366. Coaching, Training Trauma, and Becoming with Dr. Smith
From You Are Not Broken by Kelly Casperson, MD
April 12, 2026 · 57 min
About this episode
Dr. Kelly Casperson and Dr. Sunny Smith discuss the impact of coaching on high-achieving women in medicine and the challenges they face with self-doubt and gender dynamics.
In this episode of You Are Not Broken, I sit down with Dr. Sunny Smith — physician, coach, and fierce advocate for women in medicine — for a conversation that felt both deeply personal and urgently necessary. We talk about the transformative power of coaching and why so many high-achieving women still struggle with self-doubt. If you’ve ever downplayed your accomplishments, hesitated to speak up in a room full of men, or questioned whether you’re “expert enough,” this episode is for you. Dr. Smith and I share personal stories from our own careers that highlight the subtle (and not-so-subtle) gender dynamics embedded in medical culture. We explore how women physicians are often socialized to overwork, over-give, and under-claim their authority — and how that conditioning impacts not only our careers, but our health. This conversation is about agency. It’s about recognizing that your thoughts create your feelings, your feelings drive your actions, and your actions determine your results. If you believe you’re “not ready,” you’ll play small. If you believe you belong, you’ll act differently — and the world will respond differently. We also talk about: Why coaching works (especially…
People in this episode
Host: Kelly Casperson
Guest: Dr. Sunny Smith
Topics covered
- coaching
- women in medicine
- self-doubt
- gender dynamics
- advocacy
- mental health
Keywords
- coaching
- women physicians
- self-advocacy
- gender bias
- mental health
- career development
- self-doubt
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: You Are Not Broken
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