During the holidays, the office party can feel like one more box to check, not a place where people actually connect. Yet our sense of belonging at work has a real impact on health, energy, and performance, especially at the end of the year.

In this episode of Friendship Matters, we talk with special guest Jana Boehmer from the Veterans Affairs Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation. Jana was tasked with bringing together a fully virtual team of seventy five people for a holiday celebration that was creative, inclusive, and genuinely meaningful. What she designed was so powerful that her colleagues are still talking about it.

You will hear:

• How a virtual holiday party became a shared experience that reduced loneliness and strengthened trust

• Simple prompts and rituals that help people share their real lives without putting anyone on the spot

• Practical ways leaders can model care, curiosity, and transparency so that employees feel heard, not managed

• Ideas to include people who do not celebrate traditional holidays or who may be grieving or isolated

• Why work and life are never completely separate, and what healthy work life integration really looks like

If you want your office holiday gathering to feel like more than awkward small talk, this conversation will give you concrete ideas to create connection, honor diverse stories, and build a workplace where people truly feel they belong.

Jana Boehmer serves in the Veterans Affairs Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation, where she leads initiatives that strengthen employee wellbeing, connection, and whole health. With experience across both corporate and federal environments, Jana specializes in designing inclusive, human centered programs that bring people together across distance, roles, and diverse backgrounds. Her work focuses on creating meaningful experiences that support employee engagement, psychological safety, and a culture of belonging throughout the VA's nationwide system.

Connect with her on LinkedIn at Jana Boehmer MSM, RDN

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

Family is not always defined by shared DNA. For many of us, the people who feel most like home are the friends who show up, celebrate with us, and stand beside us through every season. That becomes especially true during the holidays, when family expectations, distance, or loss can stir up complicated emotions and a deep sense of disconnection.

In this episode of Friendship Matters, Donna Brighton, Dr Russell Greenfield, and Lisa Grimes explore how intentional friendships can become your chosen family and offer a grounded sense of belonging. They share real stories and practical ideas for reshaping the holidays in ways that feel authentic, life giving, and kind to your nervous system.

You will hear:

• Why the holidays are so emotionally loaded, even for people who look "fine" on the outside

• How chosen family can expand, not replace, our idea of family and home

• Simple friendship traditions like Friendsgiving, question filled dinners, and shared service that deepen connection

• Ways to support friends who are grieving, alone, or far from home during this season

• How small invitations and intentional questions can transform a gathering from surface level chatter into meaningful connection

Listen if you have ever felt out of place at a holiday table, if you are far from family, or if you simply want your friendships to feel more like home, for you and for the people you love.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

This episode explains why holiday stress does more than tire you out. It actually disrupts the physiology that makes connection possible. Dr. Dael Waxman shows how small, intentional shifts can recalibrate your energy, reduce reactivity, and bring you back to what you wanted from this season in the first place. If you want to feel less drained and more genuinely connected during the holidays, these insights give you a practical way to get there.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• How chronic holiday stress affects your physiology, mood, and ability to connect, and why that is not a personal failure

• A simple practice of naming what gives you energy and what drains it, then reshaping your season around what truly matters

• Practical ways to reset your nervous system and your social life, from one minute mindfulness to tiny acts of kindness and connection at home, at work, and in your community

In this episode of Friendship Matters, we unpack what all the "overs" of the holidays do to our bodies and brains, why stress makes it harder to feel close to others, and how small, intentional choices can restore energy, connection, and joy. If the holidays tend to take more out of you than they give, this conversation offers realistic ways to reset without pretending the season is calm or simple.

Dael Waxman, MD, PCC is a professionally certified coach who works with individuals, groups, and teams to support leadership, life, and professional well-being. He is also a faculty member at the Healthcare Coaching Institute.

Previously, he served as Professor and Vice Chair of Family Medicine at Atrium Health – Wake Forest School of Medicine, where he also created the role of Medical Director of Physician Well-being for Medical Education.

Drawing on decades of experience in medicine and coaching, Dael helps people strengthen relationships, foster resilience, and build more supportive workplace cultures.

Outside of work, he enjoys travel, kayaking, hiking, cooking, and—most recently—learning barista skills.

You can connect with Dael at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dael-waxman-md-pcc-18917322/

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

The holidays can be a season of connection, but they also stir up old patterns, expectations, and emotional landmines. Many adults find themselves back in their family system, feeling like a younger version of themselves even though they know they have grown.

In this conversation, Donna Brighton welcomes Dr. Allie Taylor, a business psychologist and trusted advisor who draws on her background in marriage and family therapy and internal family systems work. Together, they unpack why we get triggered around family, how to stay in our adult self instead of regressing to that inner twelve year old, and how boundaries can be an act of love rather than rejection.

From journaling before gatherings, to befriending our own inner parts, to having honest conversations about traditions and expectations, Allie offers practical tools that help you design a holiday season that actually works for you. The episode ends with a powerful invitation to define what a successful holiday would look like for you, then make choices that support that vision.

Why Listen?

If you dread certain parts of the holidays or feel yourself shrinking into an old version of you as soon as you see your family, this episode offers language and tools that make sense of that experience. Instead of white knuckling through another season out of obligation, you will learn how to prepare your inner world, set clear and kind boundaries, and define success on purpose.

This is a practical, compassionate guide to showing up as your calm, adult self, so you can protect your energy, enjoy the people you love, and create new traditions that fit who you are now.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

The lights are twinkling, the calendar is packed, and yet you still feel strangely apart from it all. This episode names that quiet ache, the holiday paradox, and shows how real friendship, small rituals, and a kinder approach to yourself can turn a draining season into one that actually nourishes you.

In this episode you will hear about

• The holiday paradox, why you can feel emotionally disconnected even when you look very social on the outside

• The connection gap between what you wish for and what you actually experience

• What happens in your brain and body when you feel disconnected, and why friendship is a real health protector

• How busyness, social media, and comparison steal the joy from the season, especially for leaders under end of year pressure

• Practical ways to reach out, start simple friendship rituals, and even create connection when you are the new person

• How gratitude, humor, and friending yourself first can soften the season and help you be present instead of just performing

If you have ever felt alone in a crowded room or wondered what is wrong with you while everyone else seems merry, this conversation is for you. You will walk away with language for what you are feeling, reassurance that you are far from the only one, and concrete, doable steps to feel more connected, more grounded, and more like yourself this holiday season.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if the fastest way to build a high-performing culture isn't another strategy deck, but a 60-second, heart-level conversation that starts with "Tell me more"?

Whole Health pioneer Dr. Tracy Gaudet reveals why friendship isn't a "soft skill" but the operating system of well-being and leadership.

You'll learn how to win over skeptical C-suites by giving them an experience (not a lecture), the simple "pause–notice–choose" practice to become a more authentic leader, and a simple cadence for busy people to keep real friendships alive (hello, scheduled, distraction-free check-ins).

She also breaks down the difference between relationships that fuel you vs. drain you, why your spouse doesn't have to be your "everything," and how peer-to-peer connection at scale transformed outcomes in the VA.

This episode stands out because it turns big ideas—trust, vulnerability, purpose—into concrete micro-moves you can use today.

Tracy Gaudet, M.D.

Tracy Gaudet, M.D. is a leader in the development of Whole Health through decades of radically re-envisioning and implementing new approaches to address health outcomes and costs. She is co-founder of a new organization called the Cornerstone Collaboration for Societal Change. Prior to this, she served as the founding Executive Director of the Whole Health Institute. Dr. Gaudet was also the Founding Executive Director of the Veterans Health Administration's National Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation. This Office led VHA's transformation to Whole Health, an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and live their most meaningful life. Under her leadership, VA health care delivery has been re-envisioned and is being implemented nationally.

Previously, Dr. Gaudet was with Duke University Health System, where she served as Executive Director of Duke Integrative Medicine until 2010. Under her leadership, Duke Integrative Medicine created a state-of-the-art healthcare facility dedicated to the transformation of medicine through the exploration, demonstration, and research of new models of patient-centered care.

Prior to her work at Duke, Dr. Gaudet was the Founding Executive Director of the University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine, leading the design of the country's first comprehensive curriculum in this new field and launching the distant learning fellowship. In addition, Dr. Gaudet co-founded the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health.

Dr. Gaudet has been recognized throughout her career for her contributions in driving the transformation of healthcare. She was featured in the PBS nationally acclaimed special entitled "The New Medicine," and named by Shape magazine as one of the eleven women who shape the world. Dr. Gaudet has been recognized as one of the "Top 25 Women in Healthcare" by Modern Healthcare and featured as a Game Changer in Fortune Magazine. She was honored with the Bravewell Leadership Award for her contributions to advancing the field of medicine, recognized for her significant leadership that benefited our Nation's Veterans with the Exemplary Service Award, and was honored with the Visionary Award from the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine for her leadership in transformative healthcare. Most recently, she was selected as the 2024 recipient of the Linus Pauling Award in Functional Medicine. Dr. Gaudet is also the author of Consciously Female, a book on integrative medicine and women's health, and Body, Soul, and Baby.

You can connect with Dr. Gaudet at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracy-gaudet-587a70285.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if friendship isn't just something nice to have, but the very foundation of a meaningful, flourishing life?

In this deeply thoughtful episode of Friendship Matters, Dr. Russell Greenfield and CEO Lisa Grimes sit down with teacher, writer, and civic visionary Mark Peres, founder of the Charlotte Center for the Humanities and Civic Imagination. Mark's lifelong pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness has led him to explore the intersection of friendship, virtue, and community, and how each can help us live with greater purpose and belonging.

Together, they unpack timeless and timely questions:
✨ How does friendship shape who we become and how we lead?
✨ What can we learn from other cultures about loyalty, care, and connection?
✨ Why is friendship the "seedbed of civic virtue" that strengthens communities?
✨ And how can busy professionals cultivate deeper relationships in a world of constant motion?

Mark reminds us that friendship is not transactional—it's transformational. It's where we practice trust, attention, and shared humanity. Whether you're leading a team, nurturing a marriage, or simply trying to show up better for the people who matter most, this episode will leave you reflecting on the art of being a true friend.

Mark Peres

Mark Peres is an author, professor, and civic entrepreneur. Mark is founding director of The Charlotte Center for the Humanities & Civic Imagination, which produces the Charlotte Ideas Festival and other public programs that engage thousands annually. He is also a longtime professor of leadership and ethics at Johnson & Wales University, where he challenges students to reflect deeply on what it means to lead a good life. He previously hosted the On Life and Meaning podcast, a long-form interview series with artists, thinkers, and changemakers, and was founding editor of Charlotte Viewpoint magazine. He is the author of The Accord, a speculative literary novel about artificial intelligence, grief, and what it means to be alive in relation to another mind. His memoir The Man Who Lived a Hundred Lives explores the fraught but redemptive bond between generations. He is a graduate of The Florida State University College of Law and Rollins College. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

You can connect with Mark at https://www.linkedin.com/in/markperes/.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if your next great friendship is just one text away?

In this inspiring episode of Friendship Matters, we talk with Peggy Carroll, pharma leader, founder of the Fill Your Bucket List Foundation, and lifelong connector about the changing seasons of friendship and how to keep them strong through every stage of life.

Peggy shares why friendships after 50 require more intentionality, how small gestures create lasting impact, and the simple habits that keep connection alive. From setting annual "friend goals" to turning a random encounter into a meaningful bond, her wisdom reminds us that showing up for others and ourselves is what truly matters.

Tune in to discover:

• How friendship evolves through life's stages

• The "Be the Instigator" rule for staying connected

• The cul-de-sac party that introduced neighbors to each other for the first time in 50 years
  
  

• Simple ways to rekindle old friendships and start new ones

Peggy's defintion of friendship as "the gift we give ourselves that fuels our soul" comes alive through memorable stories. A warm, practical, and heartfelt conversation that will inspire you to reach out and reconnect today.

Peggy Carroll

Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pinpoint. Peggy brings over 30 years of leadership in the pharmaceutical and biotech world, with deep roots in oncology and advocacy. But what makes Peggy truly extraordinary isn't just her strategic brilliance—it's her heart for people.

From launching national campaigns like Tour of Hope and Light the Night to founding the Fill Your Bucket List Foundation—Peggy has spent her life building bridges between science, compassion, and community. Her work embodies the spirit of friendship—showing up, standing beside, and making sure no one feels alone in their journey.

You can connect with Peggy at peggy@pinpointpatientrecruiting.com or on Facebook: peggy gibson carroll.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.