The best way to protect yourself in the profession of surgery is to build real connection with your patients.

People don’t retaliate against physicians they know, like, and trust.

This webinar will teach you how to cultivate know, like, and trust with every human you encounter.

You can take this work deeper by joining Empowered Surgeons Group. Learn more about what's included in the group here. Have questions? Feel free to email me at mel@melthackercoaching.com.

In this rich and layered conversation, we explore how sex coaching becomes a powerful *pleasure* portal to self-compassion, nervous system regulation, and healing from burnout. Danielle shares how experiencing debilitating physical symptoms in her twenties—and recognizing the abusive dynamics in her own mind—led her to a deeper understanding of the mind-body connection.

We talk about the bridges between neuroscience, pleasure, and human behavior, and how these connections help women access not only physical intimacy but personal freedom. From sex and surgical intuition to compassion-based strategies for self-evaluation, this episode is a deep dive into reclaiming agency, inside and outside the bedroom.

• Why neuroscience gave Danielle a language that mindfulness and yoga couldn’t
• Why prescriptive strategies fail without mindset alignment
• That sex can be one of the most nourishing human pleasures, be it the truly intimate version or "donut sex"
• How to create safety in the bedroom just like in the OR
• The parallels between surgical intuition and sexual agency
• How to have hard conversations with your partner about sticky subjects like sex
• Why intentions matter
• The importance of nonjudgmental evaluation of less-than-perfect surgery and less-than-perfect sex
• How sex coaching becomes a masterclass in self-compassion

Danielle Savory is a master certified coach, podcast host, and expert in the fields of neuropsychology, mindfulness, sexual pleasure and intimacy. Danielle brings a unique perspective to coaching, helping clients understand the ways in which the brain and body are interconnected and how this connection can be harnessed to experience the sensual pleasure the body is wired for.

As the host of Mashable's #1 Rated Sex & Relationship podcast "It's My Pleasure," Danielle has explored a wide range of topics related to sexuality, relationships, and personal growth - empowering women to embrace their sexuality and prioritize their pleasure. Danielle is a master certified coach with over 10 years of experience coaching hundreds of women with her proven process of increasing desire and expanding orgasmic capacity.

Check out her [website here], catch her insights (and wit) on [Instagram here] and on the It's My Pleasure podcast here, and don’t miss the Wall Street Journal piece she contributed to: “Is Everyone Having More Sex Than You This Summer?”—read it [here]!

If you loved this conversation, you are going to want to join the Empowered Surgeons Group! Get immediate access to a powerful 4 step process, bonus courses, a transformational workbook and weekly support with me. Learn more HERE.

In today’s episode, we dive deep into how the systems around us—medicine, culture, even religion—can deplete our humanity when we’re not paying attention.

I’m joined by Dr. Joan Chan, who brings her unique perspective of growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household, deconstructing black-and-white thinking, and navigating her career as a family physician through boundary-setting, and rehumanization.

Together, we explore how deindoctrination—whether from dogma or systemic norms—can actually bring us closer to creativity, innovation, and truly humane care.

If you’ve ever felt trapped between "just work harder" and "this isn’t sustainable," this episode will help you find your way back to the messy, liberating middle place where real solutions live.

We cover:

• Why surgeons can become unintentionally "scary" in a dehumanized system
• How depleting the system of humanity is dangerously short-sighted
• The fact that women physicians lose their longevity advantage compared to the general population (spoiler: it's the profession, not the gender)
• The connection between growing up with black-and-white thinking and entering rigid medical systems
• Joan’s personal journey: deconstructing religious dogma and deconditioning from overwork as virtue
• The trauma of realizing the rules you were taught aren't always humane — and learning to think for yourself
• How medicine can feel like religion: follow the dogma or be labeled a heretic
• The impossible math of family medicine (and, let's be real, every specialty): why no doctor can follow every guideline and stay sane
• The essential practice of setting boundaries around administrative burdens
• Reframing "saying no" as a sign of humanity, not laziness
• Why less work doesn’t mean less care (and why we urgently need more people doing less, not fewer people doing more)
• Moving from the drama triangle (villain, victim, rescuer) to the empowerment dynamic (creator, challenger, coach)
• How emotions protect us — and why success is often a terrible teacher while failure is a fantastic one
• Using curiosity, creativity and experimentation (instead of rigid certainty) to innovate in medicine
• Deindoctrinating ourselves from toxic beliefs about work, worth, and emotions
• Why the truth doesn’t break—and how to trust yourself (and your patients) as experts of your/their own lives
• Taking the same precision you use in surgery to cut out what no longer serves you

If you loved this conversation, you can get more Dr. Joan Chan in your life by listening to her podcasts, The Other Human in the Room and Experiential Anatomy. Follow her on instagram here and find her website here.

If you are a surgeon looking to humanize your life, I’ve got the perfect program for you. Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.