S1, E96: Mallorie Cracroft - Uplift for Her
The landscape of women's healthcare is undergoing a transformation, led by physicians like Dr. Mallorie Craycroft who are challenging the status quo of rushed appointments and symptom-focused treatment. After spending nearly 15 years as a traditional OBGYN, Dr. Craycroft founded Uplift for Her, a clinic that represents a bold departure from conventional medical practices by blending functional and conventional medicine to treat women holistically.
The journey to creating this innovative healthcare model wasn't a straight path. Dr. Craycroft's story begins like many physicians - completing medical school, residency, and establishing herself in a respected practice. However, as she balanced her demanding career with motherhood, she found herself in an impossible position: feeling like she was constantly letting someone down, whether it was her patients, her partners, or her family. "I loved everywhere that I was, and yet while I was there I constantly felt guilt for not being the other place," she explains, highlighting a struggle familiar to many working parents.
This internal conflict led to daily contemplation about how to practice medicine differently. Unlike many practitioners who transition to functional medicine following a personal health crisis, Dr. Craycroft's motivation stemmed from wanting to create harmony between her professional calling and personal life. However, personal health challenges within her family - including her sister's struggle with debilitating symptoms and her mother's dementia diagnosis - deepened her commitment to finding better approaches to healthcare.
The constraints of traditional medical practice became increasingly apparent. The insurance-driven model, with its focus on disease states, medications, and coding systems, left little room for addressing the whole person. "If you start trying to go outside of the system and look at the whole person and start to connect dots, the system doesn't support that very well," Dr. Craycroft notes. Fifteen-minute appointments simply weren't sufficient for understanding complex health issues or exploring factors like nutrition, sleep, stress, and emotional wellbeing.
Uplift for Her emerged as a solution to these constraints. The clinic offers extended appointments, comprehensive testing, and a collaborative approach involving multiple practitioners including a nurse practitioner, therapist, dietician, and health coach. This team-based model ensures women receive support across all dimensions of health. Most importantly, it creates a safe space where patients feel heard and validated - often for the first time in their healthcare journey.
What makes this approach particularly powerful is its ability to uncover and address root causes of health issues. Dr. Craycroft describes the transformation of patients who come with multiple symptoms affecting their quality of life - fatigue, brain fog, sleep disturbances - that have been dismissed by other providers. "One of the things that I get to tell patients... is this is not normal and not acceptable. I don't accept this for you," she states, acknowledging the profound impact of validating someone's experience after years of being told to simply live with their symptoms.
The results speak for themselves. Women who once struggled to participate in activities they love, manage their work effectively, or be fully present for their families are reclaiming their vitality. "I get patients who will tell me, 'My life is different,' or even more importantly, 'I got my life back,'" Dr. Craycroft shares.
This patient-centered model represents the future of healthcare - one where providers have the time and resources to truly listen, where treatment plans address underlying causes rather than just managing symptoms, and where patients are active participants in their healing journey. While currently outside the insurance model, making it less accessible to all women, clinics like Uplift for Her are demonstrating what's possible when healthcare is reimagined with patients' needs at the center.
As more healthcare providers recognize the limitations of conventional models and patients increasingly demand more comprehensive care, we may see a broader shift toward this integrative approach. The transformation of women's healthcare isn't just about new treatments or technologies - it's about creating space for deeper connections, asking better questions, and recognizing that true healing encompasses all aspects of a person's life.
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