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Healthcare for HumansCulturally Responsive Care For Everyone Author: Kumara Raja Sundar
This show provides actionable skills in cultural humility, culturally responsive care, and health equity so clinicians, leaders, and neighbors can serve every community better. Hosted by family physician and healthcare leader Dr. Raj Sundar, each episode explores cultural humility, culturally responsive care, and health equity through the voices of patients, clinicians, and system designers who live the work every day. WHAT YOULL HEAR Practical ways to deliver culturally competent & culturally responsive care, language-concordant, and trauma-informed care. Strategies for tackling social determinants of health at both the clinic and policy levels. Real stories showing how culture, history, and environment shape health outcomesand how clinicians can respond. Design ideas for health-care leaders building inclusive, patient-centered systems. Community insights that help all of us become better neighbors and advocates. WHO ITS FOR Frontline clinicians, public-health and hospital leaders, medical educators, and anyone curious about making cross-cultural care the norm. WHEN . Follow now to keep cultural humilityand culturally responsive careat the center of your practice and healthcare system Language: en Genres: Health & Fitness, Medicine, Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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92 I Safety, Threat & The Nervous System (Part 2)
Monday, 19 October, 2026
Check out the full series on Youtube - Roots of Care Series Overview: We continue our Roots of Care series by exploring how symptoms serve as a form of communication, delving into the fundamentals of somatic experiencing and the practical application of polyvagal theory in clinical care. Together, we break down the nervous system’s adaptive states—including the social engagement system, sympathetic drive, and dorsal vagal shutdown—highlighting how trauma can shape the body’s responses. We reflect on our own skepticism about new models and discuss the value of separating emotion from physiology, expanding our capacity for self-awareness and connection with patients. Three Takeaways: 1. The Value of Practice-Based Evidence The conversation highlights a tension in medicine between evidence-based practice versus practice-based evidence. While polyvagal theory may not be universally accepted or supported by large clinical trials, it offers a functional framework that many find therapeutically valuable in practice, encouraging open-mindedness about models that provide clinical utility 2. Importance of Allowing Sensations to Evolve Instead of forcing a narrative or assigning immediate meaning to symptoms, the episode advocates for attending to and staying with bodily sensations as they change. Doing so can lead to natural resolution or dissipation of discomfort, as witnessed in the live demonstration with a feeling of chest pressure and calf tension that dissipates through mindful attention 3. Clinician as "Meaning Maker" - and Its Limits There’s reflection on how frequently clinicians assign meaning to patients’ symptoms, inadvertently establishing themselves as sole "meaning makers." This can lead to disconnection or frustration, particularly when the meaning is unclear or unsatisfactory to both clinician and patient (e.g., labeling symptoms as "just IBS"). The episode encourages clinicians to share meaning-making with patients, exploring the bodily story together Guests Sophia Malik, MD, MPH — Family physician and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (https://drsophiamalik.substack.com) Rachel Weiner, MD, MPH — Family physician Resources mentioned Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) Compassionate Inquiry® (CI) adrienne maree brown Books Vine Deloria Jr., The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Power of the Medicine Man Efu Nyaki, Healing Trauma through Family Constellations and Somatic Experiencing: Ancestral Wisdom from the Snail Clan of Tanzania Alondra Nelson, Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited Dean Spade, Love in a Fcked-Up World* Peter Ralston, The Principles of Effortless Power About Roots of Care A series on whole-person, trauma-informed, and community-centered primary care, produced as part of the Healthcare for Humans podcast. Next Step: Visit our website, Healthcare for Humans, and join our community to enjoy exclusive benefits at https://www.healthcareforhumans.org/support/ Support Our Mission: Non-clinicians, explore exclusive content and contribute to our collective journey. Be an Active Participant: Go beyond listening. Shape our narrative by co-creating episodes with us. Be part of our community by visiting https://www.healthcareforhumans.org/support/. Follow us on Instagram @healthcareforhumanspodcast
