Better Together Coaching at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Testimonials

Hear directly from participants of the Better Together Physician Coaching program!

Two faculty members powerfully impacted

“Today I met with two faculty members who have been powerfully impacted by Better Together. The first recently sent me a resignation letter. When we discussed their reasons for wanting to resign, it was largely related to feeling she didn’t belong in academia. She obtained a PhD later in life and has been plagued by a lack of confidence in her success despite incredible success as an early-stage investigator in an incredibly difficult funding environment. She fortunately rescinded her resignation letter after being reassured that she was “normal” and was facing very common feelings, citing the Better Together program as an encouragement to press on knowing she was not alone in her feelings of inadequacy. In a separate meeting with a very stoic investigator they mentioned how helpful Better Together has been as they questioned their performance this year. They valued hearing stories from others who were feeling the same way and was reassured knowing that they were not alone.”

– Section Head at a large Academic Institution

Matched my #1 choice

“Because Better Together has been so instrumental in my medical school journey, research year, and residency application process, I wanted to share the wonderful news that I matched my #1 choice for ophthalmology. Thank you for your support along this journey! I am so overjoyed!”

– MS4

Was able to totally remove negative energy

“[the coaching] was very helpful and I have been working on reframing my thoughts, and I got to try out my reframing with a patient today and was able to totally remove negative energy from my thoughts!”

– Junior Faculty, Neurology

Nothing has been to the degree of wellness

“We’ve done a lot of wellness things within our residency program, but nothing has been to the degree of wellness that I feel like that’s been brought from this program. This is the most wellness helpful, great thing, more than any other wellness thing that we’ve ever done in our program, for sure. It started giving me some of the basic tools to approach very common problems that residents or just even people in life have. Things that I can definitely work on to hopefully make my either work relationships, or personal relationships, or even relationship with myself better. And I know that it will take some time, but I think we definitely all got some of those basic tools help enhance that.”

– PGY3, Family Medicine

Taking that power back... a huge breakthrough

“[Better Together] has cleared up a lot of space in my head that was taken up by worrying and … lack of confidence. I just used to spend so much time in my head being insecure about something, and I’m able to compartmentalize or quiet down some of those thoughts so that I even just have a little bit more time for research at home or fun things at home, and then also just have a way clearer head space for my partner when I come home so I’m not so fixated on work and worrying about what things happened. Taking that power back to myself and realizing that my experience is dictated by me regardless of what circumstance I’m in. That’s, like, a huge breakthrough.”

– PGY3, General Surgery

I think more happy as a physician

“I got something out of the program, [and] it was to be a lot more gentle with myself. I think having that grace towards yourself definitely can make you more confident as a physician, I think more happy as a physician. I definitely love what I do, but that doesn’t mean there’s not challenges. So, I think having these frameworks helps with being more equipped when there’s something tough that comes up.”

– PGY3, Internal Medicine

A profound impact on my personal and professional life

“I’m so thankful [my coach] took the time to talk with me and helped me see a path to better process my thoughts! I feel lighter and more hopeful because of our conversation. I know the hard work and obstacles will not end, but I also feel a sense of relief that I can build tools to better handle my thoughts and emotions. Thank you for making a profound impact on my personal and professional life already!”

– MS4

An unrealistic expectation I didn't even realize

“Feedback was something that I dreaded because I assumed feedback would be negative and people’s opinion of me was something that I coveted. But the program really focused a lot on imposter syndrome and feedback and [how to not] hang your whole existence in someone’s feedback. I thought the constructive feedback meant that I was a bad doctor, and that I was bad at operating, [instead of the attending] literally just helping me. I finally realized that my thoughts were: ‘oh, I should be perfect at everything, I should know everything, and no one should ever give me any feedback.’ It was this unrealistic expectation that I didn’t even realize.”
– PGY3, General Surgery

Just seeing how much you have a similar thread with other people

“I think a huge strength is just being able to see, ‘Oh my experience, although some things in my experience are unique, a lot of it isn’t.’ A lot of it is something that we all share of being residents, working really hard, feeling inadequate at times, wanting to be perfect, feeling like we are going to get found out. Those things, it was helpful to look around and be like, ‘Oh, there’s all these amazing women who are awesome doctors who also feel all the same things in this…’ …” Clearly, there’s some messages that we’ve all been taught from a young age that aren’t accurate. So I think a big benefit is just seeing how much you have a similar thread with other people and what a community you can have in a situation like this.”
– PGY2, OBGYN