Mindworks in Conversation with Dr. Mel Thacker
Our Tony Errichetti talks with Dr. Mel Thacker, an ENT surgeon, coach, and author, about learning that being successful and capable doesn’t make you immune to shame, anxiety, or self-doubt.
Mel shares her experience of growing up in an unstable home, finding safety in school and achievement, and carrying that need to prove her worth into medicine. She became a surgeon, but struggled with panic attacks in the operating room and the expectation that surgeons should hide their vulnerability.
Through writing her book, Scrubbing In, a personal account of her life and experiences in medicine, Mel began to understand those patterns and change how she responded to them.
In this conversation
- Learning from mistakes without treating them as proof that something is wrong with you.
- Caring for patients without becoming overwhelmed by their suffering.
- Speaking openly about struggles in a profession that rewards appearing invulnerable.
- Making decisions around your values instead of approval or achievement.
At its heart, this conversation is about recognizing how the ways we learned to cope can follow us into adulthood, even when we look successful. Medicine is the setting, but the questions Mel raises reach well beyond doctors.
Watch this episode of Mindworks in Conversation for an honest discussion about self-worth, vulnerability, and what can change when we begin to understand our own stories.
