Having faced and overcome massive adversity, Melbourne-based Dr. Olivia Ong, also known as the Heart Centred Doctor, has had life experiences most of us will never face. Having beat these odds, Olivia is well equipped to help others excel in their own worldly pursuits. Here we sit down and chat with Olivia about her life, career and the obstacles that have shaped her into the person she is today.
Auspreneur: Thanks again for taking the time to do this with us. First things first – I am sure our readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Olivia: In the months before my accident, my life seemed perfect. I was happily married, had a successful career, and was surrounded by beautiful friends and colleagues. But something didn’t feel right.
I’d lost heart in my career. My highly analytical job demanded that I be ‘switched on’ all the time. I was forever calling on my left brain for critical thinking and my heart yearned for creativity.
I felt stuck and lifeless. Without the support I needed from the healthcare system, I felt invisible. I became jaded about medicine. And without the passion that used to drive me, I felt disconnected from myself. But I pushed the feelings aside and operated on autopilot.
I could have died feeling that way—and I almost did.
In late 2008, I was walking to work after a lunch break when I was suddenly flung up into the sky. I’d been hit by a car travelling 60 kilometres an hour.
I landed with a heavy thud and, after the initial shock was over, I realised I couldn’t feel my legs. I’d smashed my L1 and L2 vertebrae.
I was raced to the hospital where I underwent emergency spinal surgery. But the damage was done. I’d become a paraplegic, paralysed from my waist down. I’d lost the use of my legs and couldn’t control my bladder or bowel.
I spent months in an acute Spinal Unit and underwent inpatient rehabilitation, slowly regaining the use of my left leg, though my right remained paralysed.
I was told that was as good as it would get. I would be wheelchair-bound for life.
One night two years later, I was lying in bed wondering how drastically my life had changed, how much I’d lost. But with sharp awareness, I realised my intuition was guiding me. I would go to San Diego, California, and attend the Project Walk Recovery Centre. I would learn to walk again.
This time, I listened to my intuition. My husband and I moved to the US, where I spent 5 hours every day retraining my body and learning to walk with aids.
When I returned to Melbourne, I started a private practice in rehabilitation and pain medicine. With my experience, I was in a stronger position, able to practice greater empathy towards my patients and ready to listen to my intuition. I was starting to get into the heart centeredness of medicine.
But I could sense the old feelings of unworthiness creeping back into my life. Dealing with my injury, full-time work, study, and motherhood, my body gave up. I couldn’t get out of bed. I was losing heart in medicine again and I felt lost. I took two months off, thinking rest and recuperation were all I needed. And sure, it helped me physically. But it didn’t help the emotional and spiritual emptiness I felt. That kind of pain was eroding my soul.
The pandemic in 2020 gave me the reset I needed. I knew I needed to find something better, and a lockdown in late 2020 provided the opportunity I needed. It gave me the time I needed and virtual access to online courses anywhere in the world.
A course on self-compassion changed my life. It taught me how to love myself and provided important self-care strategies to reduce anxiety, depression, and stress. I could see the instant benefit it would have on my fellow healthcare workers. I consolidated my self-growth with further work in creative development through intuition.
It wasn’t long before these lessons spilled over into my work. Today, I have incorporated self-compassion and creative development practices into my clinical work so that my patients feel better empowered to live fulfilling lives.
Now I’m working with other doctors to bring self-compassion and creative development not just into their practices but into their lives.
I’ve seen too many of my medical peers burn out and struggle with mental health issues. I’ve lost one too many of my peers to suicide. We deserve better.
The Heart Centered Doctor is a place where emotionally and physically exhausted doctors can feel safe, reconnect with themselves, and discover the many benefits of mindful self-compassion.
After my injury, I just wanted to disappear. I was ashamed of my story. I didn’t feel worthy to be seen or heard. Now I’m ready to speak my truth, to be visible, and to help other medical doctors lead the heart-centred lives they truly deserve.
Auspreneur: Just like the readers I am very curious – what is it exactly that you do now as the Heart-Centred Doctor?
Olivia: As the Heart-Centred Doctor, I wear many hats.
As a Resilience Speaker, I tell my story of how I overcame a devastating spinal cord injury when I was a resident in 2008 and learnt to walk again functionally with two sticks and a limp after four agonising years. My spinal cord injury taught me a very important life lesson: self-compassion. This is the premise behind my creative business Dr Olivia Lee Ong, The Heart-Centred Doctor.
As a Medical Leadership Coach and Mentor, I help busy, high achieving heart centred doctors avoid burnout and exhaustion, to achieve balanced energy and time flexibility through my Life Transformation for Doctors program. I offer 1:1 coaching, workshops and speaking engagements on burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma in doctors so they can stay in the game longer as a compassionate leader and leave a positive legacy for the upcoming generation of young doctors.
As an Author, I have just finished writing my book “The Heart-Centredness of Medicine”. I have written it because I have not only seen and heard about way too many doctors who are verging on burn-out due to stress and overwork – I have actually been one of them. I have written my book in the way that I have to help doctors to find their way back home to their heart. I want them to be able to lead the heart-centred lives they truly deserve.
As a Physician specializing in both Rehabilitation and Pain Management, I have extensive training and experience in Pain Medicine. My main interest is holistic pain management in patients with both neurological disorders and chronic pain. I’m on a mission to inspire and empower patients with chronic pain and neurological disabilities to actively manage their pain and lead fulfilling lives.
Auspreneur: What is it that you love most about what you do?
Olivia:: What I love most about what I do in my personal and professional life, I embody these values, self compassion, connection, intuitive creative development and mindful awareness.
Self compassion
Just as I strongly advocate self-compassion in my teachings, I commit to showing the same kindness and care to everyone who interacts with me.
Connection
We all have shared experiences. We can use these experiences to connect with others who are struggling emotionally and physically now in the same way we have in the past.
Intuitive creative development
I embrace my gut feelings in my business and am guided by my intuition in complex decision making.
Mindful awareness
I create a safe space where people can express and observe their negative thoughts and emotions without judgement, from me but most especially from themselves.
Auspreneur: In your experience, what are some simple and effective ways to avoid burnout?
Olivia: In my experience, three simple and effective ways to avoid burnout are self compassion, forgiveness and boundaries. Firstly, self compassion allows us to increase our capacity to accept ourselves for our imperfections and mistakes and it becomes a heart-based tool that helps us face life challenges. Forgiveness allows us to have spiritual and emotional freedom so that we don’t feel stuck, trapped and overwhelmed. Boundaries allows us to protect our energetics so that we can show up 100% for the people we serve, for our loved ones and for ourselves.
Auspreneur: Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you since working with your clients?
Olivia: Since I have been working with my clients, abundance has entered my life in many ways. I have grown and expanded as a coach and medical entrepreneur. My clients have had excellent results, they are more confident, certain and clear of their vision and purpose.
As you know, I have just written a book called “The Heart-Centredness of Medicine”, which will be published in August 2021. Jack Canfield has agreed to write the foreword for my book. This means a lot to me as I have been reading Chicken Soup for the Soul since I was a kid. I feel truly blessed by this wonderful opportunity; a childhood dream come true. I will also be co-authoring a book with Jack, The Soul of Success Vol. 3. It’s anticipated that this book will be released next year.
Auspreneur: In one sentence, what’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out on their journey as a medical professional/entrepreneur?
Olivia: There is no failure, there are only lessons and insights. Your success is inevitable.
Auspreneur: Whats next for you?
Olivia: I will be launching my book “The Heart-Centredness of Medicine” on 9 September 2021, which coincides with R U OK? Day here in Australia. Here is the link to the pre-sale page of the book: https://drolivialeeong.com/book-pre-sale/. I will be doing book tours around Australia and collaborating with the medical and surgical colleges, hospitals and clinics to ensure that doctors and other healthcare professionals can get their hands on my book so that they can learn to thrive at work and at home without the burnout. I am also presenting in an Author Showcase in the NSW State Library on 23 October 2021. I would also be partnering with other physician coaches around the world to end physician burnout, the unspoken pandemic. This is through global summits and collaborations.
Auspreneur: Thanks so much for taking the time to share this with us. Your story is truly inspiring, and we wish you all the best for the future.
To learn more about Olivia and her work, visit her website here.
