Harm reduction is a valid response to perceived harm.
When physicians are decreasing FTE in droves,
We should all be paying attention.
When intensely talented, caring doctors cannot bear any more the personal pain of working a "full" FTE and are opting for ANYTHING but that...
We should all be paying attention.
When "what's your exit strategy" is an increasingly common topic of conversation in the Drs. lounge,
We should all be paying attention.
Yes, we were kinda sold a bill of goods.
Yes, the industry has shapeshifted with us inside it and not all for the better.
Yes. we have been actually and truly harmed by a system with mixed motives.
Yes, we were trained and rewarded for seldom having our own backs.
Yes we have been gaslit.
Yes, it's reasonable to have feelings about all of this.
But pay close attention.
Harm reduction is a temporizing measure. It does not -all alone- result in healing.
For true recovery from harm, we need a few things:
1. We need to RECLAIM our BRAINS - this means discovering where we have been thinking the system's thoughts instead of our own.
2. We need to OWN our POWER - our agency to decide hard things; o tell ourselves the truth when we have accepted the unacceptable for the sake of our own comfort and the illusion of stability.
3. We need to ACCESS our own JOY - We need to reacquaint ourselves with delight, pleasure, connection, alignment, and playfulness.
4. We need to RAISE our VOICES - individually and collectively in advocacy for ourselves, our patients, and our profession. We need to ROAR.
This is what we are doing inside ROAR.
We are in dire need of a NEW kind of action. New action comes from new ideas. Which come from new neural connections- new input, new spaces.
