Rachel Beanland, MD, is an accomplished public health doctor, physician coach, and mindfulness meditation teacher. Having successfully created her own flexible career so she can live a value-driven life, she has a strong affinity for evidence-based techniques to improve well-being and develop resilience. She is the founder of Resilience Physician Coaching, which supports doctors in mindfully creating unique and authentic career paths. Her mission is to help doctors do medicine differently and make a bigger impact in the world.
Dr. Rachel Beanland, Physician Coach
Please tell us about you and your life so we can get to know you better.
I am Rachel, a public health doctor and physician coach. I am also the founder of Resilience Physician Coaching and the Authentic Tea podcast. Alongside my experience mentoring doctors through my medical career, I am a certified yoga teacher, integrative coach and meditation and mindfulness teacher. I use a holistic approach to support and guide my clients as they transition into the next steps of their careers. I love living in a way that allows me to thrive and be the healthiest and happiest I can be. For me, this is the mountains, connecting with nature in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, contributing to improving the world and controlling my time to feel energised. I find peace and calm by being on my yoga mat or meditating outdoors, feeling the energy of the world around me, and knowing that I am a small part of something bigger. Living consciously minimises my footprint and maximises my impact.
How has your medical career influenced your approach to coaching and mentoring other doctors?
As a young junior doctor, I had many ideas and dreams about how I wanted to use my skills and impact the world. I struggled to find my right path, often feeling like I was trying to fit into a system that didn’t feel right. I couldn’t find role models to share a way of doing medicine that aligned with how I wanted to show up in the world. This made me feel frustrated with the system I was working in; I was stuck and lost and did not know which way to turn.
At a crossroads in my career, I decided to turn inward to find my own inner compass. I started to explore yoga and mindfulness practices more deeply, which had always intrigued me. By expanding my understanding of myself, I successfully navigated several career changes, transitioning from clinical medicine into Public Health and pursuing my dream of working in global health despite not knowing where the opportunities would come from.
My medical career has continued to evolve and expand, opening up opportunities to impact globally and explore my passions in a way that feels authentic and aligned with my values. I believe this has only been possible because of my journey into mindfulness, and living more aligned with this approach has allowed me to create my own unique, flexible career…different from the traditional medical model…but a career that enables me to live my best life and make a bigger impact.
I love sharing this experience with my clients, providing tools and approaches that allow them to find their unique paths and have the confidence to follow their passions. Working in many environments in different settings and countries helps me understand the challenges doctors face in their own lives and guide them to a more holistic approach to their health and how they do medicine differently.
In your work as a physician coach, you explore themes of authenticity, purpose and intention. How do you help your clients navigate these themes, particularly in the context of their careers?
Most of my clients start their coaching journey feeling stuck and needing clarification. They seek clarity on their next steps but often need help to make sustainable life changes. They tend to focus on alternative options to their current career, but the fear of change and moving away from an established role can be paralysing. I work with my clients to focus on the why and the motivation that drives them to be the version of themselves and feel most aligned with their values. This may have changed significantly from the reasons that drove them to start their journey in medicine. The world and your priorities have changed, so allowing your values and motivations to change is imperative.
It is much easier for my clients to explore the how and the what by getting clarity on their why. When we are our most authentic, we are the happiest, and by being in this space, we can make the most impact in the world. Finding or re-finding purpose allows my clients to feel more grounded, setting the foundation for their career change and allowing this to be the compass that guides them in every decision they take towards achieving more balance and control of their time and impact. Once they have this clarity, we use the coaching space to develop their best thinking. My clients gain clarity, build confidence in following their passions and ensure that all parts of their health and wellness are aligned as they move towards their own version of success. I use evidence-based approaches to mindfulness and positive psychology as tools to guide my clients on their journey.
When, and why, did you decide to found Resilience Physician Coaching?
Resilience is about finding balance in an unbalanced world. Resilience Physician Coaching was founded on a love of sharing effective and evidence-based approaches to making changes in careers. It is these tools and techniques that I continually use to guide my own career changes. My journey of exploring more mindfulness resulted in completing my certification in yoga teaching, mindfulness, and meditation teaching. I love to share the value of these tools with the world in a way that would allow others to incorporate sustainable change. During the early part of 2020, many friends and colleagues who were doctors started to share their dissatisfaction with their current roles, the wish to make a change, and the challenges in trying to do this by themselves. I wanted to allow doctors to create their own medical paths, have tools to develop and maintain sustainable change,
Who do you most enjoy working with?
I love working with clients who are ready to transition their careers and take steps to transform their lives. My best clients are open to exploring holistic approaches to their health and wellness and doing medicine differently – using the skills and experience they have already built to expand and dream bigger. I love working with motivated clients who are unafraid to show up as themselves and are committed to personal and professional development. They know there is another way to do things..and are ready to take that journey together.
What are your current goals for your business?
I love sharing stories from other women in medicine who have created their paths to inspire others. These are the stories I share on the Authentic Tea podcast. We are currently recording Season 2, and it’s great to have authentic conversations and connections with other women who have taken steps to follow their passions and create more flexible careers.
In the summer of 2024, we are also launching a series of masterclasses designed to give doctors the foundations to prepare for career transitions mindfully. I am excited to share these with my community. Keep an eye on the website and podcast for more info on how to subscribe and join us.
Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?
People who show up as themselves and are unapologetically living in a way that aligns with what they believe is true. I love surrounding myself with people who find joy in the present moment, feel lightness despite challenges and are real in the way they show up in the world.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
Eighteen months after qualifying in my early twenties, I found myself in a yoga class in my small village. It was a small, intimate setting with lots of darkness and incense. It was a long time before I returned to the practice and philosophy of yoga, but that experience stayed with me – the feeling of calm and peace. Despite the challenges and exhaustion I experienced working in a clinical environment, I felt a sense of connection and ease immediately after I started the class. I found my sense of home…not with yoga but by using yoga as a way to connect to myself. This stayed with me and has guided many of my decisions today.
Book a discovery call or read more about Rachel. Subscribe to the Authentic Tea podcast.
Read more from Dr. Rachel Beanland
