Integrative Women's Health Podcast

“I feel like fitness is a gateway to health coaching.” - Mary Vidal

When we think about health and wellness, it seems like a linear process—either you’re sick or healthy. That’s hardly ever the case. Each of our health journeys is dynamic and individual.

Often, when one thing gets solved, something else comes up, and that’s one of the central reasons why having a coach with the experience and skill set to help monitor and navigate this journey makes all the difference.

Today, I’m thrilled to introduce you to Women's Health Coach Graduate Mary Vidal. As an empty nester, Mary wanted to expand her practice to be able to help people as a health coach. After participating in multiple certification programs, Mary’s business is thriving in multiple areas, and she’s built a career that’s meaningful to her and aligned with her vision.

In this conversation, Mary and I discuss her journey from a corporate career to health coach specializing in women's health, the importance of creating a supportive community, why we need to celebrate small victories, using data to empower clients, the transformative power of health coaching, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/how-creating-community-can-supercharge-your-practice-meet-womens-health-coach-graduate-mary-vidal/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“It’s important to look at food first before supplementation.” - Margie Bissinger

For most people, bone health is not a topic that comes into focus until later in life or when an issue arises. Bone health is strongly linked to quality of life, so it’s never too early or too late to start supporting strong and healthy bones.

Optimizing your overall health in areas like reducing inflammation, optimizing nutrition, and incorporating resistance training will also help increase bone density and the dynamic capacity of your bones. Anything you can do to help your clients improve their bone health sets them up for improving their lives in the future. If you're a clinician working with women of any age, you have the opportunity to prevent the 25% death rate that we have from osteoporotic fracture.

Today, I’m excited to be joined by Dr. Lisa Moore and Margie Bissinger for a fantastic roundtable conversation about bone health. They share their extensive experience and insights into bone health, osteoporosis, bone building, bone maintenance strategies, estrogen and breast cancer, and beyond. Our bones generally don’t give us any symptoms until we're at a life-threatening fracture level, so it’s our responsibility to reduce the risk or optimize recovery so that we can positively impact bone health in the long term.

In today’s episode, Dr. Lisa, Margie, and I discuss the importance of maintaining and building bone density through nutrition and exercise, strategies for those recovering from cancer, tailored exercise protocols, preventative strategies, integrating strength training and balance exercises, mindful movement to reduce the risk of fractures, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/strengthening-bones-osteoporosis-cancer-and-beyond-with-dr-lisa-moore-margie-bissinger/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“Our brain and our thoughts change our biology and chemistry in the body.” - Jane Hogan

When someone is diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or chronic pain condition, there’s a common pathway we tend to explore. It starts with conventional medicine and medications to suppress symptoms or stabilize the immune system. Then, going deeper to address the root cause, they’ll turn to a functional medicine practitioner who will help with nutrition plans and supplementation. Even with all that, most people will hit a wall where it’s hard to sustain the changes they’ve made. That’s where a coaching model that supports the deeper social and emotional piece comes in.

When it comes to chronic illness, healing must involve addressing the emotions, fears, and beliefs that no longer serve us. By changing the messages in our brain, we can change our physiologic functions and our biochemistry, even at the level of our labwork, and that’s empowering.

It’s not about doing things perfectly and never taking a break, but instead recognizing that by incorporating nervous system regulation work and brain retraining strategies, we can accelerate the healing potential of all the tools we’re already using.

To explore this further, I’m sharing a fascinating interview with Jane Hogan, The Wellness Engineer. After being diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis in her early 50s, Jane dived deep into the world of mind-body medicine. Recognizing that if we want a different output in the body, we need to change the input, she now helps her clients release chronic pain and empower themselves on their healing journeys.

In this conversation, Jane and I discuss her journey of healing from severe rheumatoid arthritis, the limitations of conventional and functional medicine, the importance of addressing emotional and psychological factors in chronic pain management, strategies and tools to address the mind-body connection, why we need a holistic approach to healing, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/how-to-use-neuroscience-to-heal-chronic-pain-with-jane-hogan/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“Change is terrifying, especially change when it’s somewhat subversive.” - Dr. Sara Sohn DPT, WCS

Choosing to go in a different direction from what society tells you to do can be difficult. Making decisions like not overworking, not giving to the ends of your depth, and not focusing on external measures of productivity goes against what many of us have been taught, but that’s what’s necessary if you want to create a practice and a life that is supportive to you.

Have you ever had a moment where you’re questioning whether you have the energy, time, or mental capacity to take care of a patient? Or a client gets vulnerable and your first reaction is to minimize their issues and internally compare your pain to theirs? These are some of the first signs many of us experience on the journey to burnout.

Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to support yourself and come back from burnout or avoid it altogether. By figuring out your North Star, celebrating your accomplishments, and consciously making space for rest and healthy boundaries, you can establish a life that works for you instead of drains you.

Today, I’m excited to be joined by Dr. Sara Sohn, DPT, WCS, to explore how you can build that next-level life for yourself without burnout. We discuss our experiences with burnout, what it was like for Sara to create an aligned practice, the systemic issues contributing to how common burnout has become, practical strategies for achieving work-life balance, Sara’s "BURN" framework for navigating, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/from-burnout-to-passion-in-our-work-with-physical-therapist-dr-sara-sohn/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“If we can, at the grassroots level, start getting to the patients and the community providers and then start moving up the chain, we can do a lot of amazing work.” - Dr. Juan Michelle Martin

The pregnancy and postpartum periods are huge eye-openers for most women. There’s such a lack of education around pregnancy and birth that women are often not even aware of their options and the different options for support, including pelvic floor physical therapy and working with a doula or coach.

After becoming a mom, today’s guest, Dr. Juan Michelle Martin, recognized the significant need for more transparency and guidance and decided to specialize in pelvic and women’s health. Dr. J’s journey is so inspiring. While working in a physical therapy practice that was hyper-focused on productivity, she decided to pivot and build her own practice where she could serve her community and have the flexibility to be present for her family in the way she wanted to be.

In this conversation, Dr. J and I discuss her journey from traditional physical therapy to establishing her private practice, why she decided to add coaching to her skillset, how it has helped her to improve the way she supports her clients, why it’s essential to address both physical and emotional aspects of health during the perinatal period, the value of coaching in providing comprehensive care, what it means to foster deeper client relationships, how practitioners can work together to improve patient outcomes, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/improving-perinatal-care-with-physical-therapy-and-health-coaching-with-whc-grad-dr-juan-michelle-martin/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“Once I started the program and began practicing and learning, it's hard to describe the freedom and excitement that it brought.” - April Haberman

Are you wondering about the next step in your career? If you love supporting women and are passionate about women’s health, healing, and helping women lead meaningful lives, women’s health coaching might be for you.

Today, I’m excited to be joined by April Haberman, a recent Women’s Health Coach certification program graduate who has become a leader in corporate menopause care. After a long career in the non-profit and development space, April wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next. She had a blank slate vision before her but wasn’t sure what a midlife transition would mean for her career. By using all the resources available to her in the Integrative Women’s Health Institute, April has made a dramatic and meaningful change, helping women navigate the kinds of changes that she navigated in the corporate world.

In this conversation, April and I discuss her decision to become a health coach, her focus on menopause, the experiences that influenced her desire to support women, how community helped her through her midlife career transition, the importance of self-care and a client-centered approach in health coaching, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/whc-graduate-april-haberman-how-to-be-a-leader-in-corporate-menopause-care/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“I'm 31 and feel better than I’ve felt since I was 14. There is hope for you to feel better.” - Camille Dollins

[TRIGGER WARNING: Suicidal ideation]

Having to carry on, believe in yourself, and find answers is extremely hard to do when you're in pain.

In today’s episode, I’m joined by pelvic health expert Dr. Shanti Mohling and Camille Dollins, Lead Marketing Manager here at the Integrative Women's Health Institute and a woman who has navigated her own experience of healing from endometriosis.

Camille’s story is both inspiring and hopeful, and it’s a credit to her that she held on to the tenacity to push forward and get the care she needed in a system that gaslit her and did not respect what she was going through. Thankfully, Camille is now living very healthfully, and her journey sheds light on a lot of the challenges of navigating the healthcare system with endometriosis, specifically extrapelvic endometriosis. As Dr. Mohling shares, this is a remarkably complex condition to treat and ideally requires the collaboration of a healthcare team.

As practitioners, we can no longer treat the body and mind as distinctly separate beings. People navigating complex chronic pain need both physical symptom and emotional health experts on their teams to truly make progress on their health journeys.

In today’s episode, Dr. Mohling, Camille, and I discuss the complexities of endometriosis, Camille’s struggles with diagnosis and treatment, how she connected with Dr. Mohling, Dr. Mohling’s extensive surgical experience, the challenges of diagnosing extrapelvic endometriosis, the interconnectedness of physical and emotional health, why we need holistic treatment approaches, what we can do as practitioners to offer integrative support in managing endometriosis, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/what-is-extrapelvic-endometriosis-case-study-with-camille-dollins-and-dr-shanti-mohling/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“Let's empower patients to help themselves. That's going to be the best way to affect change.” - Iris Kerin Orbuch, MD

Endometriosis is a condition with neurologic, immune-inflammatory, and autoimmune components. While surgical excision is the cornerstone of treatment and necessary for most people to recover fully, we need a multidisciplinary approach to address endo's massive impact on the body comprehensively.

As practitioners, one of the most important aspects to address is the sensation of safety in the body. To do that, we have to work both with physical tools, like optimizing nutrition, and with trauma and the mental/emotional impact of chronic illness. A part of your work is also to practice your own self-regulation so that being in your presence will help your clients regulate themselves.

Today, I’m so excited to be joined by a dear friend of mine and one of the top endometriosis surgeons in the world, Iris Kerin Orbuch, MD. For years, Dr. Iris has been outspoken about the need for a multidisciplinary approach to treating endometriosis, and she continues to challenge her colleagues to rethink some of the earlier ways of addressing the condition. Dr. Iris uses an integrative approach to help her patients heal and get on the road to recovery.

In this conversation, Dr. Iris and I discuss the complexities of endometriosis, the need for an integrative approach to treatment, Dr. Iris’ journey with endometriosis, her advocacy for patients, the challenges of diagnosis, why we need to address the whole body, mind-body medicine, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/getting-better-outcomes-with-endometriosis-excision-surgery-with-dr-iris-orbuch/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“Strengthening your gastrointestinal system is foundational to strengthening your immune system.” - Dr. Jessica Drummond

In this post-COVID world, we’re constantly exposed to serious viruses daily. Knowing this, we must optimize our digestive, immune, and nervous systems to improve our resilience to infections, especially if we are high risk or working in a health facility or in other situations where we may be more vulnerable.

The good news is that we have more tools than ever to combat the spread and damage caused by these viruses. From masking and HEPA filtration to ventilation and nasal sprays, there are many strategies that we can use in our homes and workplaces to mitigate the risk of infection. The less exposure, the better.

Today, I’m sharing the second part of our case study with Terry Brown, a 22-year-old physical therapy student navigating a chronic long COVID case. Terry has now been dealing with constant chronic infections for over 18 months, and in our first conversation, we discussed the IWHI seven-step system and strategies to help her start to optimize her health.

In this conversation, Terry and I discuss her progress since our last call, what it’s been like to implement new practices into her busy daily life, strategies for enhancing gut, immune, and nervous system health, the importance of sustainable lifestyle changes, the benefits of stress management practices, specific nutrients and supplements to support your physiologic systems, and more. Let's get into part two, where you'll see exactly how we implement working with clients with complex chronic illnesses.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/immunocompromise-after-covid-in-a-physical-therapy-student-live-client-case-study-part-2/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

“A COVID infection often reveals deeper vulnerabilities that you didn’t know were there.” - Dr. Jessica Drummond

The COVID virus can be difficult to deal with, even when you’re very healthy. So many factors can influence how your body responds, and we still have a lot left to learn. Unfortunately, that means that for those of us who are struggling with long COVID and the chronic health struggles that it brings, it’s difficult to access help.

The level of medical gaslighting is intense, and most of the medical community can’t wrap their heads around the fact that COVID isn’t going away or weakening in the way they expected.

Today, I’m sharing a special case study using the IWHI seven-step system for navigating a chronic long COVID case. For this case study, I’m talking to Terry Brown, a 22-year-old physical therapy student who got COVID during orientation week at the beginning of physical therapy school. She’s now been dealing with it for over 18 months and shares the ups and downs and the vulnerabilities that may have put her more at risk for long COVID.

In this conversation, Terry and I discuss her health struggles in the year and a half since her initial COVID infection, how factors like anxiety, cortisol levels, and genetic predispositions may have contributed to her condition, our systematic approach to long COVID recovery, strategies for improving immune resilience, the significance of nervous system regulation, the value of individual mitigation tools, and more. Let's dive into this story and learn more about how to take a systematic approach to addressing long COVID from the root cause.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/immunocompromise-after-covid-in-a-physical-therapy-student-live-client-case-study-part-1/.

Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/).

Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).