On this episode of The Care2Grow Show®, Dr. Larry Arbeitman welcomes Dr. Savitha Rao, a double board-certified adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist who recently opened her own integrative psychiatry practice, Walls Down Wellness, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Drawing from traditional medical training as well as formal study in functional medicine and integrative psychiatry, Dr. Rao designs customized treatment plans that go beyond medication management to consider the whole person.

In this episode, they discuss:

Dr. Rao's own journey with depression and anxiety, which came to a head during residency, and how incorporating therapy, lifestyle changes, meditation, and the gut-brain connection alongside medication eventually allowed her to move beyond needing it — an experience that now shapes how she treats her own patients.

Why she believes integrative psychiatry isn't a replacement for traditional, evidence-based training but a way to build on it, especially with children and adolescents whose brains are still developing.

How she cares for the whole family, not just the child in front of her, and why she sees a parent's emotional state, and even marital dynamics that surface in the room, as valuable information rather than a distraction.

The power of presence and simple, active listening — including research showing patients feel truly heard in as little as 50 seconds, while the average doctor listens for only 17 to 27 seconds before interrupting.

How she intentionally designed her office — a couch instead of a desk, no barriers between her and her patients, meaningful art on the walls, natural materials — to help regulate a patient's nervous system before a word is even spoken.

A powerful story about a homeless patient who refused a life-saving blood transfusion for hours, then signed the consent immediately once a provider simply sat down at his level — because, he said, she was the first person to do it.

Her own self-care practices, including a non-negotiable daily transcendental meditation practice, prioritizing sleep, and time at the beach, and why she believes physician burnout isn't caused by caring too much, but by not checking in with your own needs.

Her new newsletter, Buddy Business, exploring topics like the loneliness epidemic and the vagus nerve's role in social connection.

A lightning round covering her care philosophy in one word (integrative), the people who've shaped how she cares (her parents), and finishing the sentence: "Care is... being present."

About Dr. Savitha Rao

Dr. Savitha Rao is a double board-certified adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist who has recently opened a private integrative psychiatry practice, Walls Down Wellness, in downtown Red Bank, NJ. Her prior experience spans multiple psychiatric settings, including inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, and consult/liaison. Drawing from traditional medical training as well as formal training in both functional medicine and integrative psychiatry, she works closely with patients to design customized treatment plans based on their individual needs, taking an integrative approach to mental health that considers the whole person. Dr. Rao was born and raised in New Jersey and currently resides in Asbury Park. She attended Rutgers University for her undergraduate degree and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School for her medical degree, completing both a general psychiatry residency and a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Connect with Dr. Savitha Rao

Website: wallsdownwellness.com

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, one conversation at a time.

On this episode of The Care2Grow Show®, Dr. Larry Arbeitman welcomes Dr. David Moore for what he calls "truth serum" — an unusually candid conversation about what it really costs to chase someone else's version of success. After 25 years as a chiropractor, building a practice, treating thousands of patients, and writing a book, Dr. Moore walked away from his practice in 2021, not by choice but by necessity, after years of pushing through chronic pain and injury finally caught up with him.

In this episode, they discuss:

Dr. Moore's path into chiropractic — including a rough start marked by youthful mistakes, an injury that led him to his first chiropractor, and a single adjustment that changed the direction of his life.

How he spent years chasing other practitioners' numbers and definitions of success instead of building his own purpose — and the accumulating physical toll of adjusting patients at high volume, including a shoulder injury and a hip avulsion fracture he didn't even realize had happened.

The moment in 2021 when he finally walked away from the practice he'd built his entire identity around, and what it felt like to "burn it down" rather than transition slowly.

How he discovered breathwork, HeartMath, and heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback in 2015 — and why, as a doctor, he needed the science behind it before he could fully trust what he was experiencing.

The devastating loss of his childhood friend Dave, who died suddenly of a heart attack from what looked like classic chronic, unmanaged stress — and how that loss reinforced for Dr. Moore that nervous system regulation isn't just about calm and focus, it's life or death.

His current part-time practice serving a Spanish-speaking, underserved community — where, without a shared language, he found that care communicated through hands and presence needed no words at all.

The "five Ps" framework — philosophy and purpose as causes, versus psychology, procedures, and profit as effects — and why so many providers unknowingly build their practice backwards.

His work now teaching high-achieving professionals and chiropractors to regulate their nervous systems on demand through breathwork and HRV-based biofeedback, so they can sustain high performance without burning out the way he did.

A lightning round covering his philosophy of healing in one word (love), the daily habit that's had the biggest impact on his life (prayer), and finishing the sentences: "Healing begins when... you let it" and "Care is... love."

About Dr. David Moore

Dr. David Moore spent 25 years as a chiropractor, going completely all-in on his profession the way he does everything in his life. He built a practice, treated thousands of patients, wrote a book called The Chiropractic Evolution, hosted a community health show, and poured himself into helping people live pain-free, drug-free, and fully alive. But somewhere along the way, chasing goals that looked right on the outside, he stopped listening to his own body — and after 25 years, he walked away, not by choice, but by necessity. What he found on the other side was breathwork, heart rate variability, and autonomic nervous system regulation. Dr. Dave now teaches high-achieving professionals and chiropractors how to regulate their nervous systems using breathwork and HRV-based biofeedback — the same tools that helped him rebuild after burnout, chronic pain, and a complete identity overhaul. He is a certified HeartMath instructor and the founder of the Brain Body Breathing Academy.

Connect with Dr. David Moore

Website: thecoherencecoach.com
Free Community: skool.com/thecoherencecoach/about
Facebook: facebook.com/dr.david.moore

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, one conversation at a time.

On this episode of The Care2Grow Show®, Dr. Larry Arbeitman welcomes Tilly Lawrence, BSN, RN — a scientist, futurist, and former PICU/NICU nurse who led a federally funded virtual interventional trial using vagal nerve modulation and sound augmentation technology to help alleviate symptoms of long COVID. She's the creator of Vagal Intelligence and the Sense. Sway. Sync. methodology, and will share her journey on the TEDx Bessies Creek stage this summer under the theme "Be Human."

In this episode, they discuss:

Tilly's decade in PICU and NICU nursing, the burnout that came from repeatedly running codes on critically ill children with no time to process, and why she eventually moved into clinical research.

The personal crisis that changed everything: her daughter's years-long battle with cyclic vomiting episodes, and how Tilly's own PICU-trained "emergency mode" nervous system was unintentionally being transferred to her daughter during care.

How learning the polyvagal theory and consciously shifting her own nervous system state cut her daughter's six-day episodes down to a day and a half — a real-world example of how a caregiver's physiological state shapes the person they're caring for.

A clear breakdown of the three states of the polyvagal theory: ventral vagal (safe, open, able to heal), fight-or-flight activation, and dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze, numbness, disassociation) — and why so many patients arrive already stuck in one of the latter two.

Her Sense. Sway. Sync. framework: how providers can regulate their own nervous system first (sense), use presence and body language to help shift a patient's physiology (sway), and ultimately reach a state of true co-regulation with the patient (sync).

Why provider self-regulation isn't a soft skill but a clinical tool — backed by research from Compassionomics showing a 40-second compassionate statement measurably reduced anxiety in oncology patients.

A real example of disconnected, rushed care in action, and why "fast food healthcare" leaves both patients and staff dysregulated.

Her upcoming TEDx Bessies Creek talk (July 18) on the theme "Be Human," and her vision for bringing Vagal Intelligence to practitioners, educators, and school systems.

A lightning round covering her care philosophy in one word (believing), the person who's shaped how she cares (her father), and finishing the sentence: "Care is... believing."

About Tilly Lawrence, BSN, RN

Tilly Lawrence, BSN, RN, is a scientist, futurist, and former PICU nurse who successfully led a federally funded decentralized/virtual interventional trial using vagal nerve modulation and sound augmentation technology to help alleviate some of the 200+ symptoms of long COVID. She is the creator of Vagal Intelligence, a framework for the science of human co-regulation, and the Sense. Sway. Sync. methodology that puts it into daily practice. She is also a mother of three, whose own experience has shaped and reframed how she understands care, resonance, and what it truly means to be human. Tilly will share her journey to Vagal Intelligence on the TEDx Bessies Creek stage this summer, under the theme "Be Human."

Connect with Tilly Lawrence

Website: vagalintelligence.com
Instagram: @tillylawrence
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tillylawrence
Email: tillylawrence818@gmail.com

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, one conversation at a time.

On this episode of The Care2Grow Show®, Dr. Larry Arbeitman welcomes Dr. Melissa Longo — a family chiropractor since 2002, sought-after mentor and coach, and host of the top-rated podcast Rock Star Doctor Life. Dr. Longo has spent her career serving patients directly while also empowering doctors to build practices — and lives — that actually fit who they are.

In this episode, they discuss:

Dr. Longo's origin story — a tingling hand and a single conversation that sent her straight to chiropractic college before she'd even left the appointment.

How she defines care: compassion, empathy, and genuinely listening to the human in front of you, not just treating them as a number or a means to grow the practice.

Why trust has to be built before healing can happen, and how small moments — eye contact, open body language, a 30-second recap of what a patient just told you — build that trust faster than any script.

The research behind it: patients' anxiety drops significantly when a doctor lets them talk for just 40 seconds, yet most doctors cut patients off after only 17.

Why she coaches with frameworks instead of scripts, and how she helps doctors build practices around their own personality, family life, and values instead of a one-size-fits-all model.

Provider self-care and energy protection — her "vending machine" and "colander, not container" metaphors for staying full enough to keep giving, including her own practice of smudging the office to clear heavy energy between patients.

The moment her own practice broke through a plateau: a colleague's simple observation that she was hiding behind a "doctor mask," and what happened once she started showing up authentically instead.

A patient story about John, a 71-year-old farmer who regained his strength and confidence after Dr. Longo simply listened and encouraged him to return to something he loved — weightlifting.

The origin of the Rock Star Doctor Life podcast, and why she believes today's doctors need permission to build a practice — and a life — that doesn't look like anyone else's.

A lightning round covering her care philosophy in one word (fun), the person who's shaped how she cares (Danielle LaPorte), and finishing the sentence: "Care is... integral to building a practice that is prosperous."

About Dr. Melissa Longo

Since starting a successful private practice in 2002, Dr. Melissa Longo has made it her business to empower other doctors in their lives and careers — literally. A fearless entrepreneur and sought-after mentor and coach, Dr. Melissa hosts the top-rated podcast Rock Star Doctor Life and has been a featured speaker on stages and within programs for healthcare professionals. A relentless creator, she has learned the ins and outs of branding for success and used that knowledge to empower doctors to build brands and businesses that last. Her work with doctors one-on-one and in group formats has given her a unique view across the landscape of health professionals looking to build their practices, expand online, and stay healthy in the process.

Connect with Dr. Melissa Longo

Website: www.drmelissalongo.com
Podcast: www.rockstardoctorlife.com
Instagram: @drmelissalongo
YouTube: youtube.com/@drmelissalongo
Email: drm@drmelissalongo.com

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, one conversation at a time.

On this episode of The Care2Grow Show®, Dr. Larry Arbeitman welcomes a dear friend — and the show's first non-healthcare guest — Bob Quintana. A veteran entrepreneur and business advisor with over 35 years helping Fortune 500 leaders and startup CEOs, Bob has led a green energy company from startup to a $100 million IPO and a $500+ million exit, advised billion-dollar companies including JP Morgan, Ford, and Cisco, and is the author of the upcoming book Enlightened Entrepreneurship.

In this episode, they discuss:

Why care and compassion aren't "soft skills" — Bob makes the case that they're the actual foundation of every high-performing, high-impact organization, in healthcare and far beyond it.

The real story behind Bob's biggest success and the disillusionment that followed — leading a green energy company to a nine-figure exit, only to find himself unfulfilled and searching for answers once it was over.

What happened to that company's culture once it went public and became beholden to quarterly numbers — and the contrasting example of Barry-Wehmiller, a $3.6 billion company built almost entirely on a culture of care.

Bob's "core guiding principles" framework — core purpose, core vision, core mission, and core values — and why most organizations end up with these by accident instead of by design.

The idea behind "Enlightened Entrepreneurship" — bridging higher consciousness with high performance, and why Bob believes purpose and profit aren't in competition, they're multipliers of each other.

How Dr. Larry brought this framework to life in his own practice, including a daily team affirmation of purpose, mission, and values that's now displayed for patients — and the surprising reaction patients had when they finally saw it.

Why younger generations, especially Gen Z, are turning down jobs that don't align with their personal values — and what that means for the future of leadership in every industry.

A lightning round covering Bob's care philosophy in one word (enlightenment), the spiritual teacher who's shaped how he leads (Paramahansa Yogananda), and finishing the sentence: "Care is... foundational."

About Bob Quintana

Bob Quintana is a seasoned entrepreneur, business advisor, and thought leader who has spent over 35 years helping Fortune 500 leaders, startup CEOs, and their organizations achieve extraordinary results by aligning profits with purpose. A former #1 global franchise partner with Tony Robbins, he led a green-energy company that scaled from startup to a $100 million IPO and over a $500 million exit, and has served as a founding advisor to billion-dollar tech companies. Through his Enlightened Entrepreneurship principles, programs, book, and podcast, Bob teaches leaders how to build businesses that generate massive positive impact for all stakeholders while simultaneously creating exponential profits, freedom, and fulfillment.

Connect with Bob Quintana

Website: bobquintana.com
Podcast: The Enlightened Entrepreneurship Podcast
LinkedIn: Bob Quintana
Book: Enlightened Entrepreneurship (available soon)

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, and business, one conversation at a time.

On this episode of The Care2Grow Show®, Dr. Larry Arbeitman welcomes a dear friend of over 25 years, Dr. George Gertner — founder of Upper Cervical Chiropractic of New York in White Plains. Since meeting as students in the late '90s, the two have mentored, coached, and grown alongside each other, and Dr. Gertner has gone on to build one of the largest upper cervical practices in the world, collecting seven figures annually on a fully cash-based model for over two decades.

In this episode, they discuss:

Dr. Gertner's origin story — a severe low back injury that led him to upper cervical care, and how a single visit with a mentor changed the entire trajectory of his career.

Why he leads with the word "service" instead of "helping" or "fixing" — and how that single shift in language changes the entire power dynamic between provider and patient.

How he builds a care-first culture with his team, including starting every day with a group huddle and reciting their three-paragraph mission statement out loud, by memory.

The "I Care Call" — his practice of personally following up with every new patient the next day, and why handing out his personal cell number after 20+ years has never been abused, only appreciated.

How intentional patient appreciation events like "Turkey Tuesday" (100 free turkeys before Thanksgiving) and "Chiro de Mayo" build community, generate word-of-mouth referrals, and lower the barrier for new patients to walk through the door.

Why he believes the antidote to provider burnout isn't stepping back — it's leaning further into purpose and reconnecting with why you started in the first place.

His personal self-care routine — a 4:30am wake-up, meditation, scripture, and a workout, every single day — that has sustained his energy and passion for 24+ years without burning out.

A lightning round covering his care philosophy in one word (service), the mentor's line that shaped his career ("nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care"), and finishing the sentence: "Care is... understanding."

About Dr. George Gertner

Dr. George Gertner is the founder and owner of Upper Cervical Chiropractic of New York in White Plains, NY. A graduate of Hofstra University and Life University, he has spent more than two decades building one of the largest upper cervical chiropractic practices in the world on a fully cash-based, care-first model. Known for his deep commitment to service, team culture, and patient connection, Dr. Gertner is a respected mentor in the chiropractic profession and a longtime friend and collaborator of Dr. Larry Arbeitman.

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, one conversation at a time.

On this episode of The Care2Grow Show, Dr. Larry Arbeitman sits down with Dr. Leisa Grgula, DC — a Scottsdale, Arizona chiropractor with nearly 30 years of experience who doesn't just teach healing, she's lived it. While still in chiropractic school, Dr. Lisa faced a severe diagnosis of ulcerative colitis that required surgery and extensive medical treatment. That experience reshaped how she thinks about the body, care, and what it really means to heal — and she's been medication-free since 2000.

Today, Dr. Lisa integrates chiropractic care, acupuncture, nutrition, and regenerative medicine to help patients treat the whole person, not just the symptom in front of them.

In this episode, they discuss:

Dr. Lisa's winding path into chiropractic care, including a health scare that pulled her out of pharmacy school and led her to Chicago's National University of Health Sciences for her doctorate.

Her own diagnosis of ulcerative colitis during chiropractic school, and how healing herself naturally — rather than staying on medication indefinitely — became the foundation of her philosophy of care.

Why she refuses to call herself a "healer," and instead sees herself as a tool for the body's own innate ability to heal.

The concept of "throwing your chi" — the energetic exchange that happens any time one human being lays hands on another, and why she sometimes has to cancel acupuncture for the day when she's too depleted to give it safely.

Her whole-body philosophy of care: "You are not a disc walking around" — and why she looks at a patient's full history, medications, and even psychological blocks before treating the presenting complaint.

How she designed her office as a healing environment on purpose — aromatherapy, sound frequency music matched to each patient's emotional state, moss walls, lighting, and a strict "phones off" policy during treatment.

Provider burnout and self-care: her strategies for "refilling the vending machine," including fully shutting down her practice on depleted days rather than pushing through.

An inside look at regenerative medicine — stem cells (Wharton's jelly/HCT), PRP (platelet-rich plasma), and ozone therapy — how each works, how they're combined with chiropractic and acupuncture, and how she used stem cell therapy to heal her own torn rotator cuff without surgery.

Medical tourism to her Scottsdale, Arizona practice, and why patients travel from out of state and even other countries for care.

A lightning round covering her care philosophy in one word (empathy), her biggest influence (Dr. John Amaro), and what she wishes every patient knew about her.

About Dr. Leisa Grgula

Dr. Leisa Grgula is a Doctor of Chiropractic based in North Scottsdale, Arizona, with nearly three decades of experience helping patients restore their health through a holistic, patient-centered approach. She earned her Doctor of Chiropractic degree from the National University of Health Sciences in 1995, where she also became certified in Cox Decompression Manipulative Therapy, and later studied acupuncture under Chinese Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Chih-Wei Rei. Her philosophy is rooted in her own healing journey with ulcerative colitis, and she has been medication-free since 2000. She integrates chiropractic care, acupuncture, nutrition, and regenerative medicine to help patients heal from the inside out, and is an active educator, speaker, and community advocate for compassionate, individualized healthcare.

Connect with Dr. Leisa Grgula

Website: www.CaringPainRelief.com
Facebook: facebook.com/AccurateCare
Instagram: instagram.com/accuratecaremedicalwellness
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCEMXfXOJnEI9OkC1VE051_Q

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it — that's how we put the care back into healthcare, one conversation at a time.

Nicole Wegweiser, LCSW — owner and founder of Mindful Therapy of Monmouth County — joins Dr. Larry Arbeitman for a deep, honest conversation about what real compassionate care looks like in mental health.

Nicole shares her own path into therapy (sparked by finding the right therapist herself during a difficult relationship in her 20s), why she believes providers can't fully help clients go deeper than they've gone in their own healing, and the difference between fixing, helping, and serving a client — a distinction that reframes the entire provider-patient relationship.

The conversation goes deep into Nicole's specialized modalities: EMDR, psychodrama, Imago Relationship Therapy, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) — including the difference between psychedelic and psycholytic uses of ketamine, how it creates new neural pathways ("like fresh powder on a ski slope"), and why the integration process after a journey is where the real transformation happens. She also unpacks inner child work, nervous system regulation, and what "holding space" really means for any provider — not just therapists.

This episode is essential listening for any healthcare provider who wants to understand what root-cause, whole-person care looks like from the mental health side of the room.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

• Nicole's origin story and why she believes therapists must be in their own therapy
• The difference between fixing, helping, and serving a client
• Why self-care isn't optional for providers — it's the foundation of good care
• Inner child work and how childhood attachment wounds show up in adult relationships
• What ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is, and the difference between psychedelic and psycholytic use
• How group "medicine work" creates collective healing
• Why the integration process after a session matters more than the session itself
• What "holding space" means for providers in any healthcare specialty — not just therapy

A few standout lines from this episode:

• "Fixing basically says you're broken and you need me to fix you. Serving says we're in this together."
• "The issues are in our tissues."
• "You have to fall in love with your clients."

Listen to the full conversation — link in bio.

Connect with Nicole Wegweiser, LCSW:
Website: www.nicolewegweiser.com
Instagram: instagram.com/mindful_therapy_of_mc
Facebook: facebook.com/nicolewegweiserlcsw
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicole-wegweiser-lcsw-7211337