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This is not therapy – this is peer-to-peer support.
This a place to turn to when we need to connect with a peer and have a confidential conversation with someone who shares our experiences practicing medicine.
During our training we learned how to push ourselves to continuously improve our skills, listen to our patients, always placing their needs first; while cultivating our resilience.
We deal with the daily witnessing of patients’ suffering, the impacts of patients’ poor prognosis, and the moral injury of not being able to provide high-quality care when indispensable resources are lacking. The Covid-19 pandemic magnified all of these challenges.
We place our needs aside at work until it becomes unsustainable. Then the deep joy of helping patients is gradually replaced by overwhelming fatigue, disconnection from ourselves and others and sometimes demoralization.
We all get tired and overwhelmed from time to time. Now there is someone to talk with who shares your experiences and understands the responsibilities of practicing medicine. It takes courage to open up and talk about what weighs heavily on your mind. Not sharing what keeps you awake at night does not make it disappear. Being heard in a nonjudgmental way builds strength. Having received support for yourself, you can work with renewed compassion and again find joy and inspiration in your work.
During your Zoom appointment you will be talking with a medical practitioner like you. The Listening Room provides peer-to-peer support through conversation and a human connection. The conversation will be based on what you decide to discuss – and will remain completely confidential. We do not keep any records. This is not therapy.
Initiated by West County Health Centers Inc, Sonoma County, CA the Listening Room is open to all medical providers nationwide.
We welcome your participation as “Listeners”. The roles of being “Listened to” and “Listener” are interchangeable.Each of us might need to be “Listened to” at times and feel inspired to “Listen” at other times.
If you are interested in participating as a ‘Listener’, contact Edmee Danan, MD at edanan@wchealth.org
Edmee Danan, MD is a psychiatrist-psychotherapist with over 30 years’ experience. She has worked at Sonoma County Psychiatric Emergency Services, had a private practice, was a consulting psychiatrist for the Sonoma County HIV services and West County Health Centers and is currently teaching meditation to patients. She has a long-time interest in taking care of the caregivers and offers Physician Wellbeing workshops grounded in her own experience as clinician and mindfulness meditation practitioner.
Edmee has practiced Zen Buddhism since 1981 and is a practice leader at the Stone Creek Zen Center, Graton, CA
