Empowering Women Physicians

This episode included clips from a workshop inside the Empowering Women Physicians coaching program with Dr. Kristen Neff on self-compassion.  We discuss the difference between tender self-compassion and fierce self-compassion.  Dr. Neff speaks up about the need for women to advocate for themselves and how that is indeed an act of self-compassion. We discussed that self-compassion can be measured...

In this episode, we listen to a full two hour workshop held inside the EWP Coaching Program with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.  She is a Harbard neuroanatomist who had a stroke that led her to see her brain and psychology in a whole new way.  Her TED talk is one of the most watched of all time and author of the books My Stroke of Insight and Whole Brain Living. She shares her neuroanatomically based psyc...

In this episode, we discuss the unseen burden and mental load of taking over-responsibility for things that aren't ours to carry.  We discuss the difference between taking Radical Responsibility for those things that are yours to control (your thoughts, feelings, actions, and results) as opposed to taking responsibility for things that are not yours to control (such as others thoughts, feelings, a...

In this episode, Dr. Sunny Smith reflects on how a recent life threatening situation helped her to see what things really matter in the end, and how most of the things we spend so much time worrying about don't really matter at all.  It changed her perspective to help her take radical responsiblity for making choices in her life that didn't serve her.   She also announced a brand new physician coa...

Our last episode was a conversation with Dr. Edith Eger on how we always have a choice.  No matter our situation, we always have a choice.   This episode is a reflection on a conversation with her and Oprah Winfrey that included how we go about making our choices when the answer doesn't seem clear.  Oprah discussed her own reflections with and experiences of Inner Knowing.  She says we were all bo...

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Edith Eger who is a 97 year old Holocaust survivor, clinical psychologist, and New York Times Best Selling author of the book The Choice. The wisdom she shares is truly unforgettable. She teaches us how her mother taught her that no one could take away from her what she put in her mind.    She reminds us that we all have choice, no matter the circumstance. Lin...

In this episode we examine the evolution of the understanding of Learned Helplessness.  We review the neuroscience that explains how helplessness is a default and what we are actually learning is control.   This allows us to have a deeper understanding for ourselves and compassion for ourselves when we do feel helplessness in the face of ongoing challenges. It also empowers us to proactively stren...

In this episode we learn about Martin Seligman's initial experiments on Learned Helplessness.  This context can help us better understand ourselves and why we may sometimes not believe that we have power to take action to decrease our own suffering.   In person event: EWP Toronto 2024 with Liz Gilbert and Martha Beck -  click here   Coaching Guide: To download click here   Podcast link:  To send t...

In this episode we talk about the indoctrination all of us went through during our medical training.  In the next episode we will discuss learned helplessness, unlearning, and re-learning agency and self-efficacy. References and resources mentioned in this podcast References 1. Greenawald MH MD, FAAFP, Pipas CF MD, MPH, FAAFP.  The Power Of Coaching: Supercharge Your Personal and Professional Well...

In this episode we talk about the important role of "micro-mentoring" in facebook groups for women physicians.      We also discuss one such example where women physicians reflect on and call out beliefs we have or actions we take, as if there were a badge of honor for sacrificing ourselves for others. Let's tell the truth - from our own painfully gained knowledge that there is NO badge of honor f...

Human beings are enthralled by stories and use them as tools to connect, to make sense of the world, to engage and transmit information from one person to another, one community to another, and one generation to another.  Our stories influence our beliefs and our culture.  Personal heartfelt stories engage our brain in unique and powerful ways.  We'll talk about why we encourage others to tell the...

We are thrilled to be back after a year long break from releasing new episodes to bring you more of the Empowering Women Physicians podcast.  In this episode, we hope to help you reflect on what you really do and the meaning and impact you have on people's lives.   Dr. Edith Eger's powerful book The Choice can be found here . The free anonymous confidential Physician Support Line can be found at 1...

Dr. Milene Argo started her journey with coaching 3 years ago, which started with 80 lb weight loss, she then applied this work to optimizing her clinical practice, to managing her inbox, finally leaving work at work, no more charting at home, self acceptance,  COVID, and even recent anti-racism awareness.    She is one of the best I know in using coaching techniques with her patients during routi...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Sonia Wright about her journey, continuous transformation from her time in college, postbacc, residency, fellowship, parenting, mentoring, coaching, sex, intimacy, racism, and her experience living in the Twin Cities, MN during recent months and the anti-racism movement. https://soniawrightmd.com/ PDF guide: bit.ly/sexualintimacyguide

Dr. Stella Evans reflects on the last few months and how our paths crossed when she reached out while she was on quarantine for fever and cough.   She then found herself at the epicenter of the world's attention as the recent anti-racism uprisings literally came to the streets in front of her home and clinic.  She reflects on how examining her thoughts, feelings, and actions  during this historic...

Dr. Sarah Watler is one of my former medical students who has spent the last year as an Intern in New York City in the largest medical center in the area hardest hit by COVID (the Bronx). She speaks openly about her experiences this year.  As a Family Medicine intern focused on social justice she never expected to be doing months of critical care at the epicenter of an international pandemic.  She...

How are you feeling? No really, how are you feeling. Pick a word. See if you can name how you are feeling right now. Affect labelling (naming an emotion) has been shown to decrease distress.  In this episode, we talk about the neuroscience behind using your own brain to feel better.   Download the feelings list here https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/feelings/ Virtual summit link here Affect la...

While the COVID pandemic is spreading, I wanted to encourage us to manage what is within our control, including flattening the curve. This episode also includes reminders that now more than ever caring for yourself IS caring for others. We can accept reality while offering hope. You'll hear from Dr. Krista Olsen, a full time obstetrician and certified coach in our program.  She was COVID positive...

On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Today, March 13, 2020, the United States declared a national emergency. This has impacted all of us. Particularly physicians. We talk about how you can see this as an opportunity to use your voice, to speak, to lead, to work together.   WHO announcemement of pandemic is here .  The link to sign up for free COVID-19 relat...

In this very special episode, Dr. Megan Galaske tells her story. Her journey of transformation, from suffering to thriving in just a few short months. She attributes this change to finding women physician groups who offered support, podcasts, and coaching.  She implemented these changes in her life and you'll love to hear from her. Her words. Her journey. Her transformation. And...we do have a spe...

In this episode, we learn how National Women Physicians Day became a holiday four years ago from one of the women that made this happen.   On February 3 of each year, we now celebrate the birthday of Elizabeth Blackwell MD the first woman physician in the United States. See the original press release here

Welcome the beloved Hala Sabry, founder of PMG.  You'll hear how PMG came to exist from a night she was feeling worry and anxiety sitting all alone on her sofa at night worrying about how she could possibly figure out how to take care of 3 small children (including twins about to be born) while being an Emergency Dept physician with unpredictable shifts and high demands.  She reached out to her fr...

It's now officially a year since this podcast started! This episode will start a series of interviews of real clients, real women physicians, who have all changed their lives in some way through coaching. Bonnie Koo MD has been coaching with Sunny for over a year and went from feeling trapped to realizing she had much more freedom than she realized. She has gone from a new mother and employed derm...

In this episode, Dr Sunny Smith shares the brand new Randomized Controlled Trial published in JAMA Internal Medicine documenting that coaching decreases distress and improves physician well-being.   Download your free self coaching guide here:   https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/guide/   Main reference discussed in this podcast: Dyrbye LN, Shanafelt TD, Gill PR, Satele DV, West CP. Effect of a...

I encourage you to consider periodically looking at your life with the playful childlike lens of a "Choose your own adventure" story. Maybe find a children's book or even an adult book in this genre or watch the Netflix interactive narrative Banderdash  https://www.netflix.com/title/80988062   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mirror:_Bandersnatch It might just start to change the way you see th...