"I love her. She is a part of us. To imagine my life without her is devastating. If anyone asks how many kids I have, I just tell them two." This week, Dr. Krystal Sodaitis shares what it is like to care for a child, fall in love, and have to say goodbye.  If you have ever wondered how someone you love is doing, this episode is for you. 

Dr. Krystal Sodaitis is a board-certified pediatrician, who transitioned from academic medicine to health plan leadership in 2013. Her coaching practice is focused on physicians who have a neurodevelopmental diagnosis such as ADHD, Autism or dyslexia. She addresses the guilt, shame, and limiting beliefs that come with a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disorder, autism spectrum disorder or any other disability. You can find her on her website and Instagram. 

One of the core tenets of being a great physician is supporting one's colleagues.  There is no one who can uniquely understand the wonder and complexity of healthcare, like a colleague.  But when power erodes compassion, we lose our humanity.  We suffer. Patients suffer.  

Dr. Tracey O'Connell shares a story that changed the trajectory of her career, normales being human, and shows us how to reframe our darkest moments with compassion.

You can find Tracey on her website and Instagram. 

Content warning: use of the world ob*sity, discussion of eating disorder behavior, discussion of racism

Dr. Trina Dorrah internalized at an early age that thinness equates to health and acceptance.  She describes how eating disorder behavior followed her into a career in medicine, her fight for recovery, and weight bias in health care. You can find Dr Dorrah on her website. 

In lieu of an introduction this week, I discuss the intersection of racism and anti-fat bias, the fallacy of the BMI, and the pervasiveness of weight bias in health care.  

Eating Disorder Resources:

Health at Every Size

National Eating Disorder Help Line

Find an eating disorder professional  

Anti-fat Bias Resources:

Maintenance Phase Podcast

Fearing the Black Body - the Racial Origins of Fat Phobia

The Body is Not an Apology

The Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness

Fat Talk - Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture

It's Always Been Ours - Rewriting the story of Black Women's Bodies

If you have ever wondered how to fit a career in medicine around your life (instead of squeezing your life into the cracks around medicine), you need to hear Dr. Dawn Baker's story.  In the midst of her training She struggled with infertility in her early career, but continued to model how to "lean out" from the traditional expectations of women in medicine.  Her story gives permission for a path less travelled.  

Dr. Dawn Baker is the physician, writer, speaker, and lifestyle design coach behind Practice Balance. She helps physicians and other professionals step off the treadmill of achievement, rediscover their true selves, and cultivate a practice of balance that’s right for them. She is the author of the book Lean Out: A Professional Woman’s Guide to Finding Authentic Work-Life Balance. Dawn is also a certified yoga and meditation instructor who is passionate about off-grid living, homeschooling, fitness, and travel.

https://www.practicebalance.com

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Dr. Jillian Rigert, a board certified physician and dentist, in her quest for worthiness via achievement, experienced the deterioration of her mental health.  Now in recovery, she supports patients in their darkest moments.  

You can find Jillian on YouTube and Instagram.

How do we create healthcare systems that are well?  One person at a time.  Dr. Jonathan Fisher shares what it took to ask for help and be well as a man in medicine and how he applies those lessons to a hospital system of 38,000 employees. 

Free coaching for residents and fellows.

Jonathan Fisher, MD, FACC, is a cardiologist, certified mindfulness teacher, and well-being and resiliency leader at Novant Health, supporting a team of 38,000. He is also the founder of Mind Heart Now LLC, delivering keynotes and workshops on mindfulness, stress mastery, total well-being, and heart-centered leadership for teams and organizations globally including IBM, Bank of America, IE Business School (Madrid), the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and many others. 

LinkedIn

Just One Heart - book

He is a founding board member of the The Charlotte Center for the Humanities and Civic Imagination; co-founded the Ending Clinician Burnout Global Community; and organized the world’s first global summit dedicated to ending clinician burnout, with over a thousand participants from 43 countries. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, Julie, their three teen-aged children, and two doodle dogs, Cosmo and Hugo.

Dr. Fisher’s mission is to help others harness the power of the mind-heart connection to create a kinder, more compassionate world.

In support of the Trans community, Dr. Stella Evans and I share our imperfect experiences of loving, supporting, and raising our Trans teens. We discuss how we processed our own biases, the difference between a lawnmower and flame thrower parenting, and how we address family dynamics.  Stella's kid, Lillian, shares advice for parents.

You can find Stella at: www.stellakevansmd.com [email protected] Instagram Facebook  

Perfectionism is an adaptive set of behaviors that help us avoid feelings of discomfort.  Specifically, they create emotional and physical safety.  This week, Dr. Melissa Hankins describes how perfectionism was keeping her safe, until it wasn't. 

You can find Melissa on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Email:  [email protected]   She offers FREE consultation for those seeking coaching and/EFT Tapping services for perfectionism, burnout, moral injury, and overwhelm in physicians and other high-performers.  

How do you tell the difference between burnout and other forms of "I don't feel good?" Dr. Errin Wiesman - family doc, farmer's wife, mother of dragons, alpaca lover - walks us through her burnout recovery only to discover what she was really running from. 

You can find Errin on Instagram and her podcasts, Doctor Me First and Burntout to Badass.