We need spaces to connect, to think tank, to problem solve so that we can potentiate and bring more human presence to all the people we touch so that we can offer true connection, so that we can mitigate Our own trauma, as well as those that come to us for care and those that work alongside us shoulder to shoulder.
physicians have a particular responsibility to stay intact because when we are intact, we do healing. That is our business. When we are not intact, we just compound the suffering.
Chrissie: You're listening to Solving for Joy. I'm your host, Dr. Chrissie Ott.
Hello. How are you guys doing today? I am so excited to record this bonus episode for you. I have been absolutely buzzing for the last month with this fire of conviction and inspiration, and I could not wait to share it more in detail with all of you.
So things over here, I have hit a good stride. My kiddo's in a good space. My wife is almost two years no evidence of disease after ovarian carcinosarcoma. My mom is getting amazing care and hanging in there eating like a champ and enjoying the planet still at 92. I love the clinical medicine that I get to do and I love that none of it includes 13 hour overnight shifts anymore. I am so grateful to be feeling like I'm at the peak of my own potential and creative wisdom and energy. And the latest iteration of that, and not for nothing, uh, rising in the days following the U S presidential election, the latest iteration is this new container for my clients and the joy point solutions audience called ROAR..
Getting it shaped just right has been, uh, an exciting adventure. And I have just been, I've been at my desk or on my laptop so much these last few weeks, because I've been obsessed, hardcore, creative mode, having the best time and really, um, just enjoying actually voicing and putting into words, this this energy that I have driving me right now. Um, I am so excited to connect with my physician friends, find which 25 are going to be in this room with me and remind them that they are bastions of elegant badassery. Who are or can be self determining AF. That they always have choices, even when things look otherwise, and that acting in alignment consciously with our values feels so good.
So just know that what I'm going to talk to you guys about today is the crystallization and the coming to fruition of of these efforts. And I am absolutely on fire about it. That's why my, my emoji of the season is a heart on fire. Um, so here comes some outrageous detail about ROAR. Okay. Um, all the questions that you may have been asking yourself or wondering if I was going to eventually answer. The answer is yes. I hope I will have answered every question that you can think of today. And if you have more questions, bring it on. You know how to find me, chrissie@ joypointsolutions. com.
Okay, first of all, if you are one of my non physician clients or audience members, you might be wondering why the pivot, why in 2025 are you suddenly only focused on serving physicians? And what about us? So the what about us part, I'll tell you, I love you. I want to serve everyone, but I also realize I can't serve everyone at one time. And there are reasons. Um, so if you are one of my non physician clients, just know that individual coaching is still absolutely available for you. Um, it's just not our primary message right now. And we are still offering the 12 by 12 curriculum in the asynchronous way. So that is available on the website. And if you have questions, hit me up.
So why physicians? We are under so much pressure, y'all. We are under resourced and have been overdemanded upon for so long, we have been more or less quietly toiling away in a system that has never had our backs and the compounding pressure is a trauma, it is a trauma, the penetrance of trauma is 100%. You guys, we all have trauma, little T, big T trauma, we all have trauma. So the out of proportion allostatic load of the stress that we hold first hand witnessing difficulties and suffering in other humans and in a system that tries hard, but comes up short many times. That's a trauma. There is trauma in not being able to provide the services because of prior authorizations. There is trauma when we are asked to see 25 patients a day and be present in all of those interactions. There is trauma y'all. And We are all the walking wounded. I mean, it's not special for physicians, but I want to tell you, physicians have a particular responsibility to stay intact because when we are intact, we do healing. That is our business. When we are not intact, we just compound the suffering. I'll give examples of that later, but that hundred percent penetrance of trauma is a little fact I learned from Kemia Sarraf, Dr. Kemia Sarraf of Lodestar coaching a few years ago. Um, if you are looking for trauma informed coaching spaces in particular, that is one of the gold standards. So another gem that she shared it's it's well recognized is that connection mitigates trauma. Presence is a prerequisite for connection. So if we are going to help our healers mitigate their ongoing trauma, they need connection and they need to develop their own presence, both of which are accomplished through programs like ROAR. If you have been to your primary care doc lately, and if you've seen them, really looked at them, you may have noticed that they had circles under their eyes from late night charting and answering messages in their inbox. You might or might not notice the office is short staffed and they're actually probably covering for an office mate who's out covering two inboxes. That is so common. And they're office mate may be out for vacation, or they may be out because they got so burned out they decided to retire early. This is an epidemic, guys. It is different than it was in the pandemic, but I don't know that we're headed to a better place right now.
If you have friends who are serving in the hospitalist or the inpatient side of medicine, they are seeing more people per day than ever before. And those people coming in have more complex medical needs than they did before. And it was not easy before guys. So I just want everyone to know that things have been ratcheted up. We are operating routinely at a new and intense level of difficulty in medicine.
So this is why I'm serving physicians right now. Yes, we are seeing those same physicians, the physicians are seeing those same patients on teams with our nurse colleagues and our allied health colleagues and our APP colleagues who are also stretched thin and under resourced. But as a physician, I am called to first call out to these physicians and say, let's, let's gather.
I promised you. A story about this, and I want to tell you, uh, the briefest version of this story when my wife, Sue, uh, had her ovarian cancer diagnosed, um, before we were actually aware that her ovarian mass was cancerous, she had a malignant cyst burst. She had, uh, peritoneal signs, which for the uninitiated, that means that there's something real bad going on in your abdomen. And we were in Texas because unfortunately her father had just passed away. And we went to an emergency room, which for now will remain unnamed. And the ER physician in particular, the gynecologist who saw her were, um, we will say uninterested in helping. There was a simple protocol to follow. There was not an interest in, uh, any significant response to her pain. It was a very bad day. I remember that the IV nurse, uh, was putting in her IV with an air pod in her ear. I remember the ER nurse was introducing himself to us, literally facing the wall with his back to us. There was just no human contact. And she was quietly crying in bed from pain and they were just going through discharge paperwork. Like there was no stop, let me acknowledge that this human in front of me is in pain. We did not know at the time that it was malignant cysts that had ruptured, but because they refused to intervene, my wife had two and a half weeks of malignant cells in her peritoneum. Um, talk to me about that trauma. When I left that interaction, I was in tears. Not, not just because it was so upsetting as a patient and a patient's advocate. I was in tears because I know those are not, you know, Bad people, there are a peripheral symptom of a system under stress with so many misaligned motives, that moral injury and burnout are nearly continuous companions. My heart ached for them as well as for us. I did not assume they were asshats just because they acted like it on this day. And as a wellness leader and advocate, I had an impulse to intervene. I actually asked if the ED director would please get in touch because they needed an intervention.
So this is what drives my passion to hold space for our healers. We need spaces to connect, to think tank, to problem solve so that we can potentiate and bring more human presence to all the people we touch so that we can offer true connection, so that we can mitigate Our own trauma, as well as those that come to us for care and those that work alongside us shoulder to shoulder.
I'm also addressing physicians this year because the gatekeepers and professional societies have weaponized professionalism. We have confused professionalism with holding our tongues. We have been taught and we have embodied the virtue of self sacrifice as part of our study of ethics. And we swallowed that particular pillar of medical ethics, hook, line, and sinker. But I believe that it has been taken too far. It has taken us too far away from ourselves. We have allowed ourselves to be exploited by our own affirmation of this virtue and by our own altruism. It's almost as if our brains give us a false dichotomy choice between altruism, absolute self sacrificing altruism, which is really martyrdom, or cynicism and withdrawing, withdrawing our humanity, vacating ourselves when we are in certain kinds of interactions so that we can just survive.
So doing this, uh, with the support of colleagues is tough. I mean, just ask my former hospitalist group currently unionized and in contract negotiations, but doing it alone is awfully close to impossible. And on top of that, many of us have this expectation that we shouldn't be suffering, that we should be able to buck up and bootstrap our way through even the hardest of situations. After all, we've been through residency. So right? Like buck up buttercup, let's go. But I don't think that's a realistic expectation.
So ROAR is a six month intensive, a container for physicians to try out some connection. To get some information and to also get some coaching in group to remind them that they are not the problem and that they are not helpless and that they don't have to be embittered and withdrawn and further and further away from their deepest, truest sense of self. Some of you are already familiar with our first signature course, 12 by 12. It was a 12 week live course with small groups and one to one coaching. What I learned from 12 by 12 is how much people loved being together. They never wanted it to end when the 12 weeks was over. They actually felt so nourished by one another's presence and the concepts that we were discussing and teaching. Um, the feedback I got was it was nothing like they had experienced before they did not dread this as if it were another teams or zoom meeting. And I do not say this lightly because some of them were coaches themselves and connoisseurs of coaching. It was like nothing they had experienced before and it's not special because of what I bring, I think that I add to it, but also and primarily The specialness is because of how it's infused with the radiance of these kindred spirits, these people who have walked in shoes a whole lot like yours and who are ready to collaboratively invest in the experience of a lifetime.
So for the first time ever, I am offering a six month container for this experience. It's truly going to be an extraordinary experience opportunity. And we are going to be visiting many advanced concepts. It's going to be a deep dive container going after what you really want as a human and as a physician, as a mid career professional. And what you need most. And it's also about finding the you that you need to be in order to go after those things in real life. And I expect that what you desire to go after will be all over the map. I mean, what is on your, uh, theoretical vision board right now. Is it about travel? Is it about family memories? Is it about how the hell do I figure out retirement? Is it about how do I figure out how to invest in real estate so that I have an income stream that is not just my J O B job, all these things, right? So I addressed the question. Why is it just for doctors?
Um, and a little bit on why is it six months? Yes, we're trying six months this time, but it may well be an even longer program next year. Um, I have an inkling that I may do a school year length program next year. So this may be the only time to try it out for six months. I feel like it needs to be long enough to build a good deal of trust and familiarity because we heal at the speed of trust. And once we get attached to one another, it's really easy. It's just really fun.
Why weekly? Why are we doing a weekly? Because in my previous, um, offering 12 by 12, we met every other week. Here's what I think... we need frequent opportunities for contact with something outside our day to day duties, our day to day responsibilities, our day to day rhythm of life. We need frequent contact with our resources and inspiration. We need frequent reminders of how we want to be. I plan to bring so much value to these spaces. I'm planning these weekly meetings for 90 minutes so that we can dive deep and do some coaching in that space as well. I'm bringing my experience as a coach with over 500 hours experience as a well being leader with CWO training from Stanford. That's chief wellness officer. And with my experience as a medical director, a hospitalist, primary care person, um, and just active, passionate advocate for wellbeing in medicine since, um, since I formed my first wellbeing group actually in med school.
Why am I offering monthly one on one time? Well, I found through my experience with 12 by 12 and the year long program leadership and vision development that many of my physician clients have a difficult time carving out more than one hour monthly for one to one coaching. I don't actually buy into the principle that it's impossible, but I do deeply empathize with the difficulty of our very full schedules, especially those of us in this mid point of life where we have small or medium sized children at home, and maybe elderly parents to care for, and the pressures of a clinical or leadership career. So, monthly it is.
I also think it's really important that I not play into any narrative that we are behind on something because we're missing some of the potential benefits. We have an intense self imposed expectation that we will low key berate ourselves for if we don't extract every single bit of value. Um, so I'm here to tell you that narrative is tired. It's not useful. We don't need to have that in our space right now. So monthly one to one is fine. And maybe one month is intense and you do two the next month. That's absolutely fine too. Anything's possible. Um, some people want to know what happens. Um, what happens if I want more than once a month coaching? Absolutely. There's an easy way to, purchase more ad hoc coaching. I'm happy to share that with you at your request.
Um, why do we do one to one at all? Well, I'll tell you why. Um, there are some aspects of applying the work that will be best served with deep dives into your particular circumstances. Um, in the group, I expect that everyone will be learning from everyone else's experiences and insights and questions that we bring to that space. But there is, um, there's a, a different kind of magic just as valuable in, in the two places.
Okay. Now we're going to talk about why is it 5, 500? So much to say about this. There's a ton of coaching out there. And it is offered at a wide variety of price points and our heads can get very busy believing a bunch of thoughts about that. Mine certainly has. When I had my first conversation with a colleague who was investing 20, 000 a year in coaching, my brain kind of exploded. And here I am a couple of years later, and I'll tell you that I myself invest in my own coaching and personal professional development to the tune of 20, 000 a year or more, and it's the best money that I spent. It does not indicate that I have an excessive amount of expendable income. Nope. I'm just like you. I'm worried about retirement. I manage debt. I have a kid who goes to private school. I have a stay at home spouse. Uh, it is not all easy here. And when I became a person that would invest in myself to the tune of 5, 000, 10, 000 for a program that I felt was going to actually up level my insight and the who that I am capable of being, I actually took pleasure making that payment. I knew that I could trust myself to get at least that much value out of what I was about to show up for. And when we, when we pay, uh, what I feel like is serious money for an investment in ourselves, like coaching, actually show up quite differently. So If I charged everybody a hundred dollars for a six month program, how would you value that? Not very much, right? You'd be like, this has got to be suspect. This is unusually inexpensive. Um, I show up differently when I know that people are invested. So there's some of this that is about skin in the game.
And there's some of this that is about honoring the person that I have had to become to hold this space for a room full of physicians who may bring complicated dynamics, stories and needs into the space and to coach them with love, with wisdom, with care, with skill and with my experience.
So I know that when I go to my coaching spaces, This is where I get to have aha moments where my neurons actually rewire. I am building brain. I creatively problem solve from the joy killers in my life, like dishes and laundry and the stress of adulting at a high level, um, to the actual edges of my comfort and my expanding capacity. So when I imagine the me of three or four years ago, it's like, Oh, I could immediately see the value of what one of my teachers calls the miracle of coaching. The way a life can become unrecognizable in the best possible way with a simple intervention of gathering with a skilled facilitator in a group, embracing these core concepts and applying them together.
So that's my answer about why the price, uh, it is going to be something like 24 hours or more of CME and a hundred K plus level of experience. And that's my thoughts for you about the price. Um, if you have never paid for a program like this, it totally makes sense that it could be, um, jarring to you. I'm happy to walk you through that and give you the benefit of my own experience. But it is my joy to offer it. It is my joy to offer it at a price that's actually much less than many other six month coaching containers. So bring me your questions if you have them. It's delightful. Delightful for me to, to figure out what people actually need to become the person that will invest in themselves. Why me? Why am I here to offer? Well, it's my creative impulse. It's my joy. It's my creative impulse. It feels like it's my, Um, my role. It's how I want to show up as a healer, as a thought leader, as a comrade and confidant, as a rebel talent, and as a physician who is here to link arms with my fellow physicians so that we can gear down and swerve left and figure out how it is we can creatively respond to some of the difficult circumstances we know we will face in the next four years.
Will it be offered again? I mentioned this at the top. I do absolutely suspect it will be offered again, although it may change in length or price or size the next time it's offered. My relationship to this work, this creative work in Joypoint Solutions, is that it's a giant experiment, a bit of a big bang. It will never stop expanding or changing in some way. Will there be CME? Yep, absolutely. I have an application pending right now. I expect it will go through, but I have a plan B if one is needed. 24 hours minimum CME is what I'm expecting. Can I use my professional development funds or Guild tuition reimbursement or BrightEd tuition reimbursement? I can never guarantee what Guild or BrightEd will do, but given that this is a curriculum based course with weekly modules, I anticipate the answer will and should be yes. I am happy to walk you through that, and as I am recording this on December 4th, please be aware that the Guild deadline for 2024 funds is is December 9th. So if you work for Providence, University of Colorado, um, Bon Secours, uh, there are so many others, MultiCare, you have until December 9th to submit for this year and it resets. So you'll have 2025 funds, uh, as well.
And let's see, is this tax deductible? Absolutely. Whether you are self employed or not, professional development is always a tax deductible expense. So if you are itemizing deductions, bring it on. This is absolutely a legit professional expense. Um, talk to me about making sure you have a receipt. Happy to do that. What about schedule? Well, guys, there's 25 physicians. We will never find a single perfect time. I am leaning toward a Friday 12 p. m. Call for our weekly call with replay on a private podcast so that you have very little work to do to get that private replay in your ears. So I have a clear expectation that people will miss some sessions that will be unavoidable. I do not want you to set up thinking I need to make it to everyone. You will have distinct value from listening to it asynchronously as you will have distinct value from attending live when possible. Um, I also plan to offer a weekly drop in office hour, which I will probably shuffle around to help people, um, drop in who are on different schedules.
Will we have a platform to connect with one another? Yes. Yes. I am planning on, uh, administering a private Facebook group for just those of us in the ROAR room. Um, And I know some of you are not on Facebook, and I still think that's probably the best platform that I can think of for having a place for us to communicate outside of sessions. Will there be a in person component? Yes! I'm so excited. For those of you who are in the Northwest, or willing to occasionally, uh, visit, I'm planning to offer a low key monthly gathering. So you may be familiar, especially if you're in the wellbeing space. You may be familiar with comradery groups. Um, this is when healthcare professionals gather. Usually it's monthly for a meal and they don't have anything to do except just socialize. It is about building relationships. And I want to be part of that. It is a evidence based intervention and it helps people through, uh, isolation and burnout and all of the cascading thoughts about why, uh, work is difficult or intolerable. So, yep, a low key gathering every month, um, we'll meet for a happy hour or a potluck or a DIY craft, bar or karaoke. These are my ideas. These are things I love to do. So, um, maybe a hike. Um, one of these times I, I really look forward to seeing how we can gather and increase the joy.
Um, what about the post container retreat? Yes, you may have read that on the website. It is to be determined. So specifics are not available yet, but I wanna close this experience out six months from now with a one day retreat in the Portland area so that we can reflect together as a group on our experience and plan for what we want next to happen. Will I be the one doing all the coaching? I anticipate doing most of the coaching, honestly, but the other Joy Point Solutions coaches are available to you as well. So, Dr. Sarah Bovitz, Dr. Angie Reynolds, Dr. Charlotte Nelson, Dr. Namrata Ragade, as well as our nurse practitioner, uh, coach, Sue Wells, and our non clinical coach friends, uh, Peter Kahn and Kelly Malady. So, all of those are available, um, and there's information about them on the website. If the link is not obvious, it's because we're under construction right now. And, last but not least, Is this gonna be hard? No, it's not going to be hard in the way you think. Uh, there's no wrong way to do this, honestly. I have a lot of trust that the people who need to be in this room are going to find their way here, and they're going to find their way through what other obstacles, objections, apparent barriers, offer themselves, and that not only will the right people be in the room, But those people will get what they need out of this experience.
Yes, you may be asked to take some steps outside of your comfort zone. That's where growth occurs. But I hope not in any kind of flooding way. I think the relief of being seen, heard, and accompanied will be a much more prominent part of the memories we make in this space. I'm a creator. I create programs and offerings in high fidelity to my own inner muse. So, While I absolutely expect there will be something like this in the future, I also bow to the possibility that my creative instincts may go yet another direction in another year, and I'm excited to see what happens. So for now, let us recover, optimize, activate, and reignite. Let us reclaim and reimagine and be part of a movement, an active, conscious movement of mutual support, of creative wisdom, of really just blowing the lid off of whatever has kept our own creative impulses locked up.
This is your invitation to roar with me, with us, for ourselves, for each other, and for the future of medicine. Thank you for letting me talk your ear off in outrageous detail about Roar. I am so excited to meet with you, I'm going to include in the show notes, a link to book a 30 minute call with me. If you are considering Roar and just want to have an exploratory conversation about how it applies to you, or maybe you're thinking about it, but you can't imagine the resources. Um, we will talk to you about resourcefulness and conviction. And whether it feels like it's really the right time signing off for now. I am so glad to have your ears and so glad to be just in this world doing what feels truest to me. Take care, guys.
Oh, hey, PS, if you join Roar by December 15th, I am offering a one hour onboarding call one on one with me, and I'll be sending you something sweet in the mail. So if you're thinking about it, December 15th. All right. See you soon, guys.
