Everything Changed Overnight
And nobody prepared you for how that would actually feel.
You spent years becoming a physician. Then suddenly, everything changed. The structure disappeared, and the stakes became real in ways no exam could prepare you for.
What you are feeling is not weakness. It is the reality of one of the hardest transitions in medicine.
This course was built for exactly this moment.
If You Just Started Residency, Or You Are About To, Keep Reading.
You are the physician now. Real people depend on your decisions. And somewhere between rounds and call nights, you may have started wondering if everyone else feels this overwhelmed too
This Course Is For You If:
You are navigating the transition into residency
You want practical strategies to protect your well being
You are struggling with imposter syndrome, stress, or isolation
You are a GME Program seeking structured onboarding support for trainees
Medicine Trains You To Save Lives. It Does Not Train You To Sustain Your Own.
The ACGME recognizes the transition into residency as one of the highest-risk periods for physician mental health. One day you are a student. The next, you are responsible for patient care.
Most support systems were not built by people who truly understand what that first year feels like.
And yet the support structures that exist, the mandatory check-ins, the employee assistance programs, the wellness seminars, were not designed by people who understand what it actually feels like to be inside that first year. They were designed for liability, not for you.
Here Is What No One Tells You Before You Start:
- Feeling incompetent does not mean you are. It means the role just became real.
- Burnout starts quietly. Irritability, then avoidance, then a numbness you cannot name.
- Residency is designed to isolate you. Isolation is one of the strongest predictors of burnout.
Testimonials
What physicians are saying......
I am honored to join a wonderful panel of 30+ speakers, leading experts, and medical trainees in the first virtual onboarding summit hosted by
@BuddiesSpace
on March 27-28, 2021. See you soon!
#MedTwitter #BuddiesSummit21 #Match21
@Alaa.elnajjar
I am honored to join a wonderful panel of 30+ speakers, leading experts, and medical trainees in the first virtual onboarding summit hosted by
@BuddiesSpace
on March 27-28, 2021. See you soon!
#MedTwitter #BuddiesSummit21 #Match21
@Alaa.elnajjar
I am honored to join a wonderful panel of 30+ speakers, leading experts, and medical trainees in the first virtual onboarding summit hosted by
@BuddiesSpace
on March 27-28, 2021. See you soon!
#MedTwitter #BuddiesSummit21 #Match21
@Alaa.elnajjar
Introducing: Everything Changed Overnight
A 6-Module Well-Being Series for New Residents and Incoming GME Trainees.
This is not a resilience workshop or a list of stress tips. It is an honest, evidence-informed guide to one of the most demanding transitions in medicine, built by a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Brown University who has sat with the research, worked with trainees, and burned out herself.
Six modules. Practical, honest, and built for the reality of a resident's life.
By The End Of This Course, You Will Have:
A framework for understanding what is actually happening to you right now, and why it is not a personal failure
Your personal baseline defined, so you can recognise early warning signs before they become a crisis
A small, real support system mapped out, the specific people and resources you need in your corner before a hard week hits
Practical strategies for protecting your sleep, nutrition, and energy that work on your worst days, not just your best ones
Language and tools for navigating bias, micro aggressions, and the identity shift that comes with becoming a physician
Permission and a plan to hold onto your relationships, your joy, and the parts of yourself that exist outside the hospital
A proactive mental health plan, with the resources already saved in your phone before you need them
Here Is Exactly What We Cover:
Everything Changed Overnight
- Why the UME-to-GME transition is one of the highest-risk windows for mental health strain
- The imposter cycle: what it is, why it happens, and why it is not a reflection of your ability
- How to reframe discomfort as data, not evidence of failure
Know Your Warning Signs Before You Need Them
- How burnout, anxiety, and depression actually show up in residency, early and quietly
- How to establish your personal baseline and recognize when you are drifting from it
- One proactive step to take before your first day that will matter on your hardest one
Who's in Your Corner?
- Why isolation is one of the strongest predictors of burnout and what to do about it.
- How to build a real support system across mentors, peers, family, and community.
- Navigating partnerships, parenting, and friendships through training.
- Family building in residency: fertility, pregnancy, adoption, and lactation
Your Body Keeps the Score
- What chronic sleep deprivation does to your cognition, mood, and clinical performance
- Sleep and energy strategies that work within a call schedule
- Nutrition on the go: practical, accessible, no perfection required
Holding On to Yourself
- How micro aggressions, implicit bias, and structural inequity affect wellbeing and what to do about it
- Navigating the identity shift from student to physician while staying grounded in who you are
- Micro-moments of meaning as evidence-supported buffers against burnout
Don't Forget Joy
- Why joy is not a luxury but a clinical asset with measurable protective effects
- How to protect what grounds you through an unrelenting training schedule
- A closing framework for carrying your whole self through residency, not just surviving it
Testimonials
What physicians are saying......
I am honored to join a wonderful panel of 30+ speakers, leading experts, and medical trainees in the first virtual onboarding summit hosted by
@BuddiesSpace
on March 27-28, 2021. See you soon!
#MedTwitter #BuddiesSummit21 #Match21
@Alaa.elnajjar
I am honored to join a wonderful panel of 30+ speakers, leading experts, and medical trainees in the first virtual onboarding summit hosted by
@BuddiesSpace
on March 27-28, 2021. See you soon!
#MedTwitter #BuddiesSummit21 #Match21
@Alaa.elnajjar
I am honored to join a wonderful panel of 30+ speakers, leading experts, and medical trainees in the first virtual onboarding summit hosted by
@BuddiesSpace
on March 27-28, 2021. See you soon!
#MedTwitter #BuddiesSummit21 #Match21
@Alaa.elnajjar
Who Built This, And Why It Matters
OUR FOUNDER
Dr. Alaa Elnajjar
Dr. Alaa Elnajjar is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University who experienced burnout firsthand. Through years of working with trainees and leading pilot programs at Brown and Lifespan, she built the course she wishes existed during her own transition into residency.
What You Get When You Enroll:
6 self-paced video modules covering every dimension of the UME-to-GME transition
Evidence-informed frameworks from AMA, ACGME, and the lived experience of physicians who have been there
A personal baseline framework and support system mapping tool
Access to the BuddieSpace community of physicians navigating the same transition
Lifetime access to all course materials
Your Investment
There is no perfect time to prioritize your wellbeing. But there is a best time. It is before you need it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions You Might Have:
I am already a few weeks in. Is it too late?
Not at all. The challenges this course addresses do not disappear after orientation week. This material is directly relevant wherever you are in your first year.
I do not have time for anything else.
This course was built for people with no time. The modules are self-paced. You move at the speed your schedule allows.
Is this therapy? Do I need to be struggling?
This is not therapy. It is education and preparation. The residents who benefit most are the ones who access this before they need it, not after.
I am a program director. Can I use this for my trainees?
Yes. This course was designed to complement GME onboarding and can be used as a standalone resource for incoming residents. Reach out directly for institutional or cohort access [email protected].
What if I enroll and it is not right for me?
We are confident that if you show up, do the work, and implement what we teach, you'll leave this program with the right support you need. But we also understand this is an investment. Here's our promise to you: If after Week 2, you feel this program isn't what you need, reach out to us, and we'll refund your full investment. No questions. No hassle.
You Did Not Go Into Medicine To Lose Yourself In It.
Residency will stretch you. And it is possible to come through it genuinely grounded in who you are and why you chose this. But that does not happen by accident.
This course is that decision.