MARPE
MARPE is a coaching company founded by a physician to empower healthcare professionals to be more impactful in their interactions, become agents of change, improve the clinician experience, and transform the healthcare sector by building their mental fitness.
Vision
To transform, inspire, and elevate the healthcare sector to be a beacon for well-being to all of society.
What is Mental Fitness?
So, what exactly is mental fitness, and why is it so important for healthcare professionals to have a high level of mental fitness?
Mental Fitness is very simply a person’s ability to be in command of their brain and how they respond, even in the most challenging moments, versus being under the control of the thoughts and emotions generated by their brain. It is not determined by a person’s intelligence, drive, desire to perform well, or commitment to excellence. Yet, the higher a person’s mental fitness, the better they will be able to utilize their greatest strengths.
Neuroscientific studies have revealed that that there are three primary neural networks in our brains. These are the default-mode network, the salient network, and the task-positive network. The default-mode network is where our brain goes to if left to its own devices. When our brain is in this mode it often wanders into thoughts that create anxiety, worry, and other negative emotions. In contrast, the task-positive network is the conglomeration of the neural pathways that allow us access to the areas of the brain where discovery, creativity, compassion, a sense of purpose, attention, focused decision-making, a clear plan for action, and more can take place. The salient network gives us the ability to recognize when our brain is wandering in the default mode and helps us to shift to the task-positive network. When under stress our brain tends to go into default mode, and when that stress becomes chronic it is very difficult for our brain to shift to the task-positive network. Mental fitness can counteract these effects. In building mental fitness, we strengthen our ability to shift to that task-positive network so that our brain can function more effectively.
MARPE's programs provide healthcare professionals with the tools and skills to progressively build their mental fitness. As mental fitness levels rise, we can see better listening and communication, which can improve patient experience; we can witness healthier conflict management and clearer identification of barriers to working efficiently, which can result in lower costs; clients can better recognize underlying beliefs that may interfere with how they approach their community’s health; and, they can attain more clarity and creativity in how they can deliver healthcare which may aid in advancing health equity. Thus, by providing our clients with the knowledge and skills to build their mental fitness, not only are we empowering healthcare professionals to improve the clinician experience, but we are also indirectly supporting the other four aims of the Quintuple Aim.
MARPE was founded by Dr. Cecilia Cruz who has over 20 years of clinical experience and has held various leadership roles. Our programs are backed by her knowledge and understanding of the challenges that healthcare professionals face giving her the ability to meet her clients exactly where they are. This allows for the development of deep trust so that individuals and teams can quickly uncover the barriers that negatively impact their ability to work effectively and efficiently while building their mental fitness, which augments their capacity to address and navigate those barriers.
Understanding that the health sector is currently amid a crisis of chronic stress and burnout, it is essential that healthcare professionals learn how to build their mental fitness and integrate those skills into their daily work. Over the course of time, the business of medicine has become progressively more complex. The demands and expectations placed on healthcare professionals have become increasingly challenging to achieve and are continuously changing. Yet, most healthcare professionals receive very little to no training on how to navigate the challenges and handle the constant change. Mental Fitness provides the mental flexibility and agility to be able to do this with more ease. Mental fitness is to the brain what physical fitness is to the body. It allows our brain to deal with a heavier weight (bigger challenge) with less effort.
We collaborate diligently with the organizations that partner with us to support their clinicians and teams in building their mental fitness and integrating mental fitness training practices that foster improved communication, less conflict, and stronger teamwork, all leading to an overall improved experience. Our goal is to create an organizational culture that embodies the well-being of its clinicians and where a strongly positive clinician experience is recognized as the key to successfully instituting the Quintuple Aim.
