Episode 64: Unlock the Power of Storytelling for Doctor Moms with Guest Dr. Spencer Lalk

“Doctors don’t need more time – they need better tools to communicate clearly and connect emotionally.” – Dr. Spencer Lalk

Ever felt like you were saying all the right things to a patient, but something just wasn’t landing?

You’re not alone.

Today’s guest, Dr. Spencer Lalk, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and founder of MedStory Media, knows that gap well.

In this inspiring conversation, he explains the power of storytelling in medicine, not as a buzzword, but as a bridge. A bridge between what we mean and what patients actually hear.

Dr. Lalk shares his own turning point moments and walks us through a framework he created to help physicians communicate more clearly, connect more deeply, and make their message truly stick.

He also reminds us why our personal stories matter – not just for connection, but for trust, impact, and healing.

Find the full transcript and more resources for physician moms at inspiredmommds.com/64.

Meet Dr. Spencer Lalk

Dr. Cindy: Hello everyone. Thank you for joining me today. I’m going to introduce my next speaker, and I think you’re really going to like him. Dr. Spencer Lalk is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and founder of MedStory Media, a content creation studio built specifically for physicians.

With over 1000 videos created for doctors, his work has generated millions of views. Proving that medical expertise doesn’t have to get lost in translation through MedStory Media, Spencer helps healthcare professionals turn their story into clear, engaging content that educates the public, builds trust and drives meaningful influence.

And his mission is simple. Here it is. Put high quality information into the world delivered by the people most qualified to share it. Welcome to the show, Spencer. I’m so grateful you’re here.

Dr. Lalk: I’m so happy to be here. Thank you.

From a Personal Story to a Business Idea for Communication in Medicine

Dr. Cindy: I recently met you through your storytelling, and your work around storytelling in healthcare is what caught my attention. [00:01:00]

And I know that that will speak to other physicians too that spoke to me. So, if you wouldn’t mind, do you want to start with your personal story? Just take us back to a moment in time where you felt this shift in communication in medicine.

Dr. Lalk: Yeah, absolutely. So, for me, I was practicing as a physical therapist in hospitals around the country for six, seven years.

And there were several experiences that I had as a professional were something that became really clear to me, and that was the communication between the patient and the provider. It was very sterile. And it felt like oftentimes that the patient didn’t truly understand what was going on and was inundated with all this information, that they were left to the point where they were saying, you know what, uh, okay, they’re the doctor.

Whatever they say, I’m just going to do, and unfortunately, this led them down a very [00:02:00] negative path that can unfortunately go within healthcare.

And I started thinking we need to find better ways to communicate with these patients so that they’re better informed. On a more personal level, I remember actually going with my mom to the cardiologist, and we were sitting in the waiting room looking around, it was really busy.

Finally, they called us into the room and I remember sitting there with her and she was so excited because she has been experiencing these PVCs and she finally was going to talk to the professional that was going to be able to give her the answers that she needed.

And we’re sitting there waiting anxiously for the cardiologist.

She came in and I think we got like 10 minutes with her and my mom tried to explain what was going on with her. And you could tell that this cardiologist, she’s amazing, but she was so rushed through it. And so, she’s like, you know what?

She ended up cutting off my mom and saying, you know what? We’re seeing X, Y, and Z on your labs, and here’s the medications that we need to put you on. Okay. Are you ready to go?

And in the moment I remember [00:03:00] my mom looking and she asked my mom, she’s like, is that okay with you? And my mom just sits there and shakes her head. Yes. And I remember thinking; I wonder if she actually understands what she just said there.

And we finish the appointment, we get out and I say, mom, how do you feel about it? And she goes, honestly, I don’t really know what’s going on. I don’t know what she’s recommending to me.

I remember thinking this is a problem and it’s not the cardiologist’s fault because she’s just in a system where she has to see that many patients.

Now my mom’s left in this position where she needs to now go and Google and go to WebMD and take all this information that she said and try to make sense of it.

And so, I said, you know what? Wouldn’t it be cool if that specific doctor had a health education library where they can share their knowledge, share their stories from their exact doctor so that they can get that reinforcement beyond that 10 to 15 minute session, and that’s honestly how MedStory was started.

Dr. Cindy: Oh wow. So, it [00:04:00] sounds like what that physician could do, because she still only has 10 minutes, but she could interject some, maybe a list or a handout and say, here I have this story on this platform, and it’ll describe your condition. And then I have this other story, it’ll describe what the treatment options are and how this might affect you.

So, your mom doesn’t have to use Dr. Google to get those answers. She can hear it from her own physician. Okay.

The Power of Storytelling in Healthcare

Dr. Lalk: Exactly. And you know, and I think it’s interesting that you say, you know this story, and it didn’t start like that because it started as let’s just create patient education videos.

And what I started to realize is that as providers, we like to educate people with the anatomical models, with the stats and the data, and oftentimes that doesn’t truly stick with someone.

I started diving into a lot of behavioral science research. What we’ve found is that time and time again what we realize is that majority of the time, [00:05:00] humans make decisions based off of emotion rather than logic.

And if we are trying to encourage someone to make a behavior change or maybe stick to a treatment program, if we just give them logical reasons of why they should do it and can’t tie an emotional aspect to it, their carryover is actually going to be less.

And so that’s when I came up with the idea maybe we need to start rethinking the way that we present this information and start incorporating story into it.

Dr. Cindy: Okay. So, tell us how that would look. Let’s, I’m going back to that same cardiologist, not to pick on her. So how would she show, how would she communicate that information on a platform with a story?

What does that look like?

Dr. Lalk: Yeah, absolutely. So I think when someone’s going through a condition, a diagnosis, they’re suffering with something. One of the first things they want to know is, has their doctor treated someone like this before? And were they successful in doing so? Okay. And so if [00:06:00] that doctor were to say, you know what, I’ve actually treated several people with a similar condition to you.

And we were able to put them on this treatment plan with these specific medications. And what we found is that it actually ended up reducing their symptoms and actually ended up getting them to resolve their condition.

And through that, my mom would then think, okay, here’s a person that had the same symptoms as me. They already have gone through this treatment process and say, okay, that gives me hope, that gives me buy-in to it. And then that almost brings it to the next level of understanding.

Dr. Cindy: Wow, I can see so many possibilities with this, so many resources that physicians could offer their patients.

Thank you for sharing the story about your mom.

Dr. Lalk: I think one of the things that doctors are most scared about is HIPAA compliance, right? And because there is a stigma behind sharing stories, and I’ve done a lot of research on this, and so it is important to not share specific patient information, but you can [00:07:00] very much so generalize it and create the story based on that.

And it is a totally legal and effective way to do it.

Dr. Cindy: Right now, in speaking about communication and story, what about physicians who want to tell their own story so they don’t have to worry about hipaa, this is their story. Do you work with physicians on that where they want to tell their personal story to communicate a journey?

Dr. Lalk: Yeah, I do. And that’s honestly one of the things that brings me the most joy. Because it oftentimes what I’m finding within medicine is that these doctors need an outlet and a way to share what’s going on in their life and hopefully share that with someone else that could provide value from it and get benefit.

What we do is we take them through a three-step framework that we call StoryCraft and the whole idea is taking them through the three steps. I’d be happy to take you through them, to help them identify what’s going on and figure out how they’re going to share it. [00:08:00]

Dr. Cindy: Yeah. I’m curious if you could give us an overview of that three-step framework.

A Framework for Finding Your Story and How to Tell It

Dr. Lalk: Yeah, absolutely. For sure. Yeah, so, the first step of the StoryCraft framework is you’ve got to first identify what makes me unique. And one of the biggest mistakes I see doctors make is they say, oh, I’m an anesthesiologist. That makes me unique.

Or, you know I’m a doctor that makes me unique. And although impressive, that’s not what makes you unique.

What makes you unique is if I were to say, I want you to go to the top of a rooftop building. And I want you to scream at the top of your lungs something that you know that someone else needs to hear.

And if there’s something in your head where you’re just like, I just want to yell it so other people know this.

Well, that’s what makes you unique because the reason you want to yell that out to the world is because there was some experience in your life that has made you believe so strongly in it that you want to share that with the world, right?

And, and so once you’ve done that and [00:09:00] you say, you know what, step two, okay, what makes you unique? That’s what’s my story that’s driving that, that’s creating that fire in my belly that says I’ve got to get get my message out there and create some change. Just as you have done with your coaching.

Right, working as an anesthesiologist, but now helping physician entrepreneurs, that’s amazing.

Now, the second step is to say, how am I going to communicate this story? And this is really, really important because what we find is that if we can find a way to organize our thoughts in our story, tell it in an effective way that evokes emotion.

Then that’s actually going to lead to a much more powerful outcome. And the goal is to produce something that we call narrative transportation. And what narrative transportation is, when you’re listening to a story, you then put yourself in that story.

You get transported into it. And it’s cool that they’ve done FMRI studies where they’ve looked at people watching really engaging movies or hearing really cool stories. They see that the medial [00:10:00] prefrontal cortex lights up the amygdala and also [the body] releases oxytocin. So, we’re seeing like these really cool things that are happening.

And once again, we said humans make decisions based off emotion, not logic most of the time. And so if we can learn to tell that story using frameworks, like, one of the common ones is the Hero’s Journey framework, then you learn to tell that in effective way. Then we get someone really bought in,

Step three is sharing it with the world, getting over that fear and knowing that this story is going to offer value to even one person. And it’s up to you to decide how am I going to do that? Am I going to do it through podcasting? Am I going to create videos? Am I going to write about it?

Whatever it may be. You’ve  got to choose what feels best to you and then just start sharing.

Overcoming the Fear of Sharing Your Story

Dr. Cindy: To summarize, you’re going to identify that message that’s screaming inside you that wants to come out and communicate it in a way that shows emotion. And I love how you tied science into that because that just rings a [00:11:00] bell with me and the listeners and then sharing it and getting it out there.

And, and so this leads me to my next question for those who are a little hesitant, I have personally come to believe that sharing your story, my story is so important because someone out there will hear it and someone needs to hear it, even if you never know who hears it.

But some physicians or anybody might tend to downplay their own stories or hesitate, so they, they might have that screaming story inside them, but they still hesitate to tell it.

And they might think, well, you know, yeah, it’s important to me, but maybe it isn’t really a story, and they’re hesitating. What would you say to that person?

Dr. Lalk: Oh, you know, I struggle with this myself. And this is something where it’s like, well, does someone actually want to hear my story? Like, is it going to be valuable to them?

And I get shy in it. And I think that if you feel that is a concern for you and you say, you know what? I’m not really confident in my ability to tell this story, or I don’t know if people want to hear it online where [00:12:00] it could potentially be seen by millions of people.

I get that, but that doesn’t mean that you stop and lead to inaction.

And so, what I say instead is live that life offline.

For example, me and my girlfriend started this playing this game called We’re Not Strangers. And what it is, is its cue cards that you can play with your friends, with a partner, and it will give you a prompt to tell a story.

You can do that with the people that are most intimate in your life, the people that you really trust. Yeah. And it’s just like anything, it’s a muscle and it will, you will get to the point with practice to say, you know what, okay, this is a story of value, and it should be shared with the world, hopefully to the point where you feel brave enough to get it out there.

Dr. Cindy: I’m seeing a big parallel between telling a story out loud and on video or just out loud, you know, with hearing it and writing. I’ve been more on the writing side all my life, and so when you’re talking, I’m thinking, oh, that’s narrative medicine. You’re writing down your story and then now [00:13:00] you’re talking about prompts.

Writing prompts specifically for me have been very helpful in working that muscle of telling my story. But now I’m seeing that, you have, I like how you have your own way of doing this. It is just an audio prompt, and you can do the same type of prompt, but you say it out loud and then you get used to it.

And that’s a muscle too. And it works a different part of the brain.

Dr. Lalk: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. How, how have you found your transition from going with just writing to now speaking? Has that been a difficult transition for you?

Dr. Cindy: I think so, because when you write, no one’s reading it as you’re writing it and you have the space and time to go back and edit.

The way I write is I just write, and I like to think. And I think there’s science behind this, that there are two parts of the brain. There’s, you know, the writing part and the editing part. So, if I can just write and get my thoughts out with the emotions later, I can go back with the editing part of my brain.

But now my transition to speaking, and maybe [00:14:00] you can help others, is that when you are in the moment and live, how do you integrate those two parts of your brain with the creative speaking? I just want to get it out but oh wait, I have to edit as I’m going. How do you blend that together?

Dr. Lalk: I think it comes down to practice, but I like how you said you can write and know that people aren’t going to see it.

Right? You can do that, collect your thoughts. You can do the same thing with speaking. Sometimes I give the best motivational speeches when I’m talking to myself in my car. You know, I’m being like, you know what? I’m just going to spend some time to communicate this idea I have in my head. And it’s amazing when I start rolling and then by the end of it I was like, oh, wow, that was really good.

It’s amazing how well you can communicate when there’s no pressure on you and it’s not being recorded. Sure. But there’s something innately in us as a human that when you know that other people are going to see it, of course it elevates the stakes a little bit.

And you have to understand that it’s going to be scary at first. It’s not going to be easy. [00:15:00] And I’m nervous right now talking to you like it’s just a natural thing. But I know that if I keep putting myself in these uncomfortable situations, continuing to work on my communication in the way that I want to share my story, I’m going to get better at communicating and it’s going to get easier for me, just like many other things in life.

Dr. Cindy: Well, and you did mention that when you’re sharing your story, go towards your fear or step into your fear of speaking and that fear will, and I’m saying I think that fear will eventually get pushed away and dissipate the more you step into it.

Dr. Lalk: Yeah. We have to learn to crave to be uncomfortable.

Because when we crave to be in that sense of that point, outside of our comfort zone, we know as scientists and providers that is the time when synaptogenesis and we’re optimizing neuroplasticity.

And that’s what we want. We want all of those neurons to be firing, connecting together, and that happens when we get uncomfortable and sharing our story just like we are right now.

Dr. Cindy: Absolutely. For the listeners, what’s one thing that you’d want them to take away today [00:16:00] about the power of their own voice?

One Final Takeaway for Doctor Moms

Dr. Lalk: Yeah. I would say the takeaway is that your story deserves to be shared. I think that as a doctor, as a mom, you have lived an experience that is a very, very unique experience here on Earth.

And from the stories of you going from tucking your child in to going into the clinic and helping a suffering patient, that duality between those two has created an incredible narrative and incredible story, and I can only imagine how challenging it is. But just know that through sharing and through listening, you’re going to realize that you’re not alone.

And by sharing, you’re going to help other people realize that there’s other people like you where we can feel supported and continue to build that community.

Dr. Cindy: There you go. Yeah. Very good. So now, if people want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way?

Dr. Lalk: Yeah, they can reach out to me on Instagram — Lalk Health, but they can also reach out to us at our website, MedStorymedia.com.

And if they are a physician or healthcare provider that has a story to share and they want some practice, then they can apply to be on a podcast. On your podcast, on my podcast. And get out there and start practicing. This is a no pressure thing, and we just like to have fun with it.

Dr. Cindy: Exactly. I think the podcast world is very welcoming. And yeah. Thank you for extending the invitation of my podcast too. Yes, I love talking to people and I think practice does help, like you’re saying.

Dr. Lalk: Absolutely. You’re doing an amazing job.

Dr. Cindy: Oh my gosh. Thank you. Unsolicited compliment.

Yeah. So are you.

Dr. Lalk: Thank you.

Dr. Cindy: Okay, well I really appreciate you being here today. I just hope this conversation reminds people that they have a story inside of them and this gives them the little oomph to get that story out.

Dr. Lalk: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.