22. Explore burnout as a functional medicine challenge with Dr. Khara Jefferson

09/01/22 • 56 min

Menders: Lead from Within with Dr. Nicola De Paul

For Menders’ episode 22, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Khara Jefferson, a functional wellness consultant and the owner of KAJ Wellness. I found this conversation fun and joyful, and I hope you feel the same way!

Khara brought her functional medicine perspective and her history as an emergency medicine practitioner to our conversation. She shared her current approach to helping people move towards gut health, or as she says, to go from “toilet hell to feeling well.” Khara shared that changing how she interacts with patients has allowed her to get more joy out of her clinical work and keep herself sustainable.

And finally, we explored how she might take a functional medicine approach to examine the root causes of distress in our healthcare system. The excellent news is that Khara believes we can create transformation, but it will involve all of us fully committing to the process.

Listen to find out:

· How her own experience with a chronic illness impacted her journey into the field of medicine.

· Why she sees helping our patients understand the “how” of change as more crucial than telling them “what” they need to change.

· And why she believes everyone should be equipped with skills to conduct a rapid quality improvement project.

I hope this conversation inspires you to take care of yourself and take the time to find the root cause of distress on your team or in your system.

My favorite quotable moment from this episode!

“When a whole bunch of people are doing a whole bunch of the same things, it’s a ripple effect...and if you start by putting a whole bunch of little bitty things into place, eventually those little things become big things, and those big things will become huge things. That’s how we improve healthcare, but it can’t be just me. And it can’t be just you. It has to be a whole bunch of like-minded people.”

Dr. Khara Jefferson (Menders, episode 22)

Additional Resources:
Find Dr. Khara Jefferson at https://www.kajwellness.com/

Listen to find out:

· How her own experience with a chronic illness impacted her journey into the field of medicine.

· Why she sees helping our patients understand the “how” of change as more crucial than telling them “what” they need to change.

· And why she believes everyone should be equipped with skills to conduct a rapid quality improvement project.

I hope this conversation inspires you to take care of yourself and take the time to find the root cause of distress on your team or in your system.

My favorite quotable moment from this episode!

Dr. Khara Jefferson (Menders, episode 22)

Additional Resources:
Find Dr. Khara Jefferson at https://www.kajwellness.com/

Previous Episode

21. Exploring calling and what nourishes us with Adele Wang

Menders episode 21 is out now, and it is a treat!
I sat down with Adele Wang, and while we had intended to think through the mind-body impacts of stress and burnout, we found ourselves deep in conversation about calling and what nourishes us as humans and healers.
I loved this conversation and am still reverberating with Adele’s ideas.

Adele shared how she works with healthcare providers to help them move from what they know to what they feel by working with them to reconnect with their body’s deep knowing. Her work allows clinicians at risk of burnout to reconnect with themselves. And from this place of self-honoring, they have a choice about how to re-engage with their work as a healer, whether that is in the traditional system or outside it.

Listen to find out:

· How her work in a small intimate integrative health clinic taught her to see that healthcare can be provided differently.

· Why we both see community as the secret for both patients and clinicians.

· And how she draws on what gives her clients pleasure in their non-work lives to help reinvigorate their connection to their calling as healers.

I hope this conversation inspires you to take some time to consider what you enjoy that has nothing to do with healthcare.
Take some time to answer this question, and then reconnect with your work when you’re ready.

My favorite quotable moments from this episode!

“The missing element: you have no community and neither do your patients...”

Adele Wang (Menders, episode 21)

“It’s not just one person going to see the patient, it’s a team. It’s a community channeled through you.”

Adele Wang (Menders, episode 21)
Additional Resources:

Find Adele Wang here - https://adelewang.lpages.co/introduction-to-spark-your-feminine-presence/
And check out her podcast, All things human.

Next Episode

23. Slow down to create lasting change with Daniel Hoang

For Menders episode 23, I had the opportunity to sit down with Daniel Hoang, a man of many talents who was willing to do a deep dive on change management, parenting, self-care, and how we can bring love into healthcare relationships to promote change on a human scale.

Daniel spent much of his career as a change management consultant working for healthcare organizations and corporations. Then 2020 hit. The COVID pandemic stopped his “go-go” lifestyle in its tracks and led him to grapple with the reality of his trauma history as the child of Vietnamese boat people. This led him on a healing journey that eventually caused him to rethink everything, including his approach to change management. As he shares in this episode, Daniel used

I’m sure I say this too often, but my conversation with Daniel is one of my all-time favorites, and I think you will find it meaningful too! If you’ve ever found yourself struggling as a person and a parent, you will appreciate this conversation.

Listen to find out:

· How focusing on his own needs and calming himself helps him to parent more effectively.

· Why he sees every individual as having the power to create transformation within our organizations.

· And the simple strategies leaders can use to engage their employees in typically tedious meetings deeply!

I hope this conversation inspires you to take the time to focus on healing yourself and to engage thoughtfully with your daily life. We could all use a little extra grace and some breathing room.
My favorite quotable moment from this episode!
“We’re burning out our leaders today....”

“Leaders want to just keep working harder at it, and that’s never the answer because there will always be another thing that gets layered on top...Pause, create space, and create resilience in that leadership team. And then step back and solve this problem.”
- Daniel Hoang (Menders, episode 23)