the process). 

If you’ve felt like your private practice is “just a little thing” or struggled with the leap into doing business differently, this conversation will give you the permission to think bigger.

Tune in to learn:

• The somatic regulation practice that turned her calendar into a magic productivity tool
• The two things that helped one OT triple her utilisation after just one session
• The shift from clinician mindset to CEO mindset (and why so many sole traders resist it)
• The moment Leesa realised employment isn’t the “safe” option after being made redundant three times
• How she went from resisting Facebook until her 30s to coaching OTs on social media
• The quote Leesa repeats to herself whenever she avoids posting, filming, or being seen online
• The nervous system clue that tells you whether you’re moving toward or away from something you want
• How a single decision could have made Leesa an actress instead of an occupational therapist
• What nearly getting trampled in a Gold Coast mosh pit taught her about friendship (and survival)
• Why clarity of purpose, not more systems, is the foundation of every sustainable OT business

Connect with Leesa

The Mindful OT Website

Facebook

Instagram

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

“Not now” doesn’t mean “never” but only if you know how to close the awareness gap.

In this ep, Caitlin walks you through the 5 stages of awareness and why most health profs unknowingly skip the early ones… leaving potential clients behind. Whether you’re fresh out of private practice or years into your creative side hustle, you’ll learn how to meet people where they’re at and guide them to the point of a sale.

Listen if you’re:

• Tired of repeating your offer without traction
• Feeling stuck between educating and selling
• Ready to make your audience feel seen from the first touchpoint

Loved this episode?

Leave a review or send it to a friend who’s been feeling unsure about their health career lately. Your support means the world to me!

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

When Nadine almost collided head-on with a truck, her body gave her the message her brain kept ignoring: something had to change.

This ep, Caitlin chats with Nadine Muller, former emergency nurse and Australian military officer turned life mentor, about what it takes to walk away from the identity and career you’ve always known. Together, they unpack the cost of always keeping it together, the quiet reckoning that follows, and what it takes to choose yourself.

If you’re a healthcare professional who’s starting to question the career you’ve built, this one’s for you.

Tune in to learn:

• The one sentence Nadine repeats to every burnt-out healthcare worker who's “great at their job” but dying inside
• What happened the day Nadine almost collided head-on with a truck (and why she says it saved her life)
• Why she believes your career becomes your identity and the brave decision it takes to let it go
• How Nadine hacked the system to earn triple her income while secretly building her business
• Why leaving the military as a woman leader shocked her boss—and how she took her power back
• What she means when she says “healing isn’t in your mindset, it’s in your soulset”
• The moment that made her realise she was holding her entire family together while slowly losing herself
• Her metaphor of the “backpack of bullsh*t” and what happens when you finally put it down
• Why she says generational trauma isn’t the whole story and what most people are missing about ancestral wisdom

Connect with Nadine

Website

Instagram

Tiktok

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

Turns out, “qualified” doesn’t always mean “chosen.” So how do you bridge the gap?

In this ep, Caitlin unpacks a common struggle for health professionals turned creatives: feeling invisible despite years of training. Drawing from her own early business days, She talks about why leaning too heavily on your title might be creating distance instead of connection and offers three grounded, practical ways to shift how you show up in your marketing so your expertise gets noticed. 

Listen if you’re:

• Leaning on your title but still struggling to book clients
• Not sure how to explain why your background matters
• Craving a way to market that feels specific, grounded, and true to you

Loved this episode?

Leave a review or send it to a friend who’s been feeling unsure about their health career lately. Your support means the world to me!

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

How to ditch the academic speak

“Isn’t the whole point of therapy to be honest?”

In this episode, Caitlin sits down with her clinical supervisor, Kate O'Connor–a psychodynamic therapist and clinical psychologist.

Together, they chat unfiltered on the unspoken tension many healthcare professionals feel: the pressure to follow the rules vs. the pull to show up as a full, complex human. Kate explores the danger of over-sanitising therapy, why true healing can’t be manualised, and how supervision can be a life-affirming space (not a performance review). 

If you’ve ever felt like you’re too you to fit the mould of traditional clinical practice, this one’s for you.

Tune in to learn:

• The moment Kate realised supervision could feel more like therapy—and why that’s not a bad thing
• Why Caitlin nearly “tore up her psychology degree”... and how copywriting played an unexpected role
•  The surprising reason Kate lets clients draw tarot cards in session
• What a psychoanalytic supervisor taught Kate that traditional training never touched
• Why a CBT lecturer once told Kate: “It’s not technically true, it’s just what we tell people.”
• What happened when Caitlin stopped asking, “What should a psychologist say?” and asked, “What would I say?”
• How the new Code of Conduct in psychology could quietly kill off psychoanalytic therapy
• Kate’s take on why therapists are burning out—and the one word that could change that
• What Carl Jung, the I Ching, and a PR goth have to do with building a meaningful therapy practice
• The taboo topic most therapists avoid—and why ignoring it might be costing clients their life force

Connect with Kate

Website

Brisbane Therapy Rooms

Substack

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

What if the thing holding your message back… is how you were trained?

In this ep, Caitlin gets real about a sneaky messaging habit that so many clinicians-turned-creatives fall into: staying neutral. She explores how being taught to hold space can lead to watered-down words in your business and why owning your beliefs (even just 1 or 2 steps ahead of your audience) is what actually builds trust. 

Caitlin walks through real talk, lived experience, and gentle but powerful ways to start showing your point of view—without burning your ethics in the process.

Listen if you’re:

• A health professional or clinician navigating the leap into business
• Tired of playing it “safe” and getting zero traction in your content
• Craving more connection (and conversions) through your words

Loved this episode?

Leave a review or send it to a friend who’s been feeling unsure about their health career lately. Your support means the world to me!

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn

What if your difference wasn’t a flaw to hide, but the very reason you’re in this space to lead differently?

In this ep, Caitlin chats with Johanna, a neurodivergent psychologist, coach, and founder of ADHD Her Way, about what it means to create a career that reflects who you are—not just what you trained to do.

Together, they unpack the not-so-linear path of late diagnosis, the creative hunger that led Johanna beyond the therapy room, and the power of making space for both business and self-compassion.

For anyone who’s ever felt like they had to choose between being professional and being themselves, this episode's your permission slip.

Tune in to learn:

• The childhood habit that unknowingly planted the seed for her future podcasting life
• Why she was handing out Kids Helpline stickers in grade 2
• How a detour into forensic psych and parole work led her to early intervention and neurodivergent support
• What finally gave her permission to show up online in bold earrings, shades of pink, and full Gorman energy
• Why she used to colour-coordinate her outfits with her therapy room
• The surprising reason neurodivergent folks often use more filler words 
• How a late ADHD diagnosis didn’t just shift her identity—it reshaped her career, motherhood, and creative expression
• What she hopes future students won’t have to endure in psych training
• The quiet moment she realised she’d lost herself in her business—and what she’s now doing to get that spark back
• The ADHD moment that accidentally landed her better seats at a Robbie Williams concert

Connect with Johanna

ADHD Coach Instagram

ADHD Her Way Instagram

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn