Jul 23, 2026 · 33 min · 12 segments
For millions of people, walking into a doctor's office can be incredibly difficult. If you've experienced physical abuse…
Bayo Curry-WinchellGuest
Neha PathakHost
And that sort of brings us into our topic, which is helping someone navigate their health journey, the health system, when they've experienced sexual assault or medical trauma.
How do you help people navigate the health system when they've experienced those types of traumas?
The first thing I do is I remind myself, and I remind the students I work with, to imagine yourself in a place as your patient.
You're walking into an office that you may have never been there before.
You have people touching you, getting your vital signs, checking your blood pressure, but they're touching you, and you, you really don't know what to expect next.
You're asked to undress, have a gown that may be open in one area, and it can feel extremely intimidating and anxiety-provoking.
And so that's what I start with first, of that imagining putting yourself in your patient's situation.
Now imagine that you're coming into this with trauma and that you have been sexually assaulted or had something happen to you that you had no control.
And when you are coming into that exam room with additional worries and anxiety because of your past experiences, your nervous system is gonna kick in, and that's gonna mean your heart is racing.
You might have difficulty concentrating, all while trying to share with someone who you probably have never met your most intimate issues of what is of concern.
I think that is so well said in terms of what's happening emotionally, physically, and how to really sort of get into the mind and the heart of the patient and the potential injury that they may have suffered or that they're silently managing while you're going through the steps of caring for them.
And that sort of brings us into our topic, which is helping someone navigate their health journey, the health system, when they've experienced sexual assault or medical trauma.
How do you help people navigate the health system when they've experienced those types of traumas?
The first thing I do is I remind myself, and I remind the students I work with, to imagine yourself in a place as your patient.
You're walking into an office that you may have never been there before.
You have people touching you, getting your vital signs, checking your blood pressure, but they're touching you, and you, you really don't know what to expect next.
You're asked to undress, have a gown that may be open in one area, and it can feel extremely intimidating and anxiety-provoking.
And so that's what I start with first, of that imagining putting yourself in your patient's situation.
Now imagine that you're coming into this with trauma and that you have been sexually assaulted or had something happen to you that you had no control.
And when you are coming into that exam room with additional worries and anxiety because of your past experiences, your nervous system is gonna kick in, and that's gonna mean your heart is racing.
You might have difficulty concentrating, all while trying to share with someone who you probably have never met your most intimate issues of what is of concern.
I think that is so well said in terms of what's happening emotionally, physically, and how to really sort of get into the mind and the heart of the patient and the potential injury that they may have suffered or that they're silently managing while you're going through the steps of caring for them.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
