Wholehearted Leadership

In today’s fast-paced and often overwhelming healthcare landscape, leadership requires more than traditional management. It calls for presence, authenticity, and the ability to lead others from a place of wellbeing.

Wholehearted Leadership is an evolved, evidence-informed model of Wellness-Centred Leadership, designed specifically for healthcare professionals. Developed by Whole Hearted Medicine and Capstan Partners, this approach supports doctors and healthcare leaders to care for their own wellbeing while inspiring and sustaining wellbeing in their teams and organisations.

Wholehearted Leadership builds upon the foundational framework of Wellness-Centred Leadership, as defined by the American Medical Association (AMA). While Wellness-Centred Leadership focuses on creating cultures that value wellbeing, Wholehearted Leadership goes one step further, placing the leader’s own wellbeing at the core of effective, sustainable leadership.

By integrating principles of self-leadership, emotional agility, mindfulness, and self-compassion, Wholehearted Leadership empowers healthcare leaders to lead through:

• Presence

• Resonance

• Authentic connection

• Psychological safety

• A coach-approach

It recognises that how we lead is deeply shaped by how well we are.

Why Leadership and Wellbeing Must Go Together

Leaders who cultivate self-awareness and personal wellbeing are far better equipped to:

• Handle complexity and uncertainty

• Support teams with empathy and confidence

• Model sustainable work practices

• Foster a workplace culture that prioritises care- for staff and patients alike

• Lead high performing teams

When healthcare leaders invest in their own wellbeing, they create ripple effects that influence team dynamics, workplace morale, and system-wide resilience.

Coaching is a key element of Wholehearted Leadership. It supports leaders in reflecting on their behaviours, mindsets, and emotional responses- fostering the self-awareness and self-regulation needed for meaningful change. In an environment where clinical and operational demands often leave little space for self-reflection, coaching offers a structured, supportive setting to pause, take perspective, and grow.

Through expert facilitation, leaders are guided to explore their behaviours, emotions, and mindsets, building the self-awareness needed to lead with clarity, compassion, and confidence. In a group setting, coaching harnesses the collective wisdom of peers, creating a rich, shared learning environment. In individual sessions, it provides personalised insight and support tailored to each leader’s context.

At our Wholehearted Leadership Retreats, coaching is woven throughout the experience both in group discussions and one-on-one sessions. Delivered in collaboration with Capstan Partners, this coaching element enhances the integration of new insights into real-world leadership practice.

For those who wish to continue their development beyond the retreat, ongoing coaching options are available, offering a sustained pathway for transformational, values-aligned leadership in healthcare.

Our Wholehearted Leadership Retreats offer an intensive, four-day immersive experience that combines education, coaching, and connection.

Participants will:

• Learn practical mindfulness-based cognitive tools to support personal and professional resilience

• Develop coaching-informed leadership strategies that build team trust and engagement

• Explore frameworks from Positive Psychology, CBT, ACT, and Internal Family Systems (IFS)

• Engage in both group and individual coaching in a psychologically safe, supportive space

• Connect with like-minded healthcare professionals who value authentic, human-centred leadership

Our retreats are designed for real-world integration, helping leaders apply what they learn immediately and sustainably in their workplaces.

Wholehearted Leadership represents a new standard in healthcare leadership—one that integrates personal wellbeing with professional impact. It builds on the strengths of Wellness-Centred Leadership and adds depth through an emphasis on:

Self-leadership

Mindfulness

Coaching

Connection

Compassionate systems change

This is not just leadership training. It’s a transformative experience that helps healthcare leaders lead with heart- while sustaining their own wellbeing, purpose, and humanity in the process.