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Small Lake City
Small Talk, Big City
Join host Erik Nilsson as he interviews the entrepreneurs, creators, and builders making Salt Lake City the best place it can be. Covering topics such as business, politics, art, food, and more you will get to know the amazing people behind the scenes investing their time and money to improve the place we call home.
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Small Lake City
S1, E96: Uplift for Her - Mallorie Cracroft
After fifteen years as a traditional OBGYN, Dr. Mallorie Cracroft found herself at a crossroads. Despite loving her patients and practice partners, she struggled with the impossible balance between career demands and family life. Exhausted from delivering babies all night, then falling asleep on the floor while caring for her own children, she constantly wondered: could medicine be practiced differently?
This deeply personal episode explores how Dr. Cracroft transformed her frustration into innovation by founding Uplift for Her, a groundbreaking clinic blending conventional and functional medicine approaches. Unlike the rushed 15-minute appointments and symptom-focused care that dominate healthcare today, her practice creates space for women to be truly heard, understood, and treated as whole individuals.
What emerges is a powerful critique of our current healthcare system, where insurance codes dictate care and doctors lack time to explore root causes of illness. Dr. Cracroft shares heartbreaking examples of patients whose life-altering symptoms were dismissed by multiple providers before finding validation and healing through her comprehensive approach. From treating unexplained fatigue and brain fog to addressing hormonal imbalances, she's helping women reclaim their vitality with remarkable results.
The conversation takes a particularly moving turn when Dr. Cracroft reveals how her sister's mysterious health struggles and her mother's dementia diagnosis deepened her commitment to functional medicine. These personal experiences fuel her mission to create healthcare experiences where women don't just survive but thrive.
Whether you're struggling with your own health concerns, caring for a loved one, or simply curious about the future of medicine, this episode offers both practical insights and renewed hope. Listen in and discover what's possible when doctors have the freedom to practice medicine the way it was meant to be practiced.
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What is up everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Small Lake City Podcast. I am your host, eric Nielsen, and this week's guest is Dr Mallory Craycroft. Now, dr Craycroft spent nearly 15 years of her career as an OBGYN and founded her own clinic called Uplift for Her that is based locally. Now her clinic is different in the way that it blends conventional and functional medicine, creating a space where women can feel truly listened to, educated and empowered to heal, with long, thoughtful appointments and whole person approach. Uplift for her is redefining women's care by treating the root of the problem and not just necessarily the symptoms. Her mission is simple yet profound help women understand, engage with and trust their bodies. So we have a great conversation about her career, how it led to this moment and a lot of what was going on with her family's health impacted her to start this business alongside with her husband, john. So something for everyone in this one. Love talking with her. She's a great person. She hosts her own podcast as well and just a great person to converse with. So're gonna love this one and, yeah, let's jump into it.
Speaker 1:But, um, I'm excited for this one because I always love like small lake city moments that happen, just like, naturally, in the podcast, because I always joked about it when it started. I mean, everybody who's from here knows the same small lake city. But, like, as they happen, I've become almost desensitized to it because I'm like, oh, of course your therapist I worked with a red robin, or of course you're the person we ended up meeting up with dinner happens to be your long lost stepbrother, who both of your parents have been telling each other to me for two years. So like, I'm like, yeah, that makes sense, like that's kind of what happens. But it was fun because I got, woke up one morning, had a text from another number I didn't have and it was hey, this is john craigcroft. Um, my wife runs this clinic. One of our marketing people mentioned the podcast, looked it up recognize your name, recognize you were friends with my younger brother. I got his number from you. So, hey, but like, got, got it and then follow it through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's buy your web and so it was fun to hear and then like, but then also on top of it, when I was asking I mean, anybody who comes to me, I'll usually test it with a couple people be like, hey, like yeah what about this person?
Speaker 1:and there's some people like like hard now. I'm like like details, like don't want to don't know expand what. Hard now I'm like okay, but it was fun because even when I was first chatting with john on video, I was like side texting Kirsten because you mentioned you knew her and you all knew each other. I was like thoughts and she's like absolutely, oh, good, 100%, because the history of the Craycroft family is like kind of insane with my family. So John's mom, your mother-in-law, works with my mother who's a pediatrician at Briner Clinic. I mean my mom's entire career career, but this would have been, I mean, early 90s, and so naturally she's like, oh, we have sons about the same age, cool, they can hang out. So it always go to their house behind bonneville and that'd be like awesome. It's like one of those like, oh, I could go to a friend's house over there, like, yeah, that far outside of the neighborhood.
Speaker 1:But I was joking with john, we were talking that for some reason that kitchen is the memory I first have of having like a stack of pancakes and I just remember like we had a sleepover. Uh, because there's a tree house in the backyard. Am I making that? Okay, yes, because I remember, like hanging out there all the time we had a sleepover, wake up and I can't remember if it was your mother-in-law or father-in-law. That's like, oh, I made pancakes and it was like a stack of like five pancakes. I'm just like, are you kidding? Like this is an option. It was just got like dished once, like eat it then next, or I guess I was a big ego kid too.
Speaker 2:So Core memory stack of pancakes Stack of pancakes.
Speaker 1:It was an emotional connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah, apparently yeah.
Speaker 1:But no, no. So I'm excited to have you because I also want to hear more of the story, because I mean, john told me some of it but I want to explore more myself. But I mean, before we kind of jump into that, I mean, are you like, born and raised Salt Lake? I mean, what brought you?
Speaker 2:here, no, so I'm a Seattle girl. What part Federal way.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay. A little bit of the ghetto, but it wasn't the ghetto there, but it is now, which is also where Parker went on his yeah exactly he's using the film area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, yeah. So I was actually born in Wyoming but raised in Seattle and then left for school, went back for medical school and then ended up here for residency and then met John and got married. Yeah, back and forth from Seattle to Utah.
Speaker 1:Interesting. Yeah, I mean it's always funny when, like because I appreciate people who have like a breadth of experiences Like, oh, I traveled the world and decided to end up in Salt Lake, but it's almost like this All right, we'll go to Utah. Yeah, we'll go back here. Yeah, we'll go to Utah. Yeah, we'll come back here. But I mean, were you always pretty much around like the Seattle area up there? Yeah?
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, yeah, I was just in downtown Seattle for a handful of years.
Speaker 1:At UW. Yep, yeah, I used to live on like Capitol Hill, like one train stop away now. Yeah, that was such a fun time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was more in the U District, but it was a crazy time. Yes, yeah, mostly. I mean it was med school, so I can't say it was like out on the town much.
Speaker 1:Oh, I mean everybody. It's fun now in life to see like how everybody's had those and being like what's called professional experiences or like educational experiences to get to their career like ever. Like I'm 34, almost 35, and everyone's like, okay, I've done all the things, I've started doing it for enough time that I kind of have an idea of what everybody does generally yeah or it's kind of fun to be like oh, I'd like my decision actually looking, actually looking at everybody Like we're good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then there's someone like you know, good, good job, yeah, but it was fun being up there because, like, I went to the University of Utah but it was fun to go see like, oh, here's what, like not going to be my forever home.
Speaker 2:But we still love visiting. I still have family up there and every time we go up there I tell John like we should maybe move up here. And then we're like oh yeah, no, no rain dark cold.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you go Summer, summer is the time to go early fall. Yes, summer is my dream, because I still have a bunch of family in like portland area, yeah, and so I'll go visit them yeah, the water and the beach, and I mean there are some really special areas up there, yeah so so you go to school here, you go to med school at udah. I mean, talk to me through about your plans then. Did you know you wanted to be an ob-YN, or were you still exploring things? What was your head up?
Speaker 2:No, I started med school thinking I would be a pediatrician. You know, like everyone loves kids and it took me about three days of my rotation on pediatrics before I was like no, this is like veterinarian medicine. Like you just look at them and they're like crying and you're like what's wrong with you and they don't tell you. So I that was a pretty quick no for me, which is surprising. I was really naive, I didn't have a lot of experience in medicine, but that was real quick. And so then we just had to go through scheduled rotations and the rotation that I got put in was OBGYN and, again, pretty naive at that point. I was pretty young, no-transcript get a good breath. So I was. I was pretty hooked right off the bat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see how that could be, cause, like that's, when I was growing up, my mom would do rotations at primary children's in the newborn ICU and I loved it because I'd be like, oh, mom, I'm going with you, because she got like a hotel room is what I called it. It was really just like a shitty bed and like a TV, but I knew that I got to go get a hot dog at the cafeteria and usually like some chips or something and like she had like the vouchers. So she's like, yeah, get whatever you want, like it's fine. And then in the morning I got to get a chocolate chocolate donut on the way out, so and I got to just sit in a bed and like watch tv and we didn't have tv at home, so I was just like stoked out of my mind, yeah. But then, like the older I got and reflected on that.
Speaker 1:I was like what was? Like you wanted to just sit in a hospital, like you psycho. And then like thinking about how people work and spend their time. Like I've learned I do not want anything to do with children. Like I love my nieces, my nephews, my friends, kids, but like a general child, like pass, I'm good. Yeah, like I don't need this, like I'm not, I'm not going to oodle over your kid, I'm not going to go. Try to be best friends with your toddler, like I'm good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They don't probably want to hang out with me either.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't Takes a different skill set. Yeah, for sure, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I imagine you're like, okay, I want to do this, get an experience. You're like, wait, wait, we're on the positive side. Cause like that's why I didn't want to do medicine.
Speaker 1:Cause hearing my mom, stepdad we're both pediatricians at Browder Clinic um talk about their days and the things that they had to deal with have yeah and like being around that all day like no, but then thinking about, oh my gosh, I'm so excited for my baby's, my first one, or there's this, and like obviously there's a whole other spectrum of bad things that can happen in news and people oh for sure.
Speaker 2:I mean it's the best of the best and the worst of the worst, and that was the part that I mean, that was the part that hooked me was the best of the best. But once you start doing it and you realize that you play a role, a pretty pivotal role, in someone's worst day ever, like that becomes pretty special as well, I mean kind of sacred really, because you're you're in that moment where they never, they'll never be able to forget that moment, but they'll want to and you get to help maybe soften it and and smooth that transition for them and and maybe just make it that much easier. So that becomes that. That's why I stayed in it. Um, I mean, I stayed in it for lots of reasons, but that was pretty special to realize that yeah, I mean especially, I mean trauma bonding, for you know nuance, but not quite the same.
Speaker 1:But there's like such like specific experiences that I mean as hard as they are, like there was someone with you through it all and yeah, like there's a camaraderie in that, um, just like shared experience, which I mean if it didn't have to happen, great, but at least a good relationship could come out of it yeah exactly I was trying to find like the silver, like linings and bad things.
Speaker 1:Sure, there's been. I mean, stuff in my life has been going on recently and I always try to sign. I mean, if it's I mean something shitty, is someone passing away your family, like there's always something good you can look at. It's been so amazing to see, um, how much things can bring people together and like when I mean it's like, I mean weddings, it's funerals, it's all of these things where you can come and be like, oh my gosh, we're celebrating something, like there's a reason that brings us together.
Speaker 1:We all are here to celebrate and move and like and celebrate something, and then the end of the day, the party's over and people can go back on to things. But we all live such busy lives. It's hard to see people we're like, oh my gosh, I haven't seen you. Five years, seven years, 10 years, like whatever that might be, and so, although it can be hard, there's always a silver lining in it. And so to be able to have those bonds with those people, as bad as it was, you can go give them a hug and they know that you mean it.
Speaker 2:Totally yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So you graduate from UW, you flip-flop back to Salt Lake.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so where's your residency? Was it at I mean Primary Children's with you?
Speaker 2:I actually did a year in Virginia randomly. Oh yeah, and then transferred after a year to Salt Lake, and so I was mostly at the University of Utah and at Intermountain Cool.
Speaker 1:And talk to me about your experience. I mean, because it's one thing to go where you're I mean again like in school, or junior resident, senior resident but then it's like, all right, well, go be something, and this is like what it really is like. I mean, how much did that meet your expectation, what it was going to be like, versus the actual day-to-day of it all?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I think some people have really insightful ways of thinking through things and making decisions and I'm not that person. So for me it was a lot of not really having expectations and not knowing what to expect. And so when I started residency I was just kind of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, ready to go and realized like gosh, this is intense. And then, going out of residency, I lucked into a job with Cottonwood OBGYN where I stayed for 10 years and absolutely loved it, had the best partners ever and really just kind of learned as I went about how that transition would be. And I think that with residency and with the transition into that career, the people were what made it really incredible.
Speaker 2:I have trained with and worked with some truly incredible people and that's the thing that sticks with you. I mean it was hard and it was long and it's people asking you to stay up for more hours than you should stay up and trying to stay awake while you're doing things and getting things done and getting behind. But it's just really intense in every way. But sort of you think through like would I do that again? Like I don't know if I'd do that again, but probably I would, honestly, because you just learn so much through it. And you learn so much and you become so much through it.
Speaker 1:So tons of growth opportunities. I mean, growth is never easy, yeah, and we all want to be like the best versions of ourselves tomorrow, but we don't realize the journey in it all. But then also like those supporting actors, it's the same way that you are that person for your patients who have had a terrible time, but also that's also everybody else behind the scenes of like, hey, I need you to do this, or like, hey, we're going to have to be here for a minute, or just having like that was really hard, wasn't it? Thank you for being there and being able to rely on each other, because everyone in my family that's worked in medicine has had the same thing around them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it changes you. You know, when you go through these really hard things with other people, you change with these people that you're with. So it's a really it was a really neat time and also just the number of experiences you're having with patients, with people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, because we were working such long hours in residency and then in my practice as an OBGYN.
Speaker 2:I mean, you're seeing anywhere from 20 to 40 patients a day, especially in residency, where you're just going from one thing to the next, to the next, and those experiences add up and I wish I had been better at documenting it because I don't remember so many of them, but I do remember so many of just being a witness to someone's life. You know these life-altering moments for them. Being a witness to someone's life. You know these life-altering moments for them and I think, through babies that I helped deliver, who had, you know, tumors or who had who were not going to survive past childbirth, or the really healthy ones. You know the families who were just absolutely thrilled and had been waiting for this for years, and the patients who didn't survive. And the patients who you know. You meet them for five minutes in the emergency room during the worst moment, the scariest moment of their lives, and you're thrown into it and an instant, major part of their story, like it is. It's a crazy journey to have that many human interactions in such intense ways.
Speaker 1:And especially at moments of such vulnerability for them.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because even when, like my mom, so my mom's a pediatrician, so when I was a baby, hypoglycemia.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so there's one time I went into a seizure when I was probably like six, eight months old. That's scary. And my mom was kind of like if you weren't my child I would be thinking you're having a seizure right now. Next thing she knows she's at St Mark's, like handing me to a doctor that she'd worked with and like it was there for a reason. But it's like I like have to let this go. And in the same way of these parents and patients that are like hey, I've never met you before or we've been through some like fun ultrasounds, conversations, like normal doctor visits, but like there is no oh, hold on, let us think about this. Or oh, hold on, let's go get this person. Or it's like now or never, like that's a very vulnerable time to be there for people and comfort them in that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's especially crazy as an OBGYN maybe more than other fields because there's so much good and so much hard all mixed up in one. And so there are so many experiences that I can recall of being in one patient's room where they have just lost a baby and I had to be the one to tell them or I had to tell them other bad news. Take a deep breath, go into the next room for this new patient that just found out they're having a baby, and you just have to kind of flip on a dime and be like, ok, hey, congratulations. You know, but you're storing all of this emotion and and then you add to that your own emotion.
Speaker 2:We had a pregnancy loss years ago and you know I went through that on my own and then very quickly returned to work and again had to just kind of flip to patients who were happily expecting and delivering their babies and just sort of compartmentalizing like this is this really hard thing that I'm going through? And when you show up in that patient's room not that they don't care that you're going through hard things, but it's not relevant you know.
Speaker 2:So just this, this it's just very human, like it is the ultimate example of living the human experiment right. Like you have your own stuff, this person has their stuff, this person has their stuff, and some of it's good and some of it's bad and and really honestly, at this point in my life I don't know that I could have said this in the middle of it, but I just feel like it's such a privilege and such an honor to be in it you know to be living in this, in that experience but that was probably has been the craziest part of the career is that flip-flopping back and forth?
Speaker 1:emotion, emotion. I guess I never thought of it like that of like there's these kind of like, let's call it key places, that where a lot of these like life altering, like emotionally both sides of the spectrum tend to happen, and the hospital is one of them. I mean, the same day that someone's giving birth to a child is the same day that someone's probably going to die. Let's say that someone found out that their cancer is gone is the same day someone gets diagnosed.
Speaker 1:Exactly, you have to go through it all like one of my friends is a emergency room doc in dallas and I was sitting there talking. I was like I mean a fascinated and if I'm curious I can talk to someone about anything forever sure and I was just talking about.
Speaker 1:He's like, yeah, it's like really hard when I have to sit there and like tell someone that their child just passed away in a car crash and they want to hear everything, they want all the known details, like hey, listen, like I'm so sorry, but what just happened I have to go do again.
Speaker 1:There will be someone here, but I, I have to go yeah and just like repeating that over and over, I was like are you okay? He's? Like no, not really. I'm like understandable, because again, like every time, you have to like code, switch between these emotions like it's taxing, like it's not, like there isn't like an emotional, like pain or like backlog that has, like that doesn't go along with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it's interesting because, from a patient perspective, I'm always very sensitive about this because, like I say, from the patient's perspective, everything that that doctor just went through is a little bit irrelevant to you, right? You're there with your crisis or your important moment and and of course, that's what matters most to you, right then, and it should. But at the same time, I do think as a physician, it's a tricky. It's a tricky emotional, constant readjusting and I don't know that people can appreciate that when they're the ones going through it, and I'm not asking them to, but you know, everyone has a story of like I went to the ER and the ER doctor was in there for two and a half minutes, and then the ER doctor was in there for two and a half minutes and then bolted and like I didn't get my questions answered. They didn't even, you know, they didn't even tell me anything. They just told me I could go home because I was fine and we should do better than that as doctors.
Speaker 2:But it's also helpful to understand that what that doctor I think sometimes people would think that I'm like I'm finishing with them and I'm like going to the break room and putting my feet up and like having a cup of coffee and like that's not what's happening in the hospital ever. You know that's. You're on to the next patient and the next patient and you've got 30 more patients to see and and it's it's. There's no right or wrong, but I think it's helpful to understand the whole mix of what's going on.
Speaker 1:I think there's a reason where a lot of doctors in a hospital wear running shoes. Yeah, not just for comfort.
Speaker 2:No, literally. I've run lots of miles in a hospital.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and I mean going back to the topic of, like I mean people that are there during core times. I mean walk me through how John came into the mix, because obviously I mean him and starting your family is a big part of what you've decided to create.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So John and I met on a blind date, actually after I had finished residency. So he got to skip all of the hard stuff and he met me when I had my job lined up and, in fact, our first date was on my orientation day that we went yeah.
Speaker 2:So we met on that day and I started my job and when you start a practice at least in my practice you don't start ultra full. I had a few patients here and there I was starting to have. I had maybe two deliveries a month. You know I was delivering babies and had maybe two a month or five a month, and so that's when we were dating. So I think he got a sweeter version of of what the life would be like and I maybe I maybe pulled the wool over his eyes a little bit, but so we started dating right at that time that I was starting my job. So he came into the picture a little bit later in my career, with the lightest it had ever been, Right, I mean, I was an overachiever in high school, overachiever in college, over not overachiever, just just surviving bad schools, yeah. And then residency, and then I had this kind of lull for a minute and that's when John came into the picture. So we had lots of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and all sorts of hiking and biking and traveling and doing lots of fun stuff.
Speaker 1:Which is such a good way to do it. Yeah, so I'm dating someone and it's interesting comparing like dating and courtship throughout my life Because I mean I got married like just after college work trip throughout my life. Like because I mean I got married like just after college and I was like, as I reflect, I'm like, oh, it's such a nice time because it's like college, like there's things to do, but you're, you're not busy. Yeah, like it's not like adult life where you're like I have to you think it is?
Speaker 1:oh, yes, yeah and so it's nice to be like oh, like I can kind of be there for that, like pretty much anything that happens is like this experience of life. We can go, do, experience whatever. And then, as I like I mean get divorced and go back from the dating, I'm like, oh, there's like a whole piece of my life that they can't see, or like we only have so much time to dedicate to someone, and like it's so, it's, I'm jealous, you had this time, like okay, like not to say it's, it's cut and dry. It's like okay, like done next. Hey, john, remember that one time. Yeah, let's chat again and be able to give it a little more entertainment than if you were at residency. I mean, I've had friends both sides of the residency side of things and not easy at all.
Speaker 2:No, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I mean I dated a little through residency but it was always like so I'll be off work at, you know, 8.30 tonight, but I do have to be back at 4am tomorrow, so you want to hang out for a half an hour, like you know.
Speaker 2:So he did get it at a sweet spot. But it was interesting because I think for a long time he we would talk about what I did, but he I don't know that, he fully saw you know what I did. He just knew I left and I came back and we'd talk about it, but not really being a part of it and that's with with starting our new clinic. He's there 24 seven, I mean involved in every bit of it that I am. So that's been fun for him to share that a little bit more and to see more of that medical side of things, because otherwise you have these professions and, like you're, this person you're very close to and eventually married to, you really have no idea what they're spending their day doing, right, you know what their day-to-day is and what they're good at, you know that.
Speaker 1:So that's been, that's been fun to see well, I always love, like because I mean I dated and I mean I mean I guess it goes for everybody in your life, like what do you do for work? Like you don't ever actually know what that is right. And it wasn't until the pandemic where I was like sitting next to my partner so I was like, oh, that's work you yeah, okay, yeah, exactly, and they see the same.
Speaker 1:But then it's always funny, like I always love going to like the other person's company party, holly, hearty, whatever so I'm like, all right, who are the characters for you? That's the person who wouldn't shut up during the meeting, like this is the person that always bugs you about this on friday afternoons, like yeah, got it. And then, thank gosh, it's so nice to meet you, so it's fun to see that you guys get to have this again, like this collective experience together.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But talk me through. I mean, what motivated you to do it? Because most people don't just I mean quit an OBGYN job to go start something else.
Speaker 2:No, it was years in the making. I loved my job, I loved what I did, I had amazing patients and really fantastic partners. But as John and I had kids, we had our first kid after, I think, we'd been married for two years and instantly started feeling that little bit of a pull between your personal life and your work life. Right, I wanted to be home more, I wanted to be a mom, I wanted to be present, and instead I'd be up all night the night before delivering babies, and then I'd be off, so I'd be home with my baby and I would fall asleep in the middle of the floor, you know, with my one-year-old kind of toddling around me, and wake up like oh my gosh, is everyone okay, you know. So realizing like I'm not sure this balance is is quite what I was thinking, or quite what I anticipated, but but again, that was. That was two years in and I worked for another eight. So it was.
Speaker 2:It ended up being every day, as I drove home from work, thinking how can I do this differently? How do I adjust this? How can I, how can I change this For myself? Initially is how it started. I think a lot of people who end up doing what I do in functional medicine and integrative healthcare. They have these really inspiring stories based on like healing journeys and mine was definitely prompted more by like a personal experience healing journey of trying to figure out how do I be the mom that I want to be, how do I be the wife that I want to be and how do I be the partner and medical professional that I want to be in what seems like an incompatible yeah mix but there's also something so much more.
Speaker 1:It's like both more profound and less profound, because I mean everybody has those places that their brain goes when everything else kind of stopped. I mean like if it's super negative and you can't be alone, then that's a whole nother thing, but like, there's things of like, because everybody has a life that they want to live, that's within reason, that's like quote attainable. Or they have these ideas in their head of oh well, I, I'd love to do this, or maybe it'd be fun at some point, or what would that look like?
Speaker 1:we always have these mental blocks, but I'm not qualified, I can't do it yeah which is a lot of, I mean just cognitive dissonance, um and just I mean reliving a lot of what you've told yourself that you are.
Speaker 1:But there's this part where I mean most people I mean it's probably the sharpest drop off of it all is being like I could never start yeah and so, while I mean you didn't have to have this, like well, when I was delivering the 50th baby of the day at three in the morning, every like, whatever that could be, yeah, like that's not as relatable to as many people as, like I just wanted a better life that I could be, there as a mom, I can keep doing and providing a service to the people that I've served for so long.
Speaker 1:Side quest also get to work with my husband and then also being able to I mean again, I put this all together in a different way, like I was at a concert once and I don't know why it hit me like a freaking Mike Tyson right hook, but it was like the purpose of life Well, not purpose of life, let's not go down that stupid road but like. My definition of like, what happiness is, is being able to like, make a picture, paint a picture of what you want your perfect life to be, and again, like. That takes exploration of like. Oh well, this is actually what I want, this is what I need, which is a whole pre-work of exploration, self-discovery, awareness, and then so you'd be able to create this painting, but then being able to put yourself in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Meaning you can execute on these things, you can make these all a reality to the point where you can look around and be like, oh, I do get to be a mom again and I don't have to be going to bed at 4.30 in the morning and be back at noon and breathe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's exactly it and that's exactly, still, I'd say, what I'm going for, and I'm not there yet, but hopefully getting there.
Speaker 1:It's also a journey, not a destination.
Speaker 2:Well, sure, sure it's a journey, but it's also it's been a really tricky struggle to figure out or tension, I would say. To figure out, like, as a doctor, you've done all this training and you're helping people, you know, you are taught, I would say, to feel like you owe it to a community. You have an obligation now, with your knowledge set, to do good things, and I agree with that. And yet there's the other part of me that's like what about me? What about my life and my side of it? So that was always a really tricky tension of like.
Speaker 2:But I love what I do for my patients. I love my patients and I love that I do for my patients. I love my patients and I love that I get to have a little bit of influence on their experience that you know they're, even if it's something that seems fairly routine, like having a baby I mean, lots of people do it, so it seems routine in some ways but for that person, having that baby that is one pivotal moment in their life and I got to be there and maybe influence it and maybe make it just a little bit better for them, right, make sure that they feel empowered, make sure that they feel like their doctor's, listening to them, make sure that they feel safe, and that was very, very special to me. That was something that I really loved and took seriously, and it came to a point where I realized I don't know if that's compatible with being the type of mom that I wanted to be. So it was every day going home feeling like I was either letting my kids down because I was neglecting them, or I was letting my husband down because he had to pick up the slack, or I was letting my partners down because they had to pick up my slack at work, or I was letting my patients down because they really wanted me to be there and I couldn't pull away from my family. So that was a rough and I couldn't pull away from my family, so that was a rough place to be in. You know, I loved everywhere that I was, and yet while I was there I constantly felt guilt for not being the other place. So that was hard.
Speaker 2:That was really emotionally trying for many years no-transcript should live, um, and so eventually came to this conclusion of like something's got to give, like I'm going to have to make a big shift, and then that took a while to have the courage to do that and to know what to do. And John was actually really pivotal in that, because if he hadn't been supportive, like, I couldn't even have explored anything. But every step along the way it was you know what if I do this? And he was like, ok, yeah, we can do that. You know, I guess I understand what it feels like to have family members who you don't know where else to go.
Speaker 2:Right, these are people and this is one of the things that makes me so angry with the system, because so many doctors poo-poo this entire world. Stop going to those fake doctors, stop talking about herbs and stop talking about all these other things. But what I just want to shout from the rooftops is most patients have already gone the way of conventional medicine. Pat patients are not skipping that step. They've gone to every doctor and so, as a family member to and as a doctor, to watch family members go from doctor to doctor to doctor and just not get answers over and over and over, I identify with my family more with the helplessness of like I knew how to.
Speaker 2:I wish I knew how to help you. Yeah, um, and I'm I'm still learning and I've learned a ton. And if I knew what I knew now, five years ago, ten years ago, I think I could have maybe made a difference. Um, so some some bittersweet there, as life is right, like things don't always line up as you wish they would, that you, you learned the perfect thing at the perfect time for the perfect person, but, but, um, still learning and still helping as many people as I can hopefully not have that same experience yeah, the more you learn, the more you can help other people I hope so hopefully you don't have the same ending, because my so.
Speaker 2:My dad passed away two years almost years, two years ago, from dementia yeah.
Speaker 1:It's not a fun one, but and he was a pediatric neuropsychologist, so he, I wasn't there, but apparently he was at the doctor once and they were like and he was like having a very cognitive moment, like hey, by the way, you have dementia. He's like I don't want to do this, and then all of a sudden, just hey, what was your name again?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm like, oh yeah, it's a rough one, it doesn't play fair for sure.
Speaker 1:So me and my sisters pay a lot of attention to what's going on.
Speaker 2:I'm sure, with your own health. Yeah, all of us should. I mean, we've had a cancer death in our family recently too, and you don't want any of them? You don't. You don't want any of that. We want to do whatever we can, and and again, that's not to say like people made mistakes along the way and that's why they got sick. But we are learning more and more and more and, and there's more and more that we can do, and I'm excited for the way that that medicine is going in this way to say could we just support our health better? That medicine is going in this way to say could we just support our health better? Should we help our bodies work better?
Speaker 1:Agreed.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Agreed.
Speaker 2:So that was. That was a huge gift to me to be able to explore that without having one more constraint on it, of like well, I would do this, but my husband doesn't want me to, or something you know.
Speaker 1:So eventually came up with this idea of like I think I've got to go Well so for a while I started incorporating that method of healthcare of, you know, taking more of a whole person approach. Yeah, walk me through like the perspective of everything you put together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so integrative medicine and functional medicine and lifestyle medicine. There's lots of these kind of offshoots and most of them are going more towards, I would say, generally speaking, away from pharmaceuticals, you know, away from prescription medications. There's nothing wrong with prescription medications. I'm very glad we have them. I still prescribe them all the time. But is there more we can do to support health better? And is there more we can do to prevent disease and more we can do to support the whole person? Because, like I've just been talking about my life and like you say, like that's pretty relatable, right, people will have a physical ailment, but also they have guilt, or also they're juggling their family, or also they're juggling their relationships. You know, everyone is more of a story than the one medical problem they go to the doctor with.
Speaker 1:They're not just their chart.
Speaker 2:No, exactly. And so as I started learning about this side of medicine, I was pretty mad because I was like, why did I not learn this Like I was? You know, I think I was really good at what I did, and yet there was this whole section that I had never known about and never thought about. And so I was mad for a little while and then tried to start incorporating it into my regular practice. Was mad for a little while and then tried to start incorporating it into my regular practice. But there were insurance limitations, there were time limitations.
Speaker 2:You know, I'd be going to deliver a baby and I'd be in the middle of this deep, you know, trying to get the whole picture from this woman who's saying she's tired and her hair's falling out and she's depressed. And I'm trying to, you know, get this whole picture and I'm like I'm so sorry I got to go. Can you come back in a week? You know, like it's just, it wasn't, it wasn't working and not everyone wants that. Frankly, some people are pretty happy to go to the doctor and just get their prescription for their one little problem and move on with their life, and I respect that, I'm, I'm fine with that. But those people would come and I would try to dive in deeper and some of them would look at me like I had two heads, you know, like why are you asking all these questions?
Speaker 1:And it's like system that's built around the opposite. Well, I don't want to say the opposite. Different needs, different needs. Yeah, just different. In general. Yeah, exactly Because the healthcare industry is just very here's how it works. Yeah, very cut and dry. I mean everything is I mean down to the policies and coverage and care is all written down to every structure around um structure around it yeah which.
Speaker 1:There's pros in it, there's cons in it. I mean, do we live in a country that over prescribes a lot of things absolutely, and there's so much more to be done? There's like been a whole um for good or for bad.
Speaker 1:I guess it's neither is completely true of focus on that yeah and like it's fun to see how, like because I'm at this point of life too where, like my people that I've seen become like overweight, obese, I'm like, oh, that's how this happens. And then I'm also at this point where people who are in good habits, they're probably going to do them the rest of their life. People who are in bad habits probably going to do it the rest of their life. Going back to the point of people I don't expect anybody to change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah Well and I think a big part of that is in the insurance model, because the insurance model was built around, and works pretty well around, disease state and medications. Right, so you go to the doctor.
Speaker 2:The doctor gets paid for diagnosing you, for ordering a test, for ordering a lab. You get a label on your chart and then you get a prescription that matches that label. That's the way insurance systems are built. There's all sorts of codes, right Big coding systems to make sure that everything gets approved and authorized and paid for. If you try to go outside of that and say, but you've just been through something really hard, you know you've just been through the death of a family member, You've just been through a divorce, Like, do you think that's affecting this? There's no code for that. You know there are some codes for grief and things like that. But generally speaking, like if you start trying to go outside of the system and look at the whole person and start to connect dots, the system doesn't support that very well and the time structure, the traditions that our medical practice has been built on, it's just, it's not really built that way. So it becomes really difficult to practice within that system.
Speaker 1:So you start the business, yeah, and I imagine it's kind of like reminiscent of you're like, okay, graduate, just started in my first full-time job. But it's instead of like oh, I got to go find patients. Like, oh, I got to go find patients, like I'm not just hired here anymore. And I'm sure it's a whole different part, because it's always fun to talk to people who profession whether it be dentists, doctors, lawyers, whatever, like they know how to practice law, they know how to practice medicine registry.
Speaker 1:But then it's like okay, run a business or go figure out how to like solve these problems that patients, just I mean kind of showed up for lack of a better term and now it's like we got to figure out how to make this work for the way that we need it to.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So there was there are lots of kind of grassroots communities of doctors who are feeling the same way and and starting to do different things, and so I joined those communities and learned a lot during while I was still working and started to feel like I maybe could do this. And looking back, I think I felt overconfident because once you start, you're like I don't know if I can do this. And looking back, I think I felt overconfident Because once you start, you're like I don't know if I can do this, you know but. But usually you're like started after like I can't go bad.
Speaker 2:Well, that's exactly it. Yeah, no, you're in it now. You're doing this now. So it's funny to look back because we started so tiny. I mean, it was just me. I didn't have a medical assistant. I mean I had a desk in the front of my office and my patients would come in and I would greet them and I would take their vital signs and then we would move to another room and I would do their visit and then we'd come back and I would check them out and I would answer the phone. And I'd get patients who were like oh wait, I didn't expect you to answer the phone and I was like yeah.
Speaker 2:Can I talk to Dr Kroenig? Yes, can I talk to your receptionist? Yes, one sec. How about the nurse Also? Yeah, so it was sort of it was. It was very odd. Honestly, it was not what I had experienced before, but patients understood and liked it. You know they liked that I could give them my time and and were happy to do that, so I was very fortunate. You know, when you start something like this, you really don't have any clue. There's no guarantees how it's going to go, but I was um full the day I opened, so amazing yeah, so it's been, and it's been a wild ride ever since.
Speaker 1:So how long ago did you open? Not quite three years, wow, still pretty new it's like new, it's like past the point of like okay, like the initial kind of get things started is dissipating. But then it's also like oh, now we just got to keep the engine going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, part of things, but yeah exactly, and we're All different problems, oh, totally different problems. We're growing really really well and happily, and that brings its own set of tricky things, but things I'm grateful for, yeah, I was thinking about when you were talking about kind of this.
Speaker 1:I mean internal conflict you were having with, I mean everything going on in your life where on paper you're like oh, like, oh, you're a wife, a mom, a doctor, and like you don't feel like you can be any of them, but at the same time, like to go from like a doctor in general is like I mean I and in details they're one of the most depressed people in their profession, but when you like, think about it. I mean a lot of people look for and their job is purpose. Are they making a difference? Are they helping people, which is objective or subjective, as that could be, and like a doctor texts a lot of those. Pretty well, also, come and have it come back around in an even more meaningful way, where you're like, hey, actually I think I need to do something a little different.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Not just for my own like inner struggle, like this isn't working and we need to do something better, but everything's going against me. And then have people be like, actually no, this is actually what we want too. Yeah, to see that validation. So you still get the joys of helping people helping people with babies that you've grown to love and have this passion for but then also do it in the way that creates this harmony in your life professionally. But then you also get to have this flexibility in your personal life. So this harmony between things of I would imagine and correct me if I'm wrong or maybe it's still part of the journey of going from there's discordance in my life. I want to be all these things I can't to now being like, oh, it's kind of all coming together the way I wanted it to.
Speaker 2:It's definitely still in progress. It's getting more clear. Some of that, I'm sure, is my own personal journey of the mindset, work of when are you ever satisfied, right? The fact is, if you're going to have a career and going to be a wife and going to be a mom, there's going to be some juggling and you have to decide what to weight where, like how much weight do you put in each category, and that's just tricky. That's just a con, a constant um moving target.
Speaker 2:But but I'm getting closer to it and it's been really amazing, just because it's a slower pace with patients, you know, I was seeing at least 25 to 30 on busy days 40 patients every day and then delivering babies in between, and now I see maybe eight-ish patients a day because we do long form visits where we can really dive in and understand what they're going through.
Speaker 2:I get to know them a little bit better, they get to know me a little bit better and they really are just the best group of patients and they're very. They've shown me a lot of compassion and a lot of care, you know, and patience with understanding that I'm a human and I think that comes from being outside of the model a little bit, you know not being part of the machine that people are used to. You know you go to an office, you're a number on a board somewhere and there's eight doctors and again, I'm glad it exists. I go there too, but it's been really fun to do something different and also even just building the clinic and recognizing like, oh, I can do whatever I want here because no one's telling me that I have to do it the sterile way, like I can have color in my office and I can have warm fuzzies and I can do it in a way that creates the environment that is really what I'm hoping to create for patients that feels healing and restorative.
Speaker 2:So that's been really fun no more fluorescent lights and yeah, well, I mean, it's kind of dirty walls and we still have rattling HVAC.
Speaker 1:But yeah, you know, we're getting there journey, not a destination yeah, that's right, it's on the roll, but also expecting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I threw the Hail Mary on that one. I assumed as much because you're far out. That's dangerous. Yeah, thankfully, the best thing about a podcast is I can edit it out if I need to. You go on a rant and tear me apart for 10 minutes about how I should.
Speaker 2:I'm like and select delete.
Speaker 1:Never happened yeah what number is this? This is our fourth. Wow, yeah, so that's, it was, there's always a couple surprises in every family. Yeah, like I always, when I was probably like 10 or 11, I look at my mom, was like why are there? Like, why do they have two kids so much younger than the other four mom's? Like, surprise, like, oh, like, once I learned about the birds and bees, I was like got it. Yeah, understood, yep, and so is it the first child since starting the practice.
Speaker 2:Sort of. So my last day of my last practice was the day before I delivered my third. So I worked up till that delivery and then delivered. My third had a postpartum leave that I then started opening, a postpartum leave that I then started opening. I kind of built the practice during my postpartum leave and then started that clinic when she was I think we started seeing patients when she was three months, four months old. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Perfect. Perfect for the example, then, but so, thinking about the last pregnancy you had compared to this one, how has this new experience changed your perspective on that?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know, everything's been different this time. I think I'm a little older and and a little more. You know, we were really focused on building the business and kind of focused on getting this going, and so the pregnancy has kind of forced us to shift gears and slow down, and probably in good ways, you know, probably in really good ways. But the other one was, was tidier, I would say. You know, this has been a little bit more of a shake up, but it's been good. It's forced us to kind of we were working on growing and it's forced us to kind of grow faster because we needed to get things done. So I can have the support that I need when, when I'm going to be busy.
Speaker 1:Love that, yeah, and then oh yeah so you started the office, the first one, just you at the desk and everything I mean how many people are you up to now?
Speaker 2:So now we have a nurse practitioner and we have a therapist, and then we have a dietician and a health coach. Wow, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's like all the stones on Thanos' glove. You walk in and it's like all right, once you're done with one door, go to the next, and then it's going to be a while, but you'll walk out feeling relieved.
Speaker 2:It's sort of the tricky part. It was one of the things that I really envisioned when I first started doing this is can we support women better, Like can we help them by having people on the same page? And some of the things that were most important to me were, like I said, the vibe and this is one of the things that I get really picky about with my staff is when patients come in. It needs to feel different. I have a lot of patients who have basically PTSD from going to the doctor and feeling unheard or feeling gaslit or turned away or like they still have problems, and so it's one of the things that we wanted to create in the culture of the clinic is this is a safe space and we're going to stick with you whatever you need, and so that was sort of building that from multiple different angles has been has been really fun. It's been really nice to make sure we're all speaking the same language and using the same supportive, optimistic approach that I wanted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there's overlap between it all.
Speaker 2:Oh, for sure.
Speaker 1:So I'm sure it's fun to see everybody come together. I mean, again, have like one person that you're all meeting and being like. All right, this is her holistic plan. Yeah, exactly, the house is all going to come together. Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been really fun. We have a couple other people hopefully joining us soon too, so we're on a mission Gonna fix women's healthcare. The idea of gender disparity in healthcare is it's really fascinating and infuriating if you dig into it at all. You know, when you look at when researchers were required to include women in their studies, and even as recently as the past five to 10 years, there are still medications intended just for women that have men in the pool of research subjects, because it's easier, because men don't have periods and men don't have hormonal fluctuations or menopause, and so they kind of are the same all the time, and so it's. It's really it's really interesting to learn more about that and and yeah, they, we deserve a little bit better uh, you know 100 agree, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Um anything else, y'all make sure, as I'm hit the dry throat. Um anything else, y'all make sure we cover um, johnny, have you been listening?
Speaker 2:Yeah?
Speaker 1:Anything else we missed.
Speaker 2:We could talk. I mean, one of the things that would be nice to talk about too is kind of the need for it. It is in women's health care is why there is this need to kind of address it differently, because so many women. Do you want to ask me a question, or we just keep talking?
Speaker 1:And they're doing it right basically right yeah, doing it well exactly yeah, yeah, let's think of a question. Um, I don't know, yeah, because I I mean like so, when you opened, you mentioned that you had a full book from the beginning, which means there's a need for it. Talk to me about offerings and other places that essentially drive people to look for a solution like yours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been really interesting because when I first opened and I would talk to people in the medical field about what I was doing, a lot of the response that I get would be oh yeah, I do that all the time. Like we're constantly talking about nutrition and movement and exercise and and all of those things, and I know for a fact they're not because I was there. I was in it for 10, 15 years, you know, doing the same thing. And there's no time. There is no time to sit and ask a woman you know, like give me an idea of what you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Right, give me an idea about what your daily schedule looks like. There's no time for that.
Speaker 2:Maybe once in a while, but not as a routine, and so but when I would, we'd be at soccer games with my kids and I'd run into, I'd be talking to their moms and I'd tell them what they were doing and their jaws would drop and be like this is so needed. So that's been really fun to like. I knew there was a need, that's why I did it, but to see the response has been really gratifying to see women say like gosh, this is so necessary. And what's funny is how novel it feels, is it regularly is what do you want to get from this visit? Like, what's most important to you from this and the things that they say over and over and over are I just want someone to listen to me.
Speaker 2:I want to have a say in my health care, you know, I want to be able to sit down with someone and not have them tell me that I'm making it up Like where's our standard, why? Why is that this, this big novel thing that's so needed, you know, but hugely gratifying that I get to do that, that that I have patients come and be, like they come with their, their defense systems up a little bit right, like they come saying, listen, I'm here because I want a new doctor, but here's what I expect from this. I expect you to listen and I expect you to, you know, not gaslight me and for me to be able to be like well, of course, that's what I'm going to do. Like what else would I do?
Speaker 2:You know like that's. That's been really special to be a part of that and to be able to give that to women, and I wish it wasn't novel. You know, I wish that my clinic was the norm and the rule instead of the exception. And again, I don't want to say that, like, conventional medical clinics are not doing this because there are some really wonderful doctors and medical providers out there, but as a system, it is not what the system is built around. You know, I got to sit and design my system based on the needs of the patients. Based on the needs of patients who are coming in who don't feel well, who can't find answers, who aren't getting the help they need, who feel like their doctors aren't listening to them. I got to design the system 100% with that in mind. Conventional medical systems are designed 99% around insurance models and CEOs, with a little bit of thought about doctors and nurses, and then the patients are really kind of the last thing to consider in that equation. So it's been really wonderful to see patients' experiences.
Speaker 2:I'll have patients who come in and I do a big long questionnaire at the beginning and ask them how do you feel? What's going on? And they'll write down these lists of 5, 10, 15 symptoms. And these aren't just symptoms that are kind of annoying, these are symptoms that are affecting their lives. You know, it takes me two hours to fall asleep or I'm so tired that, like I had a patient this week who said, yeah, my kids keep saying, oh, our mom's the sleepy mom. Like you might kind of chuckle at that, but as a mom, that's heartbreaking, like that is devastating to be. Like my kids think I'm the sleepy mom because I can't get out of bed and I have to take a nap. And so I'll have patients who have these symptoms and to see them number one, to see the effort that they, like I ask them to do hard things. We're talking about nutrition and we're talking about how to move and we're talking about how to get sleep and we're talking about how to cut things out of their lives that are harming their bodies. And we're doing big fancy testing, you know, to see like what is your body actually trying to tell us? And then we're putting them on regimens to get better and they do hard, hard things, do hard, hard things, and I get to watch them go through it. But at the end of it we do another questionnaire. You know, every visit that says how are you feeling? And to see patients say like all my symptoms are gone. And I'll be like all of them Because I'm going to go back to the beginning and I'll go through it and be like how's that fatigue going?
Speaker 2:It went from two out of 10 to nine out of 10. How's that brain fog going? Because I documented at the beginning you know it's two out of ten or three out of ten, and I document their words, of them saying like my work environment has gotten really stressful, because I can't. I'll be in the middle of a presentation and I can't remember what I was talking about, or I'll write an email and then I'll write the same email again and then my coworker will be like you already told me that and these are again, like on the surface maybe not that big of a deal, but for that person that's kind of life altering, like it's embarrassing and you're frustrated, you're worried about what it might mean, like is this getting worse? And so I'll ask them that at the first visit, you know, and they say my cognitive awareness, my brain fog is like three out of 10. And then they'll come back and they'll be like nine out of 10, I feel sharp, I feel like I can think, I feel like I can solve my problems.
Speaker 2:So I get patients who will tell me, you know, like my life is different, like I am a different person now or, even more importantly, like I got my life back.
Speaker 2:Something happened in there and I was not the person I wanted to be. I did not feel how I wanted to feel. And I get you know all comers, people who are outdoorsy and athletic, who are saying you know, I used to be able to go go hiking with my husband and now he wants to go hiking and I can't go because I just don't feel good. And that's again on the surface. It's like, oh, poor baby. But like as a person, as an individual myself, I would hate that. Like that's a big deal to be like this was our thing and I can't do it anymore. And so as a as a physician, to get to help people through that and to see them come back and say I got it back, like I can do that now, it's mind blowing. Honestly, I'm not sure if I, like I hoped I would help people, but I did not expect that. Really, I don't think I could have really comprehended what that would be like.
Speaker 1:Totally, I mean, especially when I mean like my biggest parallels with like mental health of like yes. I mean whenever I'm thinking about, like going through a time where I'm like why isn't this working?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Why can't like? It's like I'm trying to shove this like circle into a circle hole. I'm like why isn't it going through? Yeah, into a circle hole. And like, why isn't it going through? Yeah, this doesn't make sense exactly. And then it isn't until someone's I mean ask a simple question of like, oh, like, how long does it take to go to sleep? Like 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:But then it's like I'm gonna wake up like not like yeah, it's like, oh, let's talk about that. And it's like, oh well, yeah, you're. I mean the myriad of things that it could be like.
Speaker 1:I never thought of that right and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, the thing that I just kind of got used to because they happened so much, is now gone. And now you get this mental like, uh, bandwidth back because, like you're not, either a like it's not happening anymore, or you're not worried about it anymore, it's not getting in the way of life, or it's like playing an issue with your confidence or your I mean just daily agenda or how you're perceived, and all of a sudden, like this potential you didn't even know had, you've always wanted to have and seen in other people or previously in your life, is like oh yeah, this is who I am, yeah, that's. I mean I can't imagine what cloud nine of that feeling feels like.
Speaker 2:Well, exactly, and and one of the things that I get to tell patients in some form or another they'll be laying all of this out for me and I can tell that in the back of their mind, they're expecting me to be like I mean, you're probably okay, though, right, like they're expecting-.
Speaker 1:Because that's what they've been telling themselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and it takes a lot for them to come see me because I have a wait list and it's cash-based, like they have to commit to come see me, and some people, by the time they get there, I think, are maybe second guessing it, like maybe this isn't that big of a deal. You know, like I mean, yeah, I'm tired, but who isn't tired? Yeah, I have brain fog, but who doesn't have brain fog? And one of the things as we go through it and we talk it all out and we lay this out, I get to kind of say like this is not normal and not acceptable. I don't accept this for you. You know, as someone who helps people be their healthiest self, I don't accept this for you. So you can still go and do whatever you want with your life, but I'm not okay with this and you shouldn't be okay with this either. And that's where a lot of people you know we bond because they're saying like no one's ever said that to me before, no one's ever made me feel that way before. And again, I'm not doing it artificially or because it's like a canned response. I'm doing it because that's how I feel, like this is unacceptable. There's no like these are people who are not 80. They're 25 and 35 and 45 and 55. Like these are people who should be functional and they should feel good and they should get to do whatever they want to with their lives. And I get to be one of the first people in their lives who says I don't accept that. And that's been very powerful for me and transformative for me in my own health to then see it work and be like, oh, I should do that, that actually works, I should really do that.
Speaker 2:So it's been a ride, it's been incredible and I'm just really, really honored, you know, to be a part of it, because what I was building was, honestly, the transition felt not selfish, but like I needed a better balance for myself. And then I had family members who were not doing well physically and, you know, needed some support. So I started doing more research and started helping them on the side and that's a lot of where this was born and then very quickly realized like, oh, we're not doing as well serving patients as I thought. I was pretty proud of the clinician that I was Patients I think felt cared about when they came to see me in my old clinic, but I don't think they felt like I necessarily gave them the full time. You know, if they said I was tired, I'd say you should see your primary care doctor, you know. So now I get to witness this kind of organic thing take shape. This clinic takes shape in a way that's providing care for women. That's been really powerful for me and hopefully really powerful for our patients.
Speaker 1:Totally and even like let's say that on like the scale of fulfillment, being your previous roles in OBGYN and like helping people here is about the same. Yeah, then also you get to see I mean the joy of like building something of your own. Yeah, exactly which I mean is such a unique feeling that a lot of people don't ever like get to have yeah. So it's amazing. I mean a keep helping people like that you've loved to do, but then also create something special on top of it yeah, exactly um, well, that's some great.
Speaker 1:You're a great human. I'm so grateful for all that you're doing because, yeah, like I said, I mean two sisters, mom, girlfriend, I mean and it's always hard to hear their frustrations or shortcomings of medicine, especially women's medicine.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And realize that there are better solutions. And I'll say it better solutions, yeah, and you don't have to stick to the status quo. I just quoted High School Musical.
Speaker 1:I didn't recognize it, it's okay, I'm younger than you, a little younger than you, but so thank you for giving women an option. Oh, thanks. So when you decided to jump into I mean again go out of your professional background, of what you've been trained as a doctor into, I mean opening up doors that you knew existed but hadn't maybe gone into or walked in or through enough.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, what started that journey for you?
Speaker 2:For me it was more looking at options for career. And I talked to a colleague and he was like, oh, you should check out integrative medicine, checked out integrative medicine. Someone else said no, no, no, do functional medicine. So I started diving in and decided to do functional medicine training, quite ignorantly. You know, I did not really like I said, most people have this passion, experience where they're diving in and I didn't. But as I started learning about functional medicine and I started getting mad about all the things that I hadn't been taught, at the same time I had a sister who was really struggling with pretty severe fatigue and nerve pain and having difficulty in her career because she couldn't use her hands and she needed to use her hands.
Speaker 2:Really terrible brain fog, just starting to feel like things were crumbling, getting sick all the time. And I think a lot of people can identify with this. You know it's the type of person who's like if something weird is going to happen, it's going to happen to me, Like that's how this family member was and I was totally baffled in my conventional training of like gosh, I don't know. You should see a doctor, Like you should see some doctor, some neurologist, and she did. You know she had seen all of the doctors and, as I'm starting to learn about functional medicine, I'm learning about gut health and I'm learning about detoxification systems and I'm learning about mycotoxin illness, which is mold illness, and, like you, this sounds like you. Like all of this sounds like you Around.
Speaker 2:The same time, my mom was diagnosed with dementia and started learning a little bit more about the intricacies that go into that, other than just the medication trials that we have and how some people are actually reversing, and I wish I had the really great story that was like so I fixed them, Like they were way better. I think hopefully I was able to help my, my sister, and help she definitely is doing way better now than she was. I think my mom's dementia is probably too too far advanced at this point and that that has been something that has been really lit a fire under me to say like, okay, I didn't know what I, I didn't know enough then when she was diagnosed. Um, I know more now. Um, still not an expert in in dementia, but but learning all the time and if there's anything I can do to help other people feel like I, I guess I understand what it feels like to have family members. Sorry that's making me a little emotional. That was surprising Well.
Speaker 1:Mallory. I want to end with the two questions I always ask every S before we take off. Number one if you could have someone on the Small Lake City podcast and hear more about their story and what they're up to, who would you want to hear from?
Speaker 2:Oh, good question. Hmm, I'm so in my healthcare space.
Speaker 1:I mean if there's someone you want to double click on there, or there's a million ways you could go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if this is fair game because I just had her on my podcast, but there is a sex therapist named Jordan Rulo, okay, and she is brilliant and she talks a lot about couples intimacy, and it it was. She is so smart and full of information and I think I, as women's health, I just am drawn more towards the taboo, I think.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because women are told not to talk about things right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's very prevalent in our Utah culture.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, like that. We don't talk about that kind of thing. So, um, so, probably I'd lean towards the taboo someone doing something that we should be talking more about, but don't. And, and she comes to mind, she is really a great therapist and I'm glad we have her.
Speaker 1:Well, it's like I'm a big fan of, like Esther Perel, yeah exactly it's like it's fascinating.
Speaker 2:Well, it is because it's something that we're all involved in. We all have relationships of some sort or another. We all have some sort of sexuality or you know some. So that's part of our being, that's part of our lives. But for some people it's this big like question mark part of our lives, so anything we can do to shed light on that. But there's some cool people in Salt Lake doing really neat stuff so it's fun to see. And with your podcast in general, it's just so fun to hear the backstory because there's more to the person than the business. I have learned that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:And then, lastly, if people want to find out more information about Uplift Her, what's the best place to go?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we're at Uplift Her. What's the best place to go? Yeah, so we're at Uplift For Her everywhere. So our website is Uplift For Her. It's spelled out F-O-R. Uplift For Her. And then our Instagram handle is the same. Our podcast is the same Uplift For Her. And then Facebook too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, deal. Yeah, check it out, go get some information. If you're frustrated and want another point of view, or sick of what you're currently doing, come to me yeah, thank you thanks, awesome. Thank you, mallory, dr Craycroft yeah, pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
