Medical Student Programming
Supporting Medical Students Across the Training Arc
Programs designed to help medical students grow as clinicians and as people, navigating relationships, identity, and wellbeing at every stage of training.
Why Train Medical Students?
Medical school is a period of rapid transition. Students are not only learning clinical knowledge, but also
renegotiating identities
managing relationships
building emotional resilience
within a high-pressure professional culture.
schools are tasked with preparing graduates who are emotionally intelligent, resilient under pressure, and capable of sustaining meaningful personal relationships alongside their professional roles.
More than ever, schools support students both as future clinicians and as human beings.
My medical student programming prepares students to navigate each stage of training with clarity, wellbeing, and relational stability. Sessions are developmentally tailored and commonly integrated into orientation, wellness initiatives, or professional development curricula within MD and DO programs.
About the Facilitator
Sarah Epstein, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist with:
Sarah Epstein, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist with extensive experience supporting medical students, residents, and physicians. She has:
10+ years of clinical experience helping medical trainees manage stress and relationship impact of a life in medicine
Worked with learners and physicians at every career stage
Authored “Love in the Time of Medical School,” a book on relationships in training
Written for KevinMD and Psychology Today (3.5M+ readers)
Served as a media source for Forbes, NBC, Reader’s Digest, HuffPost, and others
Available Sessions
MS1: Managing Relationships Throughout Medical School
Audience: Incoming medical students
Length: 1 Hour
This training will teach students to:
Embrace important principles for healthy romantic relationships during training
Cope with common relationship challenges
Balance academic demands and relationship needs
Communicate and handle stress together with a partner
MS3: Building (Real, Sustainable) Clinical Resilience
Audience: Students starting clinical rotations
Length: 1 Hour + (Can be tailored)
This course will teach medical students to:
Identify specific, individual clinical stressors during 3rd and 4th year rotations
Cope with grief, anger, and overwhelm in clinical settings
Build realistic and individualized short and long-term self-care strategies when facing critically ill or dying patients
Develop and implement micro and macro-level interventions for better coping with the demands of medicine
MS4: Managing Relationships During Residency Application Season
Audience: Students applying for residency
Length: 1 Hour
This training will teach incoming 4th year students:
Recognize common relationship challenges during residency application season
Have important conversations with partners about stress
Cope with uncertainty during waiting periods
Navigate relational challenges during applications
Build additional supports to sustain relationships
Sarah’s Featured Writing on Physician Well-Being
As part of my work supporting physicians and healthcare professionals, I regularly contribute articles to KevinMD.com. My writing explores physician burnout, relationship challenges, and the emotional side of practicing medicine.
Recent Articles
The Unseen Emotional Toll of Being a Physician
4 traits every new attending physician needs to thrive
Successful life after residency: 6 key ways to recover and thrive