Narrative Medicine with Kayla Branstetter

In today's episode, host Augustine sits down with Kayla Branstetter — English instructor, TEDx speaker, doctoral candidate in healthcare education, and author of the forthcoming book Don't Be an Athena — for a conversation that sits right at the intersection of storytelling, reproductive trauma, and the future of patient-centered care.

Kayla's work in narrative medicine is a beautiful reminder that behind every chart, every lab result, and every clinical encounter is a human being with a story that deserves to be heard. And for midwives and birth workers who already know this in their bones — this episode gives you the language, the research, and the tools to do it even better.

In this episode we cover:

• What narrative medicine actually is — and why it's been around for centuries, we're just now naming it
• Kayla's personal journey through her mother's teen pregnancy, her own infertility and miscarriage, and how storytelling found her
• How a patient's chart tells a story — and what we miss when we only look at the numbers
• The growing mistrust between the medical community and patients — and what narrative medicine offers as a bridge
• How providers can support traumatized clients after unwished-for birth outcomes — including the power of offering writing as an alternative to talking
• Obstetric violence, medical gaslighting, and what patients can actually do — from documenting their experience to filing grievances and amending their own medical records
• How a midwife or doula can be a powerful patient advocate in the aftermath of trauma
• Vicarious and secondary trauma in providers — and how narrative medicine workshops create space for clinicians to reflect and heal
• The myth of Medusa and Athena — and why Kayla's book asks us to stop turning survivors into monsters
• Why medical humanities is on the rise — and the medical school built next to an art museum that's changing how future doctors are trained

Resources & Links:

📖 Pre-order Don't Be an Athena by Kayla Branstetter — available July 20th on Amazon and in independent bookstores
🌐 Follow Kayla: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn — search Kayla Branstetter
🎤 Watch Kayla's TEDx Talk on narrative medicine and reproductive trauma
🏡 Join our community: skool.com/midwiferywisdom