Graduate Medical Education Well-Being
Caring for our residents and fellows.
When choosing a residency or fellowship program, you’re undoubtedly looking to learn from experts who will help you gain skills and meet your professional goals. Our programs have that, to be sure. But we also fulfill our system-wide obligation to support the well-being of everyone on our teams — including our residents and fellows. We appreciate you as more than the knowledge and skills you bring to your specialty. You’re a human, first and foremost, with interests, hopes, relationships and purpose beyond the professional space. So, we don't wait until you’re burned out and struggling. We make space for you to actually be well.
Our support of your well-being spans multiple domains of life — emotional, environmental, financial, physical, social and spiritual. Your well-being is not only about the choices you make, but your environment. Well-being also:
- Requires proactive attention and is one of the core competencies.
- Is critical to your development as a competent, caring, resilient provider.
- Enables you to retain your joy in medicine while managing the ups and downs of everyday life.
- Requires everyone on the team to attend to their own needs and be aware of how the way we care of ourselves impacts our ability to care for our patients and colleagues, for better and worse.
Let’s try to do more than survive. Let's thrive.
A variety of well-being resources are available to all residents and fellows, free of charge. Throughout the year, you’ll be able to take advantage of a range of programming, informational and educational resources, and confidential mental health consultations. We are focused on hearing what you need and doing our best to meet those needs in creative and holistic ways. Our intersectional initiatives are designed to support your emotional, financial, physical, social, spiritual and environmental well-being.
About Kelly R. Shaw, PsyD
Dr. Kelly Shaw is a licensed clinical psychologist and Program Director for Graduate Medical Education Well-Being at Geisinger. She specializes in adult learner mental health and the developmental needs of learners across the lifespan, with interests in values-led self-care and coping , mindful self-compassion and community-based models of suicide prevention.
Her primary role at Geisinger is to support residents’ and fellows’ well-being through:
- 1:1 learner consultations about personal, work or other mental health concerns and help connecting them to relevant resources
- Initiatives aimed at community-supported well-being
- Consultation with residency and fellowship programs to better meet learners’ needs as individuals as groups
- Support of Geisinger initiatives that encourage team members’ well-being throughout their careers
A well-being consultation with Dr. Shaw isn’t considered counseling, although discussions are private and confidential (with a few exceptions related to risk of harm to self or others). We encourage residents and fellows to schedule a virtual or in-person consultation with Dr. Shaw to learn more about resources for their unique needs. Consultations are free of charge.
We can also connect residents and fellows to the wider Geisinger network of benefits and resources, including the Employee Assistance Program, the Center for Well-Being, and other community and mental health resources on and off-campus.
Questions? Current and incoming fellows are welcome to contact Dr. Shaw at krshaw1@geisinger.edu.
