Chris and Dave invite their old pal Nikhil Parekh MD, to join them to talk about their past work on Whole Health for Veterans Affairs (VA) and for ideas for the future of Whole Health work now that they are all no longer working at the VA. Nikhil is trained in Occupational & Environmental Medicine and is currently working with the University of Michigan. They share memories of teaching together and working to create the transformation of Whole Health at the VA. Whole Health was first started in 2011 through the national VA Office of Patient Centered Care & Cultural Transformation. Whole Health is the VA’s version of holistic, integrative care and self-care program for veterans and VA staff. Nikhil and Dave worked as Whole Health Education Champions and Chris worked on the contractor side, helping to develop and teach Whole Health classes to VA staff, alongside Education Champions like Nikhil and Dave.
Whole Health, the VA, and all federal employees, have been affected by changes in US government – a sudden shift with the new administration that led to Dave and Nikhil both leaving the VA. Dave describes how it felt like an instant creation of a hostile work environment with random, demanding, and unclear emails from DOGE (Department of Government “Efficiency”), and confusing communication coming down to leadership and from leadership to staff. Dave describes sitting in on review meetings where they had to comb through existing educational materials and remove suddenly censored words such as “women,” “female,” “trauma,” “diversity,” “Native American,” and “sociocultural,” to name just a few words.
They review Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief: depression, anger, denial, bargaining, and acceptance, and speak about their personal experiences of the grief of no longer being part of the transformational Whole Health program.
Chris asks Nikhil what “becoming a true human” means to him
“But then I realized that there was a life outside of the VA and it’s okay to pivot and realize you are greater than that. I think no matter what struggle anyone listens to this podcast is going through, you are greater than that struggle, especially you maintain your integrity, maintain your ethics, maintain your value system, because that is going to carry you through whatever personal and professional challenges you’re having in your life.“
“And so I say leaving the VA made me human. And it was actually, I will say this, like a weight coming off me the day I dropped off. I literally, people were checking in on me. was like, I’ve never been happier. I’m so happy to be shed of this. And, and I do miss, you know, I miss the people I worked with. miss the veterans. I miss it tremendously. But at the same time, it was destroying me instead of making me become human.”
Watch or listen to the full episode below:
Being Fully Human 