The Catalyst: Sparking Creative Transformation in Healthcare

The Physician Who’s Conquering the Online Space, and Bringing Colleagues Along

“One person can't make a difference, but many can. And so what I'm doing is I'm trying to not only give doctors a voice, but I'm trying to give them the fuel they need to feel empowered to continue building up their brand,” explains Dana Corriel, MD. Dana is the founder and CEO of SoMeDocs, a social media hub for physicians to get recognized and hired for their talents outside of healthcare through mediums like podcasting, writing, speaking, educating, and coaching. She is a former board certified internist who realized that while she could not fix things in the healthcare system alone,  having a network of colleagues could make all the difference in the world. 
 
Healthcare workers often work within an overarching organization and do not get as recognized for their individual talents. If they shift hospitals or careers, their reputation may not follow them since it is strictly attached to the organization. Through social media marketing, physicians can make a name for themselves as individuals by creating content and building a brand that they can take with them into any new job. When doctors recognize their talents and have the opportunity to foster them, it can lead to amazing opportunities working in fields outside of healthcare.
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to learn more about SoMeDocs, why social media marketing is so important for physicians, and what types of side gigs doctors can excel in with their current expertise and talents. 
 
Quotes
• “One person can't make a difference, but many can. And so what I'm doing is I'm trying to give doctors not only a voice, but I'm trying to give them amplification fuel, so that they can feel empowered, and they can continue to build up their brand. So all of us can individually make a difference.” (7:12-7:34 | Dana)
• “You're a representative of the system, but you're still an individual.” (10:55-10:58 | Dana) 
• “I am for physician individuality. The health experts themselves need to create content and take that content with them where they go. And they need to consider themselves as individuals or individual micro celebrities that then take all of the branding and the content that they've built, and they take it with them to the next job.” (11:19-11:42 | Dana)
• “Opportunities were coming my way at the beginning, like heavily coming my way. At which point I said, Well, I not only can't do this myself, but why don't they come to my colleagues? Let me make it easier for them to get to my colleagues by building a categorized website that's beautiful, but that splits us up according to our niches and our specialties, where we practice, etc, etc.” (13:38-14:01 | Dana)
• “I think physicians not only are multitalented, I think they don't always recognize that they have talents in different things. And it takes this newfound discovery that we should be doing other things in today's world because healthcare isn't perfect to recognize that you have a talent in something.” (17:40-17:59 | Dana)
 
Links
Doctors of Social Website: www.doctorsonsocialmedia.com
Dr. Dana Corriel Website:  www.drcorriel.com
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
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Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

The Community Cure

“Not only do you solve loneliness in the groups, but you actually create a structure whereby new behaviors can be implemented as a norm within the group,” shares James Maskell, Creator of The Functional Forum and Author of The Community Cure. James created a community system for functional medicine practitioners and patients with chronic diseases that is virtual, accessible, and provides group-based care. James realized that groups were necessary for treating chronic disease because people are more successful when they have a support system backing them and because the real healing happens in between doctor’s appointments during day to day life. 
 
Many people who suffer with chronic illnesses such as autoimmune diseases, do not believe they can be cured. Having a group around them that is supportive and truly believes they can reverse their disease is pivotal for patients’ mindsets. Loneliness is linked to worse health outcomes, so a group setting can help by reducing loneliness in chronically ill patients. It is also useful for creating structure and reinforcing healthy behaviors that may not be as easy to stick with individually. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to learn more about the community care model of functional medicine and the incredible success rate these programs have for treating and reversing chronic diseases. 
 
Quotes
• “The first question that I asked is, ‘Is chronic disease reversible?’ And I think that has to be the foundation question. Because if chronic disease is going up like this, and the cost of chronic disease is going up like this, then ultimately, we have to really understand what is chronic disease? Where does it come from? How is it different from acute disease? And how do we get people out of it?” (3:59-4:19 | James) 
• “Not only do you solve loneliness in the groups, but you actually create a structure where new behaviors can be implemented as a norm within the group.” (13:20-13:29 | James)
• “If you create a whole episode of care that uses Zooms and allows people to connect in between the Zooms, that whole episode can be more effective than coming to a location every week. And the reason for that is that in between the Zooms, is where health happens.” (14:52-15:09 | James)
• “You can create new profit centers on insurance and reduce burnout by taking the time element that's needed for behavior change, put it on the group, so you can focus on your precision work.” (44:39-44:52 | James)
 
Links
HealCommunity Website: www.healcommunity.com
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

A Uniquely Colorful Psychiatric Medical Career That’s Beyond “Paint by Number”

“We need to remember to leave room for the magic,” shares Dr. Holly MacKenna, board certified psychiatrist. Dr. MacKenna has 20 years of experience working as an integrative trauma-informed psychiatrist in New Orleans helping patients through a mixture of traditional Western practices and Eastern influences like reiki and acupuncture. She formed her approach through learning about integrative medicine and gaining access to other female healers that she did not have exposure to during her time in medical school. 
 
Western medicine tends to place too much emphasis on data, the subsequent results of that data, insurance companies, and the exchange of money which leads to a disconnect between providers and patients. By giving herself permission to be human and take a more integrative approach to the body and mind connection, Dr. MacKenna is able to form a deeper relationship with her patients. She brings together practices like mindfulness, prayer or spirituality, reiki, acupuncture, and traditional Western medicine to form a more comprehensive package of psychiatric care. By opening up to that connectivity with the universe and one another, Dr. MacKenna helps her patients explore both the masculine and feminine energies within themselves to reach a more robust state of healing. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to hear more about integrative psychiatry and how it differs from traditional Western practices. 
 
Quotes
• “We need to remember to leave room for the magic.” (14:48-14:50 | Holly)
• “What often happens in western medicine, especially in that organizational kind of insurance driven model, is that masculine side, that data, that collecting money, that needing to justify to the insurance company, that takes over in a way that doesn't allow for the magic. And it gets away from the relationship between the provider, physician, therapists, whomever and the patient who this is all supposed to be about.” (17:14-17:49 | Holly)
• “There's some power in allowing myself to be a human in the room and to really be a partner with the patient.” (25:28-25:33 | Holly)
• “The beauty of my  journey with integrative medicine is that it's really allowed me to find what I didn't realize I was missing, which is female mentors and a lot of female healers. I just didn't have that in medical school and in my traditional training so much. It just shows how important representation is.” (36:58-37:18 | Holly)
• “When we allow ourselves to heal as healers, and we allow ourselves to really explore our own source, our own connectivity to the planet and universe, that is going to naturally allow us to evolve in a way that's going to be beneficial to those that we are trying to help.” (40:25-40:43 | Holly)
 
Links 
Dara Wellness website: http://www.darawellnessnola.com/
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Thriving After Loss With Grief Wellness

“What I learned after being in these trauma classes is how much it is a massage for the nervous system, through muscle tissue,” explains Marelda Rodrigues, Certified NeuroMuscular Therapist and Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach. Marelda is a massage therapist and wellness educator and the founder of Grief Massage and Wellness. She created the grief massage after a client came to her for help with the grief she had been experiencing since the death of her daughter. 
 
Grief has a profound effect on the human body, particularly in the central nervous system. Our nervous system is designed to look for and recognize threats and respond in a way that protects us. However, experiencing trauma causes the nervous system to feel like there is always a threat and this keeps our bodies on high alert. The more trauma and grief build up with consecutive losses, the more unregulated the nervous system becomes. A grief massage serves as a way to release the tension from the nervous system and help people process their emotions. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to hear more about how massage therapy can be used to heal the central nervous system after experiencing grief. 
 
Quotes
• “Part of me has been trained through all the years of self development to be the participant and the observer of my experiences. And so I put myself in that mode, was able to take enough notes to figure out what I was doing, and from there, came grief massage.” (6:16-6:33 | Marelda)
• “Trauma has an element of grief, but not all grief is trauma. While not all grief is trauma, if you have had a background in trauma, and it hasn't been correctly regulated, it will come and clash with a grief that may not have trauma in it.” (11:58-12:22 | Marelda)
• “I say this is what emotional release is because I think sometimes people are very threatened by the fact that they may be just sobbing and crying in this massage session. So I let them know that the best thing they can do is come in with the emotion of curiosity. And to stay curious because there is no way to predict that it's only going to be crying.” (19:28-19:53 | Marelda)
 
Links
Connect with Marelda Rodrigues:
Website: https://mareldarodrigues.com/
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Awakening a New Paradigm of Medical Care

“I realized that with functional medicine, a lot of this truly is an educational experience for the patient. As opposed to a pill that I give you, it's an education,” explains Amy Drab, MPAS, PA-C. Amy is a Physician’s Assistant turned Functional Medicine Practitioner with her own practice, Awaken Functional Medicine. She adds value to her practice by including educational programming for her clients through Awaken Academy. 
 
Amy became interested in functional medicine after seeing how it helped her own children with their health issues. One of her daughters was struggling with asthma and was on four medications while the other had colic. When she made the switch to functional medicine, both of her daughters’ health improved and her daughter with asthma was able to get off medication entirely. Amy realized that a lot of functional medicine comes down to educating patients so that they understand why certain lifestyle changes and supplements are important and are empowered to make the right choices. She combined her experience working in family practice with her experience working as a college professor and found that they were a perfect combination for effectively educating clients about functional medicine.
 
 Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to hear more about the importance of education in functional medicine and the role it plays in creating more successful health outcomes for patients. 
 
Quotes
• “Sometimes you feel like you're on a path. And you are convinced this is where you're supposed to be. And it doesn't turn out. It's not what you thought it would be. And it ultimately ends up giving you the information, the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding, the courage, whatever it is, to actually move forward and actually do what you were born to do.” (7:54-8:18 | Amy)
• “I was starting to get burnout anyway because I was in family practice at that moment in time. And you're just seeing patients for 10 minutes, throwing medication at them, and running out the door. And I thought to myself, that's not healing.” (10:52-11:03 | Amy)
• “I realized that with functional medicine, a lot of this truly is an educational experience for the patient. As opposed to a pill that I give you, it's an education.” (15:21-15:31 | Amy)
• “When you're with a patient, I think it's important to do three things: educate, inspire, and empower.” (20:13-20:21 | Amy)
 
Links
Connect with Amy Drab:
Website: https://awakenfm.net/
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Can You Hear What Your Heart is Saying?

“What unmet need are you trying to fill with this behavior or by doing this?”, asks Heather Fork, MD, MCC. Heather is a former dermatologist turned ICF Master Certified Coach. She provides career coaching for physicians at the crossroads of change through her company Doctor’s Crossing. Heather helps physicians strategize and figure out what path they truly want to take with their careers. 
 
Heather explains that her own catalytic moment occurred over time. When she first realized she was unhappy in her dermatology career, she didn’t change everything all at once. She decided it was better not to make decisions from a place of uncertainty or fear, but rather take the time to feel things out and make incremental changes. Eventually, she found her calling as a career coach, starting her own business to help other physicians at the crossroads of their careers. She explains that while she does guide her clients, the answers to what they are seeking already exist within them. Once they are able to see their fears and motivations and understand what their hearts really want, the path becomes clear. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to hear more about how to listen to your heart rather than your fears and how to flip the script when thinking about problems you may be facing in your career. 
 
Quotes
• “I think of it as making decisions from a place of strength, or making decisions from a place of trust in yourself and confidence rather than fear based decisions. So with a lot of my clients, we're looking at what their fears are.” (9:56-10:11 | Heather)
• “If you listen to the story, there's a momentum to it. And if you just ask a few questions that keep getting the person back to what really matters to them, they find their own answers.” (15:40-15:55 | Heather)
• “Those answers are all inside of you and I love being able to walk alongside and just help people feel their feelings and find their truth. It's like mining for gold, the gold is always there, we just have to be willing to look.” (16:30-16:46 | Heather)
• “What unmet need are you trying to fill with this behavior or by doing this?” (17:59-18:08 | Heather)
• “Often that question of why is this the best thing that happened to you when it's a bad thing? People can be offended by that, but when they really know you're coming from a place of helping them it can be a powerful question.” (28:36-28:48 | Heather)
 
Links
 
Connect with Heather:
www.doctorscrossing.com
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Re-Designing Your Life with Gratitude, Hope, and Thinking Big

“My pathway was finding gratitude, being more present, and really being grateful for the little things that we often take for granted,” shares Carina Hopen, MD, MS, DipABLM. Carina is a board certified doctor of family and lifestyle medicine and started her private functional medicine practice after being inspired by a desire to better help her community. There is a large military presence in her town and Carina helps to teach the VA about different medical conditions so that patients get more recognition and assistance. 
 
Carina redesigned her career by starting her own private practice when she realized that the current medical system was failing patients and providers alike. The system does not see the care team and patients as a unit, which causes negative health impacts all around. Carina witnessed many providers experiencing burnout under the current system and knew things needed to be done differently. She turned to gratitude, being more present in the moment, and cultivating a sense of hope within her community. She explains that through having hope for the future without worrying as much about the individual steps to get there, she was able to make the necessary changes to create better health outcomes. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to hear more about the importance of living life with gratitude, having hope, and thinking big about the future. 
 
Quotes 
• “Aging is relative. If you compare a newborn to a twenty-year-old, that twenty-year-old is old. But if you compare that twenty-year-old to an eighty-year0old, that twenty-year-old is young. So aging is is really where we are, in comparison from point A to point B.” (13:13-13:29 | Carina)
• “How do you want to age? Because you're aging now. And if you are happy with how you're aging, then that's great. But if you feel like there's room to improve, that's going to help how you age later on.” (17:21-17:36 | Carina)
• “A lot of what I do is about mindset and how you restructure your thinking and redesigning. So how you can redesign your life is just, ‘Is it something that happened to you? Or can you change your narrative to how have you dealt with it and grown from it?’.” (18:45-19:02 | Carina)
• “As we were in training, there was a lot of this no emotion. In a sense, you have to be like a superhero, superhuman, and just really, everything you do is for the patient. And I remember feeling bad because I had to take time off to go to my own appointment, like, how dare you take away time from your patients?” (20:26-20:51 | Carina)
• “If we're talking about forging relationships and having a clinician who's really compassionate and very committed to that end, we have to support that clinician.” (21:31-21:44 | Carina)
Links
www.inspiredwellnesspllc.org
www.thrivingmamamd.com
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

How One Physician’s Perseverance Opened Doors to New Worlds

“Every time you learn something, you acquire a new life,” shares Dr. Marwa Hazzah, functional medicine practitioner. Marwa started off her career in internal medicine and her passion for helping women with autoimmune conditions ultimately led her to pursue functional medicine. She was determined to learn everything she could to help improve the lives of her patients who were dealing with chronic illnesses. Now Dr. Marwa runs groups that help inspire and encourage patients as they face their similar challenges together. 
 
Dr. Marwa knew there had to be a better way for her patients to live other than a lifelong medication routine. Wanting alternative healing treatments, Marwa poured herself into finding answers about the impacts of inflammation on the body. At the beginning of the pandemic, her research showed the risks of endothelial dysfunction long before the data was released, and she was able to help her COVID positive patients have better outcomes. Dr. Marwa threw herself into learning right alongside her patients and even did the elimination diet with them to help show how beneficial it was. Her tenacity and love of learning opens doors for her patients that otherwise would have remained closed. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to hear more about the benefits of functional medicine, how perseverance can change lives, and the importance of always learning something new. 
 
Quotes
• “Healthcare is changing, and we are either going to be pulled and dragged along or we can actually be at the front of that change." (3:22-3:29 | Lara)
• “One of the very catalytic moments that really helped me improve was that Michael Lee called me on the second day of the pandemic saying, ‘I spoke yesterday to my patient, and he was doing fine. Then after a few hours, his wife called me and by the time he was in the ER, he was dead.’… I went to hang up and said this is not hypoxia…We know inflammation will cause endothelial dysfunction. So I started every patient on aspirin early on, before all the data came out.” (12:26-13:53 | Marwa)
• "It's so hard to do what's wrong when you know what is right." (16:49-16:51 | Marwa) 
• “We have to teach our medical residents and our trainees how we can go back and work on the pathology and why it happened and what's going on exactly in the model of functional medicine.” (25:10-25:21 | Marwa)
• “It's not about just what you eat, it’s about how you feel. It's your stress. It's how happy you are. We know it's going to cause inflammation in the body, but maybe certain food brings you good memories and makes you feel happy. And I think that will impact your gut microbiome at the same time.” (28:10-28:32 | Marwa)
• “Every time you learn something, you acquire a new life.” (33:52-33:54 | Marwa)
 
Links
 
Website: http://www.holisticmedicalpyramid.com
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

We Are All Doomed if We Can’t Control This One Thing

“We're all doomed if we cannot understand our own flow blockers and learn to avoid them,” explains host Dr. Lara Salyer. Flow blockers are anything that causes you to become distracted or that trigger imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome can keep you from catalyzing to your full potential by causing you to feel overwhelmed and burned out, even about things you are usually passionate about. 
 
Dr. Salyer shares that one of the biggest roadblocks to being a catalyst is dealing with imposter syndrome. Because functional and holistic medicine encompasses so much information, it is easy for practitioners to become overwhelmed and feed into their imposter syndrome. By avoiding flow blockers like an overly packed schedule, triggering social media posts, unsupportive people, and systems that are no longer serving you, you can protect your flow and avoid burnout. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to learn about how to control flow blockers and how to counteract imposter syndrome. 
 
Quotes
• “It feels like you have to know everything before you can start practicing functional, holistic medicine. And that's what gets a lot of us feeling downtrodden.” (2:03-2:12 | Lara)
• “If you were given a free Saturday with no expectations, what topic in your field of interest would you freely be excited and geek out to read and learn more?” (4:13-4:26 | Lara)
• “Our core values are there, but they can shift. And sometimes we uncover new things that we want to learn about that really sit even more central to our mission and purpose.” (5:16-5:27 | Lara)
• “Living out your dream and learning how to shape your masterpiece into something you love takes vulnerability. But you can learn to work with those shadows and learn to work with those sabotages and quirks and see the better perspective that you can create.” (6:56-7:16 | Lara)
• “We're all doomed if we cannot understand our own flow blockers and learn to avoid them.” (11:39-11:45 | Lara)
 
Links
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Tips From an Art Therapist on Reclaiming Creativity to Ease Burnout

“Art is such a valuable self care tool,” explains Amelia Hutchison, Artist and Art Therapist. Amelia works with clients all over the world through Zoom and at her anti-hustle art studio in British Columbia. She helps professionals learn to express their creativity and ease burnout symptoms through artistic mediums.  
 
According to Amelia, people often don’t think they can pursue art therapy because they aren’t good at art. However, the point of art therapy is not for the final product to be a masterpiece. Instead the goal is to find a way to express your emotions and experiences through a medium that is outside of your body. Art therapy gives adults permission to play and to do something that isn’t related to the hustle of their jobs and everyday responsibilities. 
 
Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to learn more about the power of art therapy, unique ways to express yourself, and how art can be healthcare. 
 
Quotes
• “I really think that the thing that made it possible for me to have an experience of post traumatic growth was that there was a creative holding space.” (4:06-4:21)
• “We can take really simple materials and just see, ‘what would my insides look like if I was to transform this material and make a symbol right now?’.” (10:04-10:14)
• “It's a powerful message to send to yourself that I deserve space for play. I deserve space for things that aren't productive.” (11:45-11:54)
• “Art is such a valuable self care tool.” (14:48-14:50)
• “Where does my value come from? If it's not work, then where does my value come from?” (17:19-17:30)
• “Having technical art skills is not important for expressing yourself or using art as a therapeutic tool. We're so much more concerned in art therapy with how the process feels, than what the final product looks like.” (26:52-27:09)
 
Links
Connect with Amelia Hutchison: 
Amelia Hutchison Website: www.arttherapyinreallife.com
 
Connect with Lara: 
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
 
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm