The journey to embracing imperfection isn't about lowering standards – it's about expanding possibilities. In coaching, we call this "creating and increasing capacity for joy."

A trauma-responsive approach to physician leadership and wellbeing.

In a groundbreaking 2021 study published in Anesthesiology, researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center revealed that nearly 60% of U.S. anesthesiologists were at high risk for burnout.

We can acknowledge and embrace our humanity and summon our compassion into places where high-stakes decisions are made while simultaneously holding ourselves and each other accountable.

Enhancing Public Health Leadership with Trauma-Responsive Skills

The Advanced Skills Needed to Navigate What’s Next

Everyone has a system so primed by the compounding, cumulative toxic stress and trauma of recent years that activation misfires are happening more frequently.

In the absence of mitigation, trauma will discharge disguised as behaviors that further amplify harm and drive disconnection:  Anger. Aggression. Apathy. Avoidance. Disdain. Disengagement. Self-injury. 

Maybe Broken is an opportunity to sift through the pieces, mindfully choose the beautiful and useful bits of value, and build something better.

But the fun and screams and laughter and joy that surround deliberately created scary moments during the Month Of Halloween are different from the swamp of Fear and uncertainty we've collectively endured.

Our processing may look a little … weird … for a while.

And humor helps.

Learning to connect and intentionally hold space in a manner that responds to and mitigates the trauma (Big T or little t) that shows up in others is an essential skill we all are capable of learning.

The chaos cracked systems that were long overburdened and strained. The harm – the trauma – can no longer be denied, and relief can no longer be delayed.

For more than a decade, industry experts – and practitioners themselves – have been sounding the alarm about critical levels of burnout and toxic stress experienced by healthcare professionals.

Too often, though, we give our feelings free rein. And too often (especially right now), the traumas we've experienced are showing up as anger, avoidance, or apathy.