Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share How Did We Get Here? | Ep1
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
How Did We Get Here? | Ep1
It hits early, sometimes just two years out of residency, you’re no longer a trainee on paper, but the schedule still feels like one. Five shifts in a row. Nights. Weekends. Young kids at home. A mortgage and six-figure student loans that make you feel like a “negative millionaire.”
In this first full episode of Direct Well-Being, Dr. Anders Apgar sits with Dr. Daren Girard, as they unpack the early-career breaking point, the reality of shift work versus family life, and the practical steps that helped Daren reclaim sustainability, including a strategic move into administrative leadership that reduced clinical burden without sacrificing income. Together they explore why high-performing physicians often hide their stress, the power of building real connections beyond the bedside, the importance of remembering your “why,” and how to show up for your family even when the schedule fights against it.
This episode is honest, hopeful, and filled with actionable wisdom for residents, early-career physicians feeling the squeeze, and seasoned clinicians looking for renewed purpose.
Episode Highlights:
About the Show:
Direct Well-Being is hosted by Dr. Anders Apgar, MD, FACOG, M.S., An Ob/Gyn physician leader and nationally recognized voice in clinician well-being. The show is a trusted, peer-driven space for honest conversations about what actually supports physicians, beyond resilience training and surface-level wellness.
Each week, Dr. Apgar sits down with physician leaders, partner organizations, and frontline clinicians to talk about the real drivers of distress: financial stress, mental and emotional health, family dynamics, and the systems in which physicians practice. Conversations are evidence-aligned, research-informed, and grounded in lived clinical experience, never promotional, always physician-first.
Produced as a Direct Self Care production in partnership with the Doctor Podcast Network, the show draws on insight from the Well-Being Index, Champions of Wellness, Tend Health, and the broader Direct ecosystem to move listeners from awareness to agency.
About the Guest:
Dr. Daren Girard is an emergency physician and Chief of Emergency Medicine at Kent Hospital in Warwick, Rhode Island. A former Wesleyan University wrestler and longtime friend/roommate of host Dr. Anders Apgar, he brings over 25 years of clinical experience. Early in his career (just two years out of residency) he transitioned into an assistant director role to reduce clinical shifts, gain administrative responsibilities, and achieve better work-life balance while raising a young family. He remains deeply involved in mentoring residents and supporting physician wellness.
About the Host:
Anders Apgar, MD, FACOG, M.S., is a physician leader dedicated to transforming clinician well-being. As host of the Direct Well-Being Podcast, he leads honest conversations about the real drivers of distress : financial stress, mental health, family dynamics, and broken systems, for physicians and the organizations that support them.
A trusted voice in health care, Dr. Apgar blends lived clinical experience with evidence-aligned insights. He’s part of the Direct Ecosystem (Direct Self Care, Direct Wealth Care, Direct Practice Care), partnering with organizations like Tend Health, the Well-Being Index, and Champions of Wellness to move the conversation from awareness to agency.
Connect with Dr. Anders Apgar
Websites:
directwellbeingpodcast.com , dwbpodcast.com
Emails:
View all episodes
By Doctor Podcast Network, Anders Apgar MD FACOG MSIt hits early, sometimes just two years out of residency, you’re no longer a trainee on paper, but the schedule still feels like one. Five shifts in a row. Nights. Weekends. Young kids at home. A mortgage and six-figure student loans that make you feel like a “negative millionaire.”
In this first full episode of Direct Well-Being, Dr. Anders Apgar sits with Dr. Daren Girard, as they unpack the early-career breaking point, the reality of shift work versus family life, and the practical steps that helped Daren reclaim sustainability, including a strategic move into administrative leadership that reduced clinical burden without sacrificing income. Together they explore why high-performing physicians often hide their stress, the power of building real connections beyond the bedside, the importance of remembering your “why,” and how to show up for your family even when the schedule fights against it.
This episode is honest, hopeful, and filled with actionable wisdom for residents, early-career physicians feeling the squeeze, and seasoned clinicians looking for renewed purpose.
Episode Highlights:
About the Show:
Direct Well-Being is hosted by Dr. Anders Apgar, MD, FACOG, M.S., An Ob/Gyn physician leader and nationally recognized voice in clinician well-being. The show is a trusted, peer-driven space for honest conversations about what actually supports physicians, beyond resilience training and surface-level wellness.
Each week, Dr. Apgar sits down with physician leaders, partner organizations, and frontline clinicians to talk about the real drivers of distress: financial stress, mental and emotional health, family dynamics, and the systems in which physicians practice. Conversations are evidence-aligned, research-informed, and grounded in lived clinical experience, never promotional, always physician-first.
Produced as a Direct Self Care production in partnership with the Doctor Podcast Network, the show draws on insight from the Well-Being Index, Champions of Wellness, Tend Health, and the broader Direct ecosystem to move listeners from awareness to agency.
About the Guest:
Dr. Daren Girard is an emergency physician and Chief of Emergency Medicine at Kent Hospital in Warwick, Rhode Island. A former Wesleyan University wrestler and longtime friend/roommate of host Dr. Anders Apgar, he brings over 25 years of clinical experience. Early in his career (just two years out of residency) he transitioned into an assistant director role to reduce clinical shifts, gain administrative responsibilities, and achieve better work-life balance while raising a young family. He remains deeply involved in mentoring residents and supporting physician wellness.
About the Host:
Anders Apgar, MD, FACOG, M.S., is a physician leader dedicated to transforming clinician well-being. As host of the Direct Well-Being Podcast, he leads honest conversations about the real drivers of distress : financial stress, mental health, family dynamics, and broken systems, for physicians and the organizations that support them.
A trusted voice in health care, Dr. Apgar blends lived clinical experience with evidence-aligned insights. He’s part of the Direct Ecosystem (Direct Self Care, Direct Wealth Care, Direct Practice Care), partnering with organizations like Tend Health, the Well-Being Index, and Champions of Wellness to move the conversation from awareness to agency.
Connect with Dr. Anders Apgar
Websites:
directwellbeingpodcast.com , dwbpodcast.com
Emails: