The circle by the river: A sanctuary for women in medicine
“I have been imagining and yearning for something like this, and it was just magic.” Naomi, a resident doctor, shared these words after her first circle. She had nearly not come. Everything that day had run over, and not much had gone right. She felt exhausted. She had talked herself out of it three times before she walked through the door. But she came, and by the end of the evening, she said she hadn’t known how much she had needed it.
I have heard versions of that sentence every time I have held a sister circle. And this is what I think it reveals: for many women doctors, placing ourselves last is not just a habit, it is our default setting. We postpone the nourishment and connection for later, for when things calm down, for when we have more time.
“I almost didn't come, but I'm so glad I did”
Lessons from my first rest in medicine retreat - and how it's changing how I'm showing up for everything else, including Florescence.
Two years ago, I held my first Florescence circle for women in medicine. At the time, I'd been working as a 1:1 coach for medics for a while, but I was looking for ways to both broaden and deepen into this work, especially as, since attending my first retreat, I’d felt a growing pull to offer a way for more people to gather together. Knowing how busy people working in medicine are, an evening circle felt like a good starting point - one where we didn’t just gather together and drop straight in, but where we actually made a night of it, coming together for a meal in a beautiful space, first.
Rest In Medicine: why its complicated
Rest in medicine is complicated — and if you're a doctor who struggles to switch off, you're not alone. In this article, I explore why rest and recovery can feel so difficult for those working in medicine, and why doctor wellbeing goes so much deeper than just logging fewer hours. Drawing on almost 20 years in the NHS and my work coaching doctors, I also share details of a retreat for doctors designed around the seven types of rest — a gentle space to begin doing things differently.
Re-Rooting:People places perspective
Reflecting on our time away and returning from Australia to Yorkshire has heightened something elemental in me. Not just gratitude for travel, time and family, but a deeper awareness of earth, seasons, water and weather and how each landscape shapes the way we live inside our own skin, how we work, rest and play.
It’s been hard to put into words, the contrast. In Australia, the earth feels expansive. The light is high and the sun rises fast. The sky seems to stretch without interruption. Weather there often arrives more cleanly, bright heat, sudden rain, electric storms, ocean winds. The rhythm is outward. Early swims. Salt on skin. Dry warmth that settles into the bones. Even on cloudy days there seems a generosity of light. Water is vast and everywhere. The ocean commands attention and respect : for the rips, the swell, the creatures beneath the waves. Immersion is bracing and immediate. It makes you feel alive.
Yorkshire has such a different feel, somehow more subtle. The beauty is quieter, more contained. Dry stone walls, layer upon layer of green in the fields, moorland that feels steadfast. The weather changes its mind from one moment to the next. The light is softer, more nuanced. The landscape reveals itself slowly. There is a sense of depth here, maybe its the history in the stone, the living, breathing spongy moss. Familiarity in the curves of the hills. A sense of being held and cocooned rather than stretched. Water gathers and trickles rather than crashes. Rivers carve through limestone. Even the sound of rain against windows has a different intimacy.