Move the Needle on Burnout by Going to the Source.

A Nervous System Solution for Individual Burnout and Systemic Renewal

Distress Rx™ empowers organizations—corporate, nonprofit, and healthcare—to shift culture through our 3-Phase Framework: Identify. Interact. Integrate.

By teaching leaders and teams to identify emotional stress patterns, interact with them using evidence-based tools, and integrate regulation strategies into daily operations, organizations move beyond surface-level wellness efforts.

This process builds resilience across entire systems—creating teams that can regulate stress, communicate with clarity, and sustain compassion under pressure.

Who We Serve

Distress Rx™ partners with organizations of every size and structure—because dysfunction doesn’t discriminate, and neither does prevention.

• Large Healthcare Systems – Optimize performance, prevent burnout, and strengthen leadership across complex care networks.
• Private Practices – Foster communication, improve patient care, and sustain clinician well-being.
• Residency & Fellowship Programs – Equip future physicians with emotional regulation tools and sustainable leadership habits.
• Academic & Training Institutions – Build psychologically safe cultures that value learning through regulation, not reactivity.
• C-Suite & Executive Teams – Lead from coherence and clarity, ensuring alignment between mission and emotional health.
• Corporate, Nonprofit, and Hybrid Organizations – Improve engagement, retention, and empathy across all professional environments.

We can solve dysfunction—or we can come in and prevent it. Whether your organization is facing challenges or preparing for growth, we help regulate the system before it breaks—or rebuild it stronger if it already has.

When Teams Learn to Regulate, Systems Start to Thrive

• Boundaries are respected
• Feedback becomes constructive
• Conflict turns into communication
• Compassion and performance coexist
• Every voice feels heard

Distress Rx™ equips leaders and teams with a shared language for regulation, empathy, and cohesion.

Who We Are

Catalyst for Organizations™ was founded by three physician leaders who understand both the system and the solution:

Ali Novitsky, MD

CEO & Founder, The Fit Collective®

Triple Boarded in Obesity Medicine, Pediatrics, and Neonatology. Creator of DistressRx™ and Co-Founder of Catalyst for Organizations™.

Mark Novitsky, MD

Senior Advisory Board, The Fit Collective®

Triple Boarded in Psychiatry & Obesity Medicine. Co-Founder of Catalyst for Organizations™ and Master DistressRx™ Coach.

Brooke Buckley, MD

Senior Advisory Board, The Fit Collective®

Boarded in Surgery & Lifestyle Medicine. Specialized in trauma-informed leadership and workforce resilience.

START HERE: Welcome to the Catalyst Program

An ACGME-Aligned, Longitudinal Training System for Physician Well-Being, Professional Identity, and Emotional Regulation

Welcome to Catalyst, a fully integrated 12-month curriculum that strengthens how you think, feel, lead, and practice medicine. Catalyst is designed for physicians, residents, and healthcare leaders—combining emotional regulation, professional identity development, stress physiology, communication mastery, and burnout prevention into one cohesive framework.

Catalyst teaches professionalism not as a disciplinary concept, but as a trainable behavior, rooted in emotional regulation under stress.

🔵 1. The Pillars of Catalyst

Every month includes structured learning across three evidence-based pillars:

Pillar 1 — Physiological Regulation (Asynchronous Video lessons)

• Nutrition Training
• Exercise Programming
• Body Composition & Biometric Interpretation

These modules support metabolic health, energy stability, and cognitive performance.

Pillar 2 — Emotional Regulation (Asynchronous Written Learning Lessons)

• DistressRx™ Framework
• Stress Subtypes
• 12 Neuropsychological Stress Lenses

This pillar teaches you how your physiology drives behavior—and how to regulate under pressure with precision.

Pillar 3 — Wellness Coaching Circles (Live + Replays)

• Monthly Physician Wellness Coaching Using Evidence-Based Tools
• DistressRx™ Integration & Application
• Professional Identity Development
• Real-Time Reflection, Case Discussion, and Relational Processing

This is where your learning becomes lived experience through reflection, skill application, and relational intelligence.

🔵 2. Your First Step: Take the DistressRx™ Assessment

Understanding how you cope with stress is foundational to Catalyst.

Please complete the DistressRx™ tool here:
👉 https://drali.typeform.com/to/F5IBE9OC

The DistressRx™ Assessment identifies your primary stress subtype:

• Isolation Distress
• Control Distress
• Assertive Distress
• Validation Distress
• Catastrophizing Distress
• Impulsivity Distress

You will receive a personalized profile that helps you understand:

• Your physiology under stress
• Your communication patterns
• Your burnout risks
• Your relational patterns
• Your fastest path back to grounded, regulated decision-making

This assessment is essential because Catalyst teaches you to work with your physiology—not against it.

🔵 3. What You Can Expect Over the Next 12 Months

Catalyst is longitudinal, experiential, reflective, and transformational. You will learn to:

Regulate Your Physiology

Through nutrition, movement, sleep, and somatic strategies that improve cognitive performance and recovery.

Regulate Your Emotions

Through tools grounded in neuroscience, CBT, DBT, and the DistressRx™ framework.

Transform Your Professional Identity

Integrating communication, boundaries, leadership, and reflective practice while meeting ACGME standards.

Lead Yourself and Others

Each month strengthens psychological safety, conflict mastery, team dynamics, and system navigation.

Prevent Burnout From Every Angle

Catalyst addresses burnout biologically, behaviorally, relationally, and structurally.

The 12-Month Catalyst Curriculum

The Catalyst Curriculum is a fully integrated, 12-month ACGME-aligned training program built across three core components:

• Pillar 1: Physiological Regulation — Exercise, nutrition, body composition
• Pillar 2: Emotional Regulation — DistressRx™, stress subtypes, neuropsychological lenses
• Pillar 3: Monthly Live Call — Evidence-based wellness tools integrated with DistressRx™

MONTH 1 — Foundations of Professional Identity

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Motivational Interviewing
• Gathering Data for Nutrition & Exercise Baselines

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Introduction to DistressRx™
• The six core stress subtypes
• Neuroscience of stress coping patterns

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: CBT Thought Distortions
Lecture Alignment: Science of Stress Subtypes (Lecture 1)

MONTH 2 — Communication & Conflict Navigation

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Assessing Body Type
• Nutrition Audit

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Assertive, Isolation, Control subtypes
• Subtype traits & burnout patterns
• Subtype-specific regulation strategies

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: DBT Emotional Regulation Skills
Lecture Alignment: Deep Dive Subtypes (Lectures 2 & 3)

MONTH 3 — Emotional Intelligence & Self-Management

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Interpreting Nutrition Audits
• BMR & Hunger Hormones

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Validation, Catastrophizing, Impulsivity subtypes
• Team impact of these patterns
• Targeted regulation tools

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Emotional Intelligence & Self-Compassion
Lecture Alignment: Core Regulation Strategies (Lecture 4)

MONTH 4 — Values-Aligned Boundaries

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Setting Goals
• Fat Loss vs Muscle Gain

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Burnout risk mapping
• Subtype-linked vulnerabilities
• Personalized prevention tools

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Boundary Setting & Nervous System Safety
Lecture Alignment: Regulated × Regulated Matrix (Lecture 5)

MONTH 5 — Team Dynamics & Interdisciplinary Respect

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Choosing Nutrition Strategies
• Calculated Macros

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Regulated × Regulated Matrix
• Team strengths & synergy
• Designing regulated roles

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Communication & Conflict Navigation
Lecture Alignment: Stressed × Stressed Matrix (Lecture 6)

MONTH 6 — Ethical Professionalism

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Mindful Macros®
• Intuitive Eating

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Stressed × Stressed Matrix
• Team-level impact
• De-escalation strategies

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Identity & Integration Practices
Lecture Alignment: Regulated Supporting Stressed Matrix (Lecture 7)

MONTH 7 — Psychological Safety & Culture

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Integrating Nutrition Concepts
• Tracking Physiological Progress

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Regulated Supporting Stressed Matrix
• Stabilization strategies
• Leadership scripts

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Perfectionism & High-Performance Anxiety
Lecture Alignment: Matrix in Real Systems (Lecture 8)

MONTH 8 — Leadership Development

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Exercise Strategy
• Handling Plateaus

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Applying the Stress Matrix in real-world systems
• Implementation planning
• Outcome evaluation

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Imposter Syndrome & Worthiness
Lecture Alignment: Lenses 1–4 (Lecture 9)

MONTH 9 — System Navigation & Advocacy

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Mindset Barriers
• GLP-1 Medications

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Neuropsychological Lenses 1–4
• Evolution, Attachment, Perception, Identity

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Relationship Patterns Under Stress
Lecture Alignment: Lenses 5–8 (Lecture 10)

MONTH 10 — Burnout Prevention & Recovery

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Four Pillars of Obesity Medicine
• Post-Bariatric Nutrition

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Neuropsychological Lenses 5–8
• Relationships, Body, Story, Emotions

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Sleep & Cognitive Recovery
Lecture Alignment: Lenses 9–12 (Lecture 11)

MONTH 11 — Community-Building & Connection

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• GLP-1 Nutrition Considerations
• Developing Healthy Nutrition Culture for Families

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Neuropsychological Lenses 9–12
• Grief, Temperament, Boundaries, Anticipation

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Rumination & Mental Load
Lecture Alignment: Integration & Relational Processing (Lecture 12)

MONTH 12 — Integration, Legacy & Growth

Pillar 1 – Physiological Regulation

• Simple Nutrition Strategy for Families
• Evaluating & Improving Muscle Mass %

Pillar 2 – Emotional Regulation

• Comprehensive DistressRx™ Integration
• Personalized lifelong regulation strategy

Pillar 3 – Monthly Live Call

Topic: Grit, Resilience & Endurance Training
Lecture Alignment: Action Plan & Ongoing Strategy (Lecture 12)