Work, identity, burnout, and becoming again in mid-life
A reflection from HLTC 800 and the lived reality of healthcare inequity Image from The Augustus A. White III Institute for Healthcare Equity There’s a moment in my course every week when something clicks - not because the material is new, but because it finally gives language to experiences I’ve been carrying for years. I’ll … Continue reading The Systems We Study, The People We Serve
There are years that move in straight lines. Then there are years like mine, the kind where everything tilts a little and asks you to slow down long enough to notice what is actually happening. If you’ve been reading Help, Send Coffee, you already know this past academic year didn’t unfold the way I imagined. … Continue reading Returning to UNH Again: The Year I Let Myself Stop, Breathe, and Begin Again
For those who watch The Pitt but don’t know much about healthcare law: In a recent episode, two ICE agents bring a woman to the emergency department after she was injured in a “fall.” Almost immediately, people scatter; patients leave, staff disappear, fear takes over the room. Robby (Dr. Michael Robinavitch, played by Noah Wyle) … Continue reading The Pitt, EMTALA, and the Right to Emergency Care
This wasn’t a decision I came to quickly, and it definitely wasn’t one I wanted to make. I’m taking a leave of absence from school. I went back and forth on how to talk about this because there’s a tendency to soften decisions like this or frame them as something more inspirational than they actually … Continue reading When the Math Stops Working
The start of a new year always seems to come with an unspoken expectation to arrive with a plan. Big goals. Clear direction. Momentum right out of the gate. This year feels different for me. Instead of rushing to define what’s next, I’ve been spending more time paying attention to where I am. Over the … Continue reading Direction Over Speed
AI panic has taken over a lot of academic spaces lately. You can feel it the moment you start writing something for a class. Instead of thinking about what you want to say, you start wondering how it might be interpreted. Not for clarity or quality, but for whether it “sounds like AI.” It’s an … Continue reading When Everything Looks Like AI: How Over-Scrutinizing Student Writing Causes Real Harm
The longer I’ve been in school, the more I’ve realized that what we learn in class doesn’t stay in class. It spills into how we think, how we lead, and even how we handle the hard moments at work. Over the past several terms, I’ve been diving deep into management courses that cover everything from … Continue reading What School Has Taught Me About Work (and People)
When I first started graduate school, I enrolled in a Master’s in Human Resource Management. It seemed like the logical choice; after all, HR has been a central part of my career path. I’ve worked in training, development, employee relations, and policy. I’ve built programs, advocated for DEI, and supported employees through some of their … Continue reading Changing my path: Why I changed my degree program
There is a particular quiet that only shows up when you step away from the churn of work. It is not laziness. It is not indecision. It is the kind of quiet that lets you hear your own thoughts again. I have been living in that quiet between jobs. Here is what I have been … Continue reading Notes from the In-Between
Recently, someone gave me feedback that made me pause and reflect: “DE&I is just a component of overall culture strategy—it’s not culture in and of itself. Were you a DEI champion or a culture champion?” It’s a fair question. And it’s one I think many HR professionals and organizational leaders should be asking themselves, especially … Continue reading Culture and DEI: Intertwined, but Not Interchangeable
Help! Send Coffee! 