Pick a coach

Cecile’s coaching work allows her to experience the greatness, wonder, and discovery inherent in our humanity daily.   

In her coaching practice, Cecile works with healthcare professionals and teams across North America, hosting conversations that spark healthy change in healthcare. Cecile’s work is focused on supporting physicians in their clinical and leadership work.   

Her specific areas of interest are:   

• Career coaching   
• Interpersonal/communication coaching   
• Life/wellness coaching   
• Organizational/leadership coaching   

Cecile is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with credentials from the International Coaching Federation and the European Mentor Coaching Council in individual and team coaching. As an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University, she imparts her knowledge in individual, group, and team coaching skills at the graduate level. She is pursuing a master's degree in executive and organizational coaching at Royal Roads University, adding to her medical degree from the University of Stellenbosch.   

To contact Cecile:   

Email: cecile@cruxcoaching.ca   

Phone: 250-919-6529   

Website: cruxcoaching.ca

"If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you are an excellent leader." - Dolly Parton

I originally studied medicine at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and trained in General Surgery. Subsequently, working for the Medical Protection Society in London, UK and the CMPA, gathering over 12 years of experience in managing and helping physicians going through medicolegal issues. These included complaints, college matters, workplace behaviour issues, as well as medical malpractice. In 2017, I was a founding member of the set-up and director of CMPA’s subsidiary, Saegis, developing workshops in communication skills, workplace culture and teamwork to help physicians and their teams. I am well versed in the various processes that physicians can find themselves in.  

With this background, I am now a full-time coach with the philosophy of supporting others and building them to be the best they can be, with a straightforward and compassionate approach. I leverage up-to-date thinking to help individuals reframe their situation and build additional skills to be successful in their roles and teams. I am currently working across Canada in a number of health authorities, hospitals and medical associations.  

Tom’s coaching areas:

• Interpersonal/communication  
• Organizational/leadership  
• Professional conduct/civility  

I am additionally trained in delivering the EQi 2.0 and EQ 360 assessment tools for emotional intelligence to objectively find areas of strength and growth to enhance communication and intrapersonal relationships. I also coach on the Medical Council of Canada 360 tool.  

To contact Tom:

Email: tomdrlloyd@gmail.com

Wendy Pentland is an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach (PCC) who has provided executive and life coaching services since 2004 to over 600 professionals and executives internationally in the private and public sectors. Over the past 15 years physician coaching has become the major focus of her practice. In addition to coaching, her 35-year career includes occupational therapy clinician, health care administrator, tenured university professor, researcher and consultant.  

Wendy’s purpose as a coach is to assist clients to design and live full and deeply satisfying lives. She provides coaching services to clients who want their lives to be different, to more positively impact the world around them, or who have reached a professional or personal turning point.   

Typical issues that physicians bring to coaching with her include:   

• Burnout and work-life integration to optimize effectiveness, balance, health and fulfillment   
• Restoring life meaning and fulfillment;
• Managing stress/increasing resilience and well-being;  
• Dealing with the demands and impacts of system challenges;  
• Feeling like an imposter /lacking self-confidence  
• Personal and/or professional change and transitions  
• Leadership development/effectiveness  
• Interpersonal effectiveness, including communication, self-awareness, leadership and managing difficult relationships  

She also has considerable expertise coaching physician clients who have been advised or mandated by a third party (e.g. the hospital, legal counsel, university, professional or regulatory body) to address communication, collaboration or professionalism issues.   

In addition to physicians who self-refer to work with her, examples of Wendy’s physician coaching experience with related organizations include: Certified Coach with the Canadian College of Health Leaders (LEADS Leadership in a Caring Environment); Communication/Professionalism Coach with College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; Accredited Provider of Coaching Services with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC; Coaching services provided to the Ontario Medical Association Physician Health Program (OMA PHP); as well as the provision of coaching services to various Canadian academic medical organizations.   

Wendy’s approach is grounded in the belief that people are motivated primarily by two desires; to fulfill their own potential and to make a meaningful contribution. Throughout her career, she has observed people frequently struggling to satisfy these two desires because they govern themselves with beliefs and fictions that hold them back and blind them to what may be greater possibilities.   

As a Coach, Wendy helps physician clients recognize their limiting beliefs, recognize and manage those aspects of their medical training and the mindsets it cultivated that may be undermining their well-being and fulfillment, identify their strengths, clarify what is important to them, get unstuck and move forward. Coaching is a process that will lead you to increased self-awareness, expanded options and choices, greater confidence and self-trust, and make lasting changes that will lead to improved well-being, personal and professional effectiveness and success.   

To contact Wendy:

Email: wendypentland@gmail.com   

Website: wendypentland.com   

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/wendypentland

A sustainability-driven, ICF-Accredited global executive coach & organizational strategist, Mary-Ellen partners with organizations and their talent to elevate leadership, resilience and communication. She puts clients at ease with her straight up, insightful and compassionate approach to achieve greater success, fulfillment and impact, using values to access resiliency and as a compass for communication and decision making.   

Physician burnout & leadership coaching has been a unique area of expertise for over a decade. Mary-Ellen was invited to be one of four coaches for the Schulich Executive Education Centre’s Physician Leadership Development Program. She was also the lead coach for a capacity-building initiative that successfully addressed Canada’s family physician shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic.    

Mary-Ellen works with physicians of all specialties and career stages within hospital setting, community or private practice in urban and rural settings encompassing:

• Organizational and leadership
• Professional conduct and civility
• Career transition and promotion
• Interpersonal and communication
• Life and wellness
• Women and Newcomers
• Coaching ADHD

Certified to deliver The Leadership Circle Profile™ Self / 360 Assessment, she is trained in Organization & Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) Fundamentals and Mental Health & Resilience for Healthcare Workers.  Mary-Ellen is tuned into diversity, equity and inclusion as a Sensitivity Trainer for Morneau Shepell. She integrates her knowledge from teaching Leadership & Teamwork, Presentation Skills, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.    

Mary-Ellen completed an MBA in Marketing & Entrepreneurial Studies and a BA in Economics & Psychology. She enjoys working with and mentoring international public relations / corporate communications students on their internships. Follow on X (Twitter) @msmellen and learn more at maryellenhynd.com.

Cinnie Noble is based in Toronto, Canada and is a former medical social worker and lawyer. She has a Master of Law in Dispute Resolution and is a Chartered Mediator and Professional Certified Coach.   

Cinnie undertook coach training in 1999 when she acknowledged a gap in the coaching field regarding an individualized process for clients who want to strengthen their conflict competence. She conducted extensive research that ultimately led to the development of a unique evidence-based model based on conflict management, coaching and neuroscience principles. The framework Cinnie created supports clients wanting to increase their confidence, skills, and ability to effectively cope with and engage in conflict and difficult conversations - whether they are the initiator or, on the receiving end of challenging communications. Cinnie’s clients are primarily professionals (doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants) and leaders in private and public sector organizations.   

She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1990 for her ground-breaking work in the travel industry on behalf of people with disabilities and she is the recent recipient of the International Coaching Federation Lifetime Achievement Award (Toronto, 2024). Cinnie is the author of four books - two of which are specifically devoted to conflict management coaching: Conflict Mastery: Questions to Guide You and Conflict Management Coaching: The CINERGY™ Model.   

More on Cinnie may be found at cinergycoaching.com.

Willa is a retired family physician and medical educator who received coaching credentials at Royal Roads University in 2017. As a professional certified coach (PCC), her practice focuses solely on physicians and medical learners.  

Willa is experienced in helping physicians navigate professional and personal harmony. Using a strengths-based approach, Willa creates a safe, confidential environment for clients to explore and reflect on past successes which can help the physician to become empowered to effectively deal with burnout and systemic pressures. She has had experience with a wide range of physician issues- leadership challenges, academic failure, unprofessional conduct and interpersonal conflict.  

Coaching can be empowering and is forward-looking and action-oriented. In a non-judgmental coaching session, physicians can be freed from some of the expectations for perfection found in the medical cultural environment.  

Physician wellness has been a career-long passion of Willa’s. She looks forward to working with any physician who is engaged in the coaching process and feels we are a good “fit.”

Dr. Murray Erlich is a retired psychiatrist. Physicians have been the vast majority of his clientele for over 15 years, first as a psychiatrist and now as a life coach. Having previously been a cognitive behaviour therapist, he is able to go to places of depth with his coaching clients as they work to improve themselves and their lives.   

Dr. Erlich is very experienced at working with physicians on all kinds of concerns, including wellness and work-life balance, interpersonal skills including healthy assertiveness and healthy boundaries, professional conduct concerns, leadership growth, career decisions, healthy self-esteem and self-care, and relationship issues.  

He is experienced at working with doctors at all stages of their careers, from medical school right through to retirement. He has worked with everyone from first-year medical students to doctors in demanding positions of institutional responsibility. Having been a physician himself, he understands both the joys and challenges of medical practice and the complexities and challenges of our medical system. Having left medicine because of burnout, he knows from personal experience how to grow from adversity and find joy again.   

He believes in helping his clients develop their own strong “inner coach”, that inner voice of wisdom that supports us and helps us make decisions that fit with our values and are true to our authentic selves. He believes that doctors can live lives of joy and fulfillment, for their own sake and subsequently for the benefit of their patients and others in their lives.

Ms. Mei Huang is an experienced executive coach with extensive expertise in coaching physicians and physician leaders. Since 2020, she has been a highly sought-after coach for the professional coaching program at the New Brunswick Medical Society, successfully guiding dozens of physicians and physician leaders.   

Mei received her specialized training in coaching from the College of Executive Coaching in 2016. She holds the designation of Advanced Certified Personal & Executive Coach and maintains her membership in good standing with the International Coach Federation.   

In addition to her coaching credentials, Mei holds a master’s in counselling psychology from the University of New Brunswick and has 17 years of experience as a Licensed Counselling Therapist.   

Mei employs an evidence-based, integrative, and collaborative approach, tailoring her methods to each client’s unique goals and needs.   

Her areas of expertise include:   

• Organizational/leadership: Developing leadership skills, building leadership confidence and enhancing leadership presence to advance to the next level
• Interpersonal/communication: Enhancing skills for managing difficult but essential conversations, resolving interpersonal conflicts, and providing effective feedback
• Life/wellness: Developing mindset, skills/habits, and structures necessary for improving work/life balance, personal well-being, resilience, and life satisfaction
• Career: Providing guidance and ongoing support for navigating the emotional, psychological, logistical, and operational challenges of a successful career transition

Mei is fully bilingual in English and Mandarin and possesses a rich bicultural background. She brings a wealth of life experience and offers a compassionate, balanced perspective, integrating insights from both Western scientific discoveries and Eastern wisdom traditions.

To contact Mei:

Email: mei@northernstarexecutivecoaching.com 

Website: http://northernstarexecutivecoaching.com

Virginia retired from community palliative medicine in Ottawa in 2014 after a 25-year medical career. She’s now well into her ‘second act’ as a wellness coach for physicians. Virginia became a certified coach in 2019 and maintains both ICF (International Coaching Federation) and NBHWC (National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching) credentials. She is a charter member of the Canadian Physician Coaches Network.   

Viriginia’s coaching area of focus is quality of life and well-being. Achieving better well-being can look like working on the basics of sleep, stress management, movement, nutrition, social connection and play, or addressing burnout, life and career transitions, and personal health concerns. Improving one’s well-being opens the door to better quality of life and performance at work.   

As a physician, she has first-hand experience of medical culture and the ‘hidden curriculum’ that shapes our mindsets. This often intertwines with tendencies for self-sacrifice, a need to excel, feeling responsible for any negative patient outcomes, and a harsh inner critic. As a coach, Virginia helps physicians explore the aspects of that mindset that no longer serve and empower the development of one that enables thriving.   

‘The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change’. Carl Rogers  

When, as physicians, we accept who we actually are: perfectly imperfect humans, often struggling and yet capable of finding joy, meaning and purpose, change becomes possible.

Michelle DeGroot is accredited through the International Federation Coaching as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC). Michelle’s coaching approach creates a safe space for individuals to gain insight into their specific professional and personal goals guided by holistic considerations. Michelle is a member of the T’kemlups te Secwepemc, a First Nation Community in the interior of BC and she has devoted her career to support the health and well-being of Indigenous people.   

Michelle coaches for various organizations, agencies and companies in health, human resources, post-secondary and governments (federal, provincial and First Nation). Her experience in taking a coaching approach within her own organizational team and with colleagues supports her belief that a proactive approach to finding one’s own solutions is rewarding and helps to build confidence. Areas of coaching include career, interpersonal/communication, life/wellness, organizational/leadership, and professional conduct/civility.  

Michelle has developed and applied leadership and professional skills for 25 years while working on many transformative initiatives. For the last 19 years, it has been specifically in the health and wellness field. While working for Indigenous non-profits, her skill development included relationship building, strategic and tactical planning, team building, organizational development (within one organization and amongst partners including governments, First Nations, health authorities and other non-profit organizations) and coaching. She also has her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science from the Faculty of Health, both from Simon Fraser University. 

Angie Hong’s areas of coaching competence and expertise are the following:   

Wellness/lifestyle

In addition to Angie’s coaching training, she has a decade of experience with American Board Certification in Obesity Medicine. This has naturally expanded her expertise in wellness and healthy lifestyle, including stress management and other aspects of general well-being. Angie incorporates aspects of mindfulness and acceptance into her coaching as is appropriate for the client’s comfort and needs.   

Leadership LEADS healthcare

Angie is soon to be certified “Global LEADS Healthcare Facilitator” and is thus able to facilitate in these domains of coaching. Angie’s expertise is in coaching leaders in the L - “leads self” and E - “engage others” which are the aspects of LEADS that focus on emotional intelligence, self-awareness and awareness of others. Many healthcare leaders are not specifically trained in these foundational domains and coaching will focus on strengthening and learning the self-management skills for effective leadership. Angie is currently coaching nursing leaders across Canada, many of whom have transitioned from clinical to leadership roles in their organizations.

Since 2006, Marion has been a Leadership Development Coach with a focus on the unique challenges faced by physicians in the Canadian healthcare sector.  She earned her Professional Certified Coach status (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) in 2014.   Marion also holds a BAS Honours in Marketing from York University and a Masters Certificate in Organization Development from CODI. She has extensive experience supporting leadership development programs for organizations such as Schulich Executive Education Centre, Rotman School of Management, and various health institutions.    

Marion provides the context to integrate best practices with real-life challenges.  She is known for her kind yet direct manner and she fosters a safe environment to explore difficult issues. She works with leaders at every stage of their careers to draw out their strengths and build their skills so that they can address a variety of complex challenges that they face.  A typical engagement will include aspects of emotional intelligence, priority management, interpersonal communications, high-performance mindsets, personal wellness, burnout and confidence building, as well as strategies to enhance professional conduct and civility in the workplace.     

In her practice, Marion has identified that the demands on the individual physician have grown significantly in the last few years. Marion creates a supportive environment to clarify what is reasonable and possible and then acts as a thought partner to develop strategies to communicate reasonable expectations.     

Marion believes that effective leadership is critical to creating and maintaining a respective, inclusive and civil workplace.

Robert Gordon has been coaching adults with ADHD since 2008, with a specialty in serving high-achieving, high-potential professionals. As a person living with ADHD himself, he is sharply aware of the challenges associated with this condition.   

Robert offers tools and strategies to gain control over the most frustrating challenges associated with ADHD, all of which can have significant negative personal, family and professional consequences:   

• Difficulty with focus and attention: struggles with sustaining concentration on complex tasks, completing projects without close supervision, maintaining attention during conversations;  
• Difficulties with executive functioning: organization, planning, problem-solving and decision-making can be impaired, affecting daily life and limiting long-term goals. Procrastination and Poor Time Management: feeling unable to organize oneself within time effectively, persistently avoiding or delaying the initiation of tasks until the last minute. Missed deadlines, backlogs and a chronic sense of overwhelm are common;   
• Impulsivity: speaking without thinking, interrupting, making hasty decisions, failing to consider the consequences of one’s actions. Impulsivity can also lead to risky behaviours, substance abuse and impulsive spending;   
• Social challenges: Social interactions can be challenging due to emotional sensitivity, irritability, inattentiveness, and difficulty reading social cues.   
• Low self-esteem: Repeated struggles in various aspects of life can erode self-esteem and self-confidence, leading to feelings of inadequacy.   

While recognizing ADHD as a profound neurodevelopmental disorder, Robert supports clients with a mindfulness-based approach that encourages curiosity, self-compassion, and a focus on building on strength and viewing every challenge as an opportunity.

Judi Platt is committed to helping people make and sustain positive changes in their lives.  

Judi has been able to leverage over 50 years of work experience with coaching, to be able to offer clients a pragmatic process to drive success and change. Judi is a founding member of The Physician Coach Network and was an active leader and board member for years.  

Judi graduated from The York Regional School of Nursing in 1973 and has been registered with the College of Nurses since then. Her first job was in the Mental Health field. Judi obtained a diploma in counselling in 1995, she then attended the Adler Professional Coach Program in 2015.  In 2001, Judi was certified as an Addiction Registered Nurse (CARN).  

Judi was the first clinical person hired by Dr. Michael Kaufmann when he began to expand the Physician Health Program (PHP) in 1998. Judi worked at the PHP for 25 years. Other past work experience includes hospital-based mental health and addiction services and a private practice that focused on young adults with substance use disorders.   

Judi is currently semi-retired. She has a private coaching practice where she sees clients for change management, professionalism, wellness, work-life balance and fulfilment as well as substance use issues and diagnosed substance use disorders (both before and after treatment).  

Judi also provides weekly consultation services to the Nurses Health Program and the Ontario Pharmacy Health Program. 

Judi is married to her best friend and is the proud mother of two adult daughters and grandmother to four spectacular grandchildren. Judi finds joy in spending time with her family. She loves to cook, create and travel.