trauma-informed
career GUIDANCE
With Dr Anjalee Perera
This is career work that doesn’t stop at your job title; we’re going deeper, right to the roots of where the mind-fuckery began…
Anjalee Disillusioned Medic
Anjalee Perera
Career change was just the beginning
When I quit my job as a doctor in 2015, it tore me apart.
I knew I had to leave. The future felt bleak. The last echoes of my true self were ebbing away and my health was hanging by a thread.
But how do you move on when you’ve invested so much? How do you leave when quitting is so taboo? And how the hell do you plan what comes next, when you have no idea what to do?
At first, I hid my shame from everyone, blogging anonymously as a way to cope, venting my anguish to the internet.
But then… other disillusioned doctors began to reach out. And dentists. And vets. Then teachers, lawyers, engineers, pilots, academics. I wasn’t alone.
Some people can walk away from high prestige careers relatively unscathed. They may have some regrets over the time and energy spent, but they reroute it towards something else without falling apart inside.
But then there are people like me. People for whom career doubts feel utterly overwhelming and devastating.
My question was this: why?
Trauma was the invisible link
I became a career coach, delivering hundreds of hours of support to disenchanted high achievers all over the world.
And I started noticing patterns in many of my coachees:
- Gifted, caring individuals crippled by guilt, fear and shame
- Feeling confused and lost, despite wrestling with doubts for a long time
- Searching desperately for empathetic guidance after being worn down by harsh criticism, or having their concerns dismissed
- A desire to share their pain with me unprompted, including strained relationships, health problems, bullying and personal tragedy
- Feeling – despite exhaustion, misery, and the erosion of their very identities – trapped in their profession and unable to leave
As they told me their stories, it hit me that what held them back in their working lives went far deeper than just their current doubts…
We’d start by talking about the job; we’d end by tracing the link between their career stuckness and the childhood trauma no one ever acknowledged.
Anjalee Perera
Where it all started... the blog
From vocational success to emotional breakdown: a brutally honest account of what it felt like to quit medicine.
The First Day of the Rest of My Life
I’ve quit my job as a doctor. I can hardly believe I’ve done it, but I have...
So... What Do You Do?
I Have a New Job
Coaching Reviews
MR M
Dr V
I connected with Anjalee after I read her blog & resonated with a lot of thoughts she had. I really enjoyed my session with her. Anjalee has a natural empathy and made me feel extremely comfortable to open up. I sought her advice around non-medical careers but was was most helpful was the intelligent, compassionate guidance.
Dr T
DR G
I thought being a vet might exclude me from Anjalee’s coaching, so I’m glad it didn’t! I had tried career coaching before and it was sort of helpful, but there was still something missing I couldn’t put my finger on. Now I feel I’m starting to understand myself a lot more.
Dr L
MS E
DR W
I didn’t realise how many similarities there were between medicine and teaching, but it does make sense. Anjalee’s helped me assert my boundaries better, especially with people at work and in my social circle who make me feel bad and drain my energy. Turning down the volume on those negative influences has been a gamechanger.
Ms S
I was suffering badly from burnout and considering doing another degree. I’m so glad I met Anjalee before I got myself into something else unfulfilling. She helped me see the emotional side of career changes and we’re working on breaking down the old patterns from the past that continue to affect me.
DR Z
DR I
I was feeling so depressed at medical school. I knew I was capable of doing something else but I didn’t have a clear understanding of what can be achieved next. Working with Anjalee helped me see how I was getting in my own way.
Dr B
Anjalee is amazing. My coaching sessions with her have had such a positive impact on my mentality, business strategies. Her support, kindness, & experience has been so invaluable to me as an ex-medic & social entrepreneur.