About

After leaving medicine and receiving treatment for PTSD she could see that the culture within the NHS had caused her to delay seeking help for much longer than she should have. She is now a strong advocate for slowing down, seeking help and now believes that life should revolve around playing and having as much fun as possible!

She has a deep interest in spirituality, connection, compassion and human psychology. Director and co-founder of Orchard Barn Integrative Health Centre, she runs a busy private practice specialising in women’s health, teaches nationally on integrative and functional medicine, writes and does media work.

A mum of two teenage boys, she loves art, painting, nature and music.

‘Compassion and empathy for patients needs to start with compassion for ourselves, we need to make it okay and normal to ask for help, to share our vulnerability and to support and care for each other.’

This was brought into sharp focus 4 years ago, when Susanna was diagnosed with PTSD. She became aware of just how little both she and her colleagues/peers knew about this condition and its wider impact.

She recently completed an MSc in Psychological Trauma, with research into the issue of burnout and secondary traumatic stress in GPs and healthcare professionals. Susanna is passionate about raising awareness of the concept of psychological trauma within a healthcare setting: both how this manifests as physical symptoms in our patients and how it impacts healthcare professionals working within the system.

Susanna is a wife, a mum to 2 teenage daughters, and a samba reggae drummer.

She has walked the path of combining a broad range of interests: creative arts, mindfulness and community organisation alongside clinical medicine commitments.
“We need to start talking… about morale, workplace culture, stress, depression, anxiety and burnout, physician parenthood, the ‘juggle,’ making time for our passions and staying true to who we were before medicine and who we are when we come home at night. Wellbeing starts by honouring our truth first. We need healthcare leaders to prioritise their own care. We need to bring all of us to medicine.”

Her experience as a patient and the parent of a patient radically changed her view of the way we practice conventional medicine. She advocates a whole person approach to care, acknowledging the mind body connection and the importance of lifestyle choices on our wellbeing.

She believes First You is the guiding, inspiring and reassuring place that has so often been missing throughout our training and careers in medicine. Alarmed by the increasing rates of burnout and distress, as well as suicide among healthcare practitioners, Alison hopes this work will help shift unhelpful beliefs and stigma and lead us to a more compassionate, authentic and kind way of working together.

In her coaching practice she draws from the innovative One of Many tools and techniques that have helped her to flourish at work and at home through the life events that get thrown at us.

She understands that the constant giving and juggling at work and at home, without giving to yourself, is unsustainable. Among other things, she’s walked the path of single parenthood, managing messy families and navigating new relationships with a child in tow. She knows that what got us to where we are in life today is not always what will take us forward. Liz is a mother, a partner and a lover of swimming.

Jo believes in an approach to healthcare where open communication and acceptance of the human condition extends to clinician as well as patient. She looks forward to a time where clinical excellence includes deep care and compassion for oneself, which is then extended to patients and colleagues. Some brave conversations are starting to take place in healthcare and Jo believes our willingness as health professionals to be seen, and to talk openly about our experiences will be key to bringing about lasting culture change and improving the lives of healthcare workers as well as those they care for.

She is a lover of words, collector of art, champion of courage and rider of motorbikes. No stranger to burnout and mental health issues herself, Morag volunteers as a Samaritans Listener and believes that self-care is key to good health and vitality. She holds a vision for a more collaborative and connected healthcare system, with clinicians and patients working together in partnership within a system that prioritises providing the time and space they both need to take care of themselves.