Dr. Angela Cortal, N.D.

Posting will be on hiatus for a few weeks while I pursue one of my passions- world travel! (With some continuing education mixed in of course.) I will look forward to checking in with you all when I return. Until then, be well!

Happy Rescue Dog Friday! Levi is giving E.T. vibes in his cozy blankie today- looking forward to some weekend relaxation!

Your future self is depending on you to make good choices now! If you’re feeling the stress and strain of day to day life continue to build, please consider joining my Restorative Embodiment Conference and Retreat in Tuscany, in October 2025. Link in comments. Future you will thank you!

It’s a beautiful Friday to go out and explore! I hope you find something interesting to dig your snoot into this weekend. (Frank and Levi recommend stinky dead things, but that is a very personal preference!) 🤣

Mr. Frank and his teefs are here to wish you Happy Friday! We hope you have some doggone awesome plans for the weekend.

If you’re a physician looking to really amp up your injecting skills in no time, please consider joining my next Prolotherapy Medical Brigade coming in September 2024. The prolotherapy medical brigade is really one-of-a-kind. Students get to deep-dive into prolotherapy and immediately use it on patients - all day, every day - for multiple days in a row. You can put your skyrocketed proficiency into practice as soon as you return to your office! Link in comments.

I hope you are spending your long weekend surrounded by folks you love! For me today it's these fluffy goofballs. Happy Friday!

Some good advice for a Monday morning! I hope you find some ways to be kind to yourself this week.

Happy Friday! I hope you have lots of squirrels outside of your window to keep you happy today! (Or some other exciting thing that keeps your attention and makes you smile.) 😊

Today seems like a good day for a reminder that self care is really important! (Hey, it can’t just be dog photos and travel shots all the time!)

Physician burnout is at an all time high, and that’s no secret.

Clinicians who care for seriously ill patients face a high risk for diminished personal well-being, including burnout, moral distress, and compassion fatigue.

All physicians can be at risk for burnout as a result of both work and personal characteristics. Work factors include work overload (eg, large patient volumes, insufficient resources, or feeling poorly managed), lack of control over one's work environment, having the bulk of one's time at work spent on tasks inconsistent with one's career goals, and high levels of work-home interference.

The consequences of burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral distress are profound and range from personal crisis to suboptimal patient care practices.

This info is taken from an article titled "Caring for oneself to care for others: physicians and their self-care", by Sandra Sanchez-Reilly, MD, MSc et al. You can find a link to my blog post and the full article in the comments, and it includes some strategies for how to cope!

And if self care is something that you have some room for improvement on, consider joining my Restorative Embodiment Retreat in Tuscany in October 2025. Link to full details in comments.

Happy Friday! With the warm temps expected this weekend, how do you plan to stay cool? Frank and Levi's preferred method is definitely the river!

I got told by one of my patients yesterday that my outfit matched the rhododendrons outside the office, and I'm taking that as a compliment! The blooms this time of year are just so pretty. Oregon is a pretty great place to live. 🌺🌞😊

It's pretty much a given that whenever I travel, there will be pictures of me with the local vegetation- I'm drawn to all things planty! I especially enjoy the variegated ones- pinks and purples are my favorites. How about the fenestrations on this giant Monstera though? What is making you smile this Tuesday morning?

Levi is happy to be cuddled up under his blankies on this chilly, dreary Friday! Have a cozy weekend everyone!

Our last Florida adventure was to the Locahatchee Wildlife Refuge. It's part of the Great Florida Birding Trail (and had a butterfly garden). I lost count of how many birds we identified, but four kinds of herons, two egrets, a stork and a handful of water birds were among them. And since it's part of the Everglades swamps, of course more gators! (This time much closer and more personal!)

Yesterday we visited a Loggerhead Turtle rehab facility. It was so cool to see these guys up close, but also a bit sad. You can see the larger one (second photo) is missing part of his flipper. This is usually due to getting caught in fishing line or nets.

I am definitely enjoying the wildlife, but also learning a lot at the AOAPRM conference. Excited to bring back new information and skills!

It's Friday! Normally that would mean a dog photo, but today we are going to celebrate some of Florida's wildlife instead.

This part of Florida is overrun with feral Muscovy ducks, and they are hilarious! Other highlights have been manatees (tannish blob lower left) and alligators (greenish lumpy blob, upper right). You'll have to use your imagination a little bit, but they were pretty impressive IRL!

A very tropical end to my first conference day, a pre-workshop course on musculoskeletal ultrasound. Plus finding a new amazing kombucha, a Florida-local brand 221BC was a great bonus. Berry hibiscus, great for this hot weather!

I’ve criss-crossed from one corner of the country to another! We landed in Miami on Monday morning, and now over to Naples for the AOAPRM conference. These plants were growing at our BNB in Miami Beach- aren’t they STUNNING? If you see me at the conference, come say hello!

It’s a busy couple weeks of continuing education and conferences for me! Last week I took my second Fascial Counterstrain course, focusing on vein and lymph treatments (for vascular issues, edema, etc.) in Langley, WA. The clouds were absolutely perfect at Puget Sound that day! I’m so excited to be able to learn new treatment modalities to offer my patients.

I promised dog photos on Fridays, and I am a woman of my word. Handsome Frankie says "Happy Friday!"

I read a very concerning article recently about physician burnout and the dire statics that can be associated with it. (Full article is available on my blog- link in comments.)

One thing is painfully clear- change needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. We can all agree that the system is broken... but who is responsible for changing it?

"A broken system is not an excuse to not care for ourselves. It is a call to action. Physicians should consider a critical shift in thinking — one that prioritizes caring for oneself as an effective means of caring for others."

The need for this prioritization of self care is one of the many reasons why I am hosting my Restorative Embodiment Retreat. If your life is feeling increasingly out of control, or you are simply in need of a reset, please consider joining me. Now is the time.

Does anyone else have a spectacular item of clothing or an accessory that makes you feel fancy and empowered? For me, it’s these pants. I can tackle just about anything when I’m clothed in these fantastic pants.

Let’s all put on our power pants and tackle the week! Happy Monday!

Happy Friday! Fridays are for fun, and at my house that means dogs! Please enjoy this photo of me with my two rescue pups: Levi (on the left with the bat ears) and Frank (with the giant smile). I think this photo captures their personalities perfectly. Levi is giving "tolerant but skeptical" and Frank is all in and just ready for some loves and his next big adventure.

Enjoy your weekend! Do something that makes you smile today! (Fingers crossed that you get to pet some dogs.)

What are you doing to take care of yourself on this gorgeous, sunny afternoon?

Thank you to all who joined my retreat Q&A session last Sunday! There was lots of good information shared- if you still have questions you can find all the details on my website (link in comments).

The villa where we will be staying is truly gorgeous- I'm very much looking forward to this reset. If you find yourself in need of a reset as well, consider joining me!

"According to the American Counseling Association (ACA), secondhand, or vicarious, trauma is a condition that affects many people who interact with those who have experienced a traumatic event. When those in helping professions hear clients talk about what they experienced and see their physical reaction to the experiences, they may also begin to feel the effects of trauma. In some cases, the condition can be a cumulative effect from hearing multiple accounts in their daily work...

Unchecked, secondhand trauma can be debilitating, like the emotional numbing associated with compassion fatigue. When those in helping professions see a great demand for their services, they may ignore signs of their own trauma to serve others."
(This is from an article titled Resource Guide for Coping with Secondhand Trauma. You can find a link to the full article in the comments.)

Some of the common symptoms of secondhand trauma include: hopelessness, helplessness, hypervigilance, minimizing, chronic exhaustion, avoidance, dissociation/ numbing, guilt, fear, anger, and cynicism. Some common coping strategies are: denial, self-distraction, venting, behavioral disengagement, and substance use.

I don't know about you, but none of these sound like good, healthy strategies to me!

Addressing secondary trauma necessitates preventive and interventional strategies, incorporating the individual and their community context- which is why I am inviting you to join me at my Restorative Embodiment Retreat in Tuscany in 2025. (I intentionally planned far out in the future, so all my busy professional colleagues can prioritize this retreat in their calendar.)

Link to the full retreat details in comments. Join me and learn to develop neurologic resilience and metabolize stress responses in healthy ways!

This Sunday I will be answering questions about my Restorative Embodiment Retreat- live on Zoom at 10:00am PST! (Link in comments.)

Anyone who is interested can log on and ask me their questions, and I'll answer them live during our session.

The idea for this retreat was hatched when I recently had the opportunity to meet with a Naturopathic Doctor colleague who lives in Italy. She runs retreats in the Tuscany area, focused on good food and introducing retreat visitors to all the many wonderful things Tuscany has to offer (I recently visited for the first time last December, and can personally vouch for having experienced many of those things!).

We got to talking. One thing led to another (and I just can't stop myself from making new plans, especially if they involve fun and travel). So now I'm bringing this adventure into fruition!

I'm aiming to blend part continuing education (so everyone attending should be open to learning) with part low-key experiential learning (learning with our bodies, not just our minds).

All with the backdrop of gorgeous surroundings, good food, good company, and some fun day-trips sprinkled in.

This is one you don't want to miss!