About Us
We are transforming healthcare through coaching and community. Our ecosystem is like no other practice in healthcare.
Our Mission
To amplify the CARE in healthcare.
Doctor wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) is key to this mission. When doctors are well and skilled in human connection and communication, patients receive optimal care and doctors feel fulfilled.
Coaching for Doctors is an innovative and highly dynamic international coaching practice at the forefront of developing coaching for doctors and those they work with or for.
We are committed to helping doctors and their employers improve their human skills and their wellbeing for three reasons:
- They practice safer medicine and patients have better health outcomes and experiences
- They do incredibly complex work, in a complex environment and we value them and their efforts as humans first
- It makes the healthcare system more sustainable for us all at Coaching
Our Core Values
Trust | Courage | Curiosity | Compassion | Collaboration
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Trust requires a special combination of competence, benevolence, and integrity. It allows us to be vulnerable based on the positive interactions and behaviours of the other person. Trust is fundamental to everything we do and the basis of candid conversations. We require our coaches to be credentialled and experienced specialists, we trust them in their work.
We will be present, respectful, and reliable in all of our interactions with you. Most of all we want you to feel seen and heard every time you engage with us. We recognise each other as whole people with emotions, thoughts, minds, and bodies. Psychological safety is essential to our work and our workplace.
Courage means feeling powerful emotions, having big stories, and still progressing what we care about. Personal and professional growth, and systems change both require courage. Coaching is about uncovering and leaning into what really matters to you. We also have our own coaches, and we practice leaning into uncomfortable. We can do that because of the people around us who are trustworthy and compassionate.
We care about doctors and their patients who demonstrate their courage, daily. In all our work we aim to create the conditions that allow doctors to safely and courageously lean into the challenging work of personal and professional development, for themselves, their families and their patients’ benefit.
Genuine curiosity is about expanding our field of vision, a desire to understand beyond where we are just now, to not be caught up in what we already know. Being curious means asking more than telling, in the spirit of life long learning and constant growth.
We come to work to learn and grow. That means being curious all the time about what else might be possible, about other perspectives and about what we missed. We are curious about each other, the people we serve and work with, and the world we inhabit. Curiosity begets curiosity. Coaching is about thinking differently. Curiosity trumps perfection and keeps us actively learning.
We think of compassion as a verb that means to care about a person’s suffering enough to take action, to meet them with kindness and empathy. There is no care in relational work, without compassion (empathy + action).
Looking through a compassion centric lens assumes that our emotional experience of life is central to our effectiveness. Compassionate care should not be sentimentalised. Our competence in healthcare is rooted in our fundamental desire to take care of people. We aspire to compassionate care always. We assume the best of others first. We believe we are better together. Kindness is used as a synonym for compassion. Kindness is powerful because it is discretionary. We choose kindness, the giver, receiver, witnesses all benefit.
To collaborate is to commit to the idea that the sum will be greater than the parts. It also means experimenting within psychologically safe spaces in the service of learning, sharing and community.
We believe that authentic partnerships value equity and equality and generate respect. As we collaborate, we build greater understanding, which facilitates the development of supportive communities and enables great performance.
We believe these are the prerequisites for the best possible experience and the best possible outcomes in healthcare. In trust, with courage, curiosity, and compassion we can collaborate effectively. Working collaboratively is our preferred option. In this, wellbeing and capacity raise each other.
Our Team
Sharee Johnson
Psychologist Coach
Tara Gates
Dr. Elisabeth Wearne
Dr. Andrew Green
Dr. Andrea Austin
I have done lots of different things including work as a therapist, a manager in a not for profit community welfare organisation, and I’ve even worked for the State Government (a long time ago). I have coached Corporate Executives, small business owners and other health professionals. Coaching Doctors is where the rubber really hits the road for me.
There were two things that drew Sharee to coaching doctors:
- Prevention is better than a cure.
Doctors are essential to most people’s wellbeing. We all need doctors to maintain our health. Doctors by the nature of their work are under enormous pressure leading to higher rates than the general community of suicide, depression, substance abuse and burnout (per BeyondBlue’s National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students).
Coaching can empower and energise people. Coaching is a process that supports, empowers and clarifies our thinking. I work as a coach with doctors to help them proactively respond to their work and their lives so that doctors can be inspired, effective and well people.
- There is a knock on effect to patient health outcomes
Doctors do their best work when they are well. They are more patient, more present and more kind. Research has shown that health outcomes are better for patients when doctors are well and engaged in their work. Coaching helps the doctor clarify their own meaning and to take action for their future, their own health and their patients’ health. When doctors are well the health outcomes are better for everyone.
Why coach doctors? Coaching is a proactive, preventative process that allows for self discovery and effective action. Coaching can encourage personal awareness and insight, enhance skills and prevent burnout. Coaching is an empowering process that helps people find clarity and take action in their own lives and that often impacts the system around them.
People are always asking Sharee how she came to coach doctors. Here’s her more long winded explanation!
The Long Winded VersionCoaching for Doctors administrative and operational team are joined by a growing team of experienced Coaches, you can meet our Coaches here.
What is Professional Coaching and how can it serve you?