A career pivot might change more than your work… It might shift your personality too, if you let it.

Clinical psychologist and researcher Dr Shannon Sauer Zavala joins Caitlin to share the science behind intentional personality change and how values can guide the traits we grow. We talk burnout, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and how the very traits that once drove our success might now hold us back.

Shannon shares how she’s taking her work beyond academia by building a public-facing platform, writing a book, and making science useful in real life.

This ep is a must-listen for any health prof rethinking how they work, lead, or show up in the world.

Tune in to learn:

• How one statistic made Shannon question everything she believed about therapy
• How targeting a single personality trait can treat multiple mental health conditions
• What happened the moment she realised academia isn’t always about merit or meaning
• How rejection from book agents sparked an unexpected creative chapter
• The surprising lesson behind her first book cover being rejected
• Which personality trait predicts whether you burn out or bounce back
• How “supportive care” can sometimes hold clients back from deeper change
• What shifted to make her fall in love with marketing after months of resistance
• What she discovered when she stopped hiding behind data and started telling stories

Connect with Shannon

• Instagram
• Website

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

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“If your words could belong to anyone, they belong to no one.”

In this episode, Caitlin chats about the dreaded, but all too common realisation, that your content feels boring. She validates why it’s easy for health profs with side hustles to slip back into academic speak. From breaking down Apple’s clever headline tricks to giving you playful edits that add personality (think wordplay, asides, and sensory detail), Caitlin shows you how to make your content feel less stiff and more human.

Tune in to learn:

• The common trap health pros fall into when they start writing for their business
• A creative writing trick you can steal from Apple’s copy
• The writing “mistake” uni lecturers marked wrong that your readers will love
• The editing trick Caitlin borrowed from shows like The Office (and how it works in copy)
• How to swap textbook words for language you really use
• What a cup of lukewarm tea teaches you about talking about your work
• Simple edit tips that makes your writing look human on the page and keeps readers hooked
• The potential promise of typos in the future
• The easiest strategy to make your content sound conversational and it doesn't involve writing!

Listen if you’re:

• A health professional-turned-entrepreneur struggling to make your copy sound less dull
• Feeling bored of your content
• Ready to ditch the academic speak

Loved this episode?

Leave a review or send it to a friend who’s been feeling unsure about their health career lately. Your support means the world to me!

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

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LinkedIn

Ditch Academic Speak freebie

Are you basing life decisions on what YOU want or what someone else expects of you?

In this ep, Caitlin chats with Trang Nova, a former physio turned speaker and coach, about the messy, emotional, and liberating journey of walking away from a career that no longer fits.

Trang shares how one rainy run, and one very unlucky snail, sparked her quarter-life crisis. She opens up about why speaking became her most powerful healing tool, and how she navigated family expectations, rejection, and fear to leave the “safety” of a stable career, and step into something far more true.

If you've ever felt the pull to do something wildly different, but fear what others might say, this one's for you!

Tune in to learn:

• The snail moment that sparked Trang’s pivot from physio to personal development
• Why losing your professional identity can feel like grief—and how to move through it
• What she told her parents when they didn’t understand her career change
• The power of following your gut (even when it makes zero logical sense)
• The question she now asks to reframe fear before every keynote
• How she’s redefined “success” outside of job titles and degrees
• What one audience member said mid-keynote that nearly made Trang walk off stage (and what she did instead)
• The belief Trang leans on to show up online (even when she doesn’t feel ready)
• What she's learned about visibility, vulnerability, and being seen
• How Trang built a practice of being visible, even when vulnerability felt risky

Connect with Trang

Instagram

LinkedIn

Website

Connect with Caitlin:

Healers with Hustles website

Instagram

Facebook Group

LinkedIn