The easy to see part of our business is the beautiful retreats that we run to teach doctors skills in mindfulness, self awareness and self compassion. What you perhaps don’t see is the tireless work behind the scenes to continue to pioneer the recognition of wellbeing education for doctors across all specialties within the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework. Whole Hearted Medicine has been dedicated to this cause since we first began writing our original curriculum in late 2020 on the understanding that in order to effectively and sustainably change the culture around doctor wellbeing, we must endeavour to do it for ALL doctors. Since then we have stayed abreast of changes within the CPD framework as dictated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), individual specialty college requirements and continued to evolve based on participant feedback. We are very proud to be able to say that we provide approved education by the many colleges who offer accreditation to independent education providers such as:
- The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine
- The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
- The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists
- The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine
- The College of Intensive Care Medicine
As well as also meeting the stream specific requirements for many of the colleges who allow self reporting of CPD by their fellows eg. wellbeing sessions for fellows of the Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.
What this has resulted in is a widely acclaimed curriculum that utilises Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy tools in coaching, group work and self reflection to cover topics such as:
- Mindfulness in medicine- how to integrate practical mindfulness & meditation tools into your busy life as a doctor.
- Self compassion- specifically in the medical profession, including an exploration of Imposter Syndrome.
- The differences between empathy and compassion including how to manage the complexities and consequences of both in healthcare eg. compassion fatigue and moral injury.
- Burnout and personal wellbeing in demanding environments.
- How to place and hold compassionate boundaries.
- Compassionate self inquiry & reducing reactivity in order to communicate effectively and confidently.
- Practical stress management strategies for both acute and long term use.
- The requirements of mandatory reporting in the medical profession and where to access support if needed.
- Lifestyle medicine interventions like diet, movement, sleep and connection.
Being held to the rigorous educational standard of the CPD framework means that a Whole Hearted Medicine educational event undeniably meets any and all criteria expected to be recognised as relevant to the continuing professional development of doctors. So while we continue to encounter resistance from some areas within our profession that these skills and practices are ‘personal’ not ‘professional’ development, as an organisation we are committed to continuing to ensure that wellbeing education finds its rightful place as undeniably fundamental to the safe, sustainable and efficacious professional practice for all doctors.
Our educational events are about more than just a few days of rest and relaxation- they are about equipping doctors with evidence based tools for sustainable change, allowing them to continue to perform at their best both at work as well as in their personal lives. They are about fostering connections and support amongst your peers and normalising help seeking where necessary including providing clear pathways in which to do that. They are a catalyst for change in many attendees and a gentle reminder of how culture change within medicine can come from the many small ripples that each of us is able to make within our own circles of control and influence.
The rising tide lifts all boats. Changes we make in our own lives have the capacity to bring about huge shifts in the lives of those whose lives we influence as co-workers, as friends, as family; those whose lives we care for as patients; and the lives of those who are yet to join us as colleagues in this amazing profession.
If you would like to see for yourself just how helpful our education events can be, then we’d love for you to join us on a retreat or a workshop. Or feel free to get in touch to have a chat about other ways we might be able to support doctors wellbeing.