Shame can feel like quicksand in medicine—silent, isolating, and relentless—yet it can also be a bridge that pulls us back to each other. We sit down with Dr. Will Bynum, family physician, researcher, and co-founder of The Shame Lab, and returning guest Dr. Daisy Dulay to unpack how shame shows up in training, practice, and leadership, and how storytelling turns private pain into collective insight and safer care. We explore how storytelling can help clinicians process, learn, and speak up as well as why small, honest stories can change safety and culture.

Episode Key Messages

• defining shame in clinical practice and identity

• adverse events as common yet hidden experiences

• digital storytelling as a scaffold for self-compassion

• post-story conversation as a driver of learning

• shame’s link to patient safety and help-seeking

• The Shame Lab’s training and shame compass

• barriers to engagement and gender dynamics

• sustaining the work and finding funding paths

• practical steps to start small and build culture

Other Links Mentioned

• Read this episode's blog post
• CMA's Canadian Conference on Physician Health
• Watch the Look Back conversation with Mike Lang about the CMA conference
• Watch Daisy's digital story
• Listen to Daisy's original podcast
• Listen to The Nocturnists podcast series on Shame in Medicine
• Go see Hannah Mumby's artwork
• Check out The Shame Space website

About Our Guest

Will Bynum, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and a Veteran of the United States Air Force. He received his M.D. at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 2010, completed his residency with the US Air Force and received his Ph.D. in Health Professions Education at Maastricht University in the Netherlands in 2023, where defended his thesis entitled “Out of the shadows: a qualitative exploration of shame in medical learners”, which was awarded best Doctoral Dissertation by the Association for Medical Education in Europe. He has published and spoken widely on the topic of shame and is Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Shame Lab, which conducts research, develops training, and delivers consultancy to advance constructive engagement with shame in professional practice.

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What happens when a veterinary technician, end‑of‑life doula, and legacy specialist decides to put story at the centre of care and education? We sit down with Angie Turner to explore how digital storytelling can build resilience, clarify identity, and spark brave conversations in veterinary medicine.

Angie shares her path into facilitation through Common Language training, including the craft and care behind her first personal story and the decision to add a clear trigger warning for sensitive content. We talk about the power of mentorship inside the collective—archived continuing education sessions, peer feedback, and mentorship meetings that turn big questions into practical steps.

Episode Key Messages

• Angie’s path across vet tech, doula, and legacy practice

• training insights, first stories, and trigger warnings

• the Common Language Collective’s mentorship, continuing education, and peer learning

• two tracks: client legacies and veterinary resilience

• building a third‑year vet elective with practitioner panels

• student origin stories as reflective practice

• making a digital story about digital storytelling watch here

• practical ways to capture and share family histories

Other Links Mentioned

• Watch Angie's story, My Journey to Life Story Work
• Watch the video Angie inspired Kristy to make here
• Read this episode's blog post
• Check out Angie's website

About Our Guest

Angie Turner is a veterinary professional and digital storytelling facilitator who bridges clinical practice with narrative medicine. Through SOS Legacies, she helps veterinary professionals build resilience and strengthen their professional identity by capturing and sharing the stories that define the essence of their personal and professional journeys. By combining years of experience as a veterinary technical instructor with expertise in legacy preservation and digital storytelling, Angie creates pathways for practitioners to process their experiences, connect with purpose, and sustain their passion for animal care in an emotionally demanding field.

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A preemie parent and digital storytelling facilitator, who just happens to also host the Co-Created podcast, Kristy Wolfe, shares how a simple bedtime ritual became a lens for resilience, advocacy, and neurodevelopmental care, weaving Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) experience into digital stories that move clinicians and empower families. We show how short films, crafted with consent and care, can change practice, spark equity conversations, and help kids speak for themselves.

Episode Key Messages

• why stories carry what data cannot
• how a two to four minute digital story influences conferences and policy
• Kane’s voice on pacemakers, echocardiograms and hospital Lego
• reflection prompts for clinicians to change practice
• consent and whose story gets told
• the four-phase Common Language digital storytelling method
• process versus product goals in advocacy and education
• readiness, emotional safety and caregiver well-being
• practical ways to bring neurodevelopmental care into daily life

Other Links Mentioned

• Watch the full Preemie Chat episode
• Watch Hugs & Bugs
• Watch Kane's Story
• Read this episode's blog post
• Learn more about Canadian Premature Babies Foundation's Preemie Chats

About Our Guest (aka the Co-Created host!)

Kristy Wolfe is a digital storytelling facilitator and owner of Kristy Wolfe Stories. She believes there is beauty in every story and she champions real stories in marketing and communication. Kristy exposes the human side of any organization, with consideration for ethics in storytelling, as well as storyteller wellness every step of the way. As a Common Language DST certified facilitator and trainer, Kristy helps individuals and social purpose organizations share meaningful stories, turning their unique experiences into compelling narratives that inspire action. Kristy shares some of her own lived experiences within the context of each workshop she facilitates to validate that authenticity, openness, and vulnerability are essential to creating meaningful digital stories.

Fabiana Bacchini is the Executive Director of the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation. She is a journalist and the published author of From Surviving to Thriving, a Mother’s Journey Through Infertility, Loss and Miracles.

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