You can care deeply
without losing yourself.
MARCUS GREATHEART MD MSW
Physician, Social Worker, Author & Speaker
I help frontline workers and leaders navigate difficult conversations, constrained systems and the emotional weight of caring work.My work includes keynotes, workshops, my new book The Field Guide to Frontline Care, and a free twice-monthly email for people doing frontline work called Notes on Staying Human.
NOW AVAILABLE
The Field Guide to Frontline Care
Some of the hardest parts of frontline work are rarely taught. How do you hold a boundary without punishing someone? Respond to anger without escalating it? Stay compassionate without becoming overinvested? Keep showing up without hardening?The Field Guide offers practical tools for the moments that don't make it into training manuals or case conferences.Inside you'll find short, shift-tested chapters on communication, boundaries, conflict, grief and sustainable frontline practice. Built for real encounters. Written for the work as it actually happens.Now available on Amazon and from your local bookseller138 pages | paperback and ebook
Bulk Pricing is available in the US and Canada for organizations, conferences, and staff training. Starting at 10+ copies. Organizations can also pair bulk copies with a keynote, workshop or staff-development session.
Speaking and Workshops
I deliver keynotes, workshops and virtual sessions for frontline teams, leaders and organizations working in healthcare, homelessness, substance use, mental health and other complex human-service settings.My work is grounded in an explicit commitment to addressing anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare and social-service systems. As a non-Indigenous settler, I bring that responsibility into how I teach about care, leadership, systems and organizational culture. I also offer dedicated keynotes and education on disrupting anti-Indigenous racism.Staying Human in Frontline WorkMoral distress, grief, burnout, cynicism, boundaries and how people keep caring when the work is taking a toll.Difficult Conversations and CommunicationPractical skills for anger, mistrust, refusal, limit-setting, bad news, repair and conversations when people are overwhelmed or under strain.Flagship workshop: Language That Lowers the TemperatureGood Care in Constrained SystemsHow workers and leaders preserve dignity, trust and useful care when housing, treatment, staffing or other resources are limited.Sessions can be tailored as keynotes, team education, half-day or full-day workshops and virtual learning.Organizations can also incorporate bulk copies of The Field Guide to Frontline Care into workshops, conferences and staff development.
“Marcus is a rare kind of speaker—reliable, deeply authentic, and able to connect with people on a profoundly human level. At our conference, his talk stood out as one of those moments that people don’t just hear, they feel. He speaks to what we all need to be reminded of: the power of love, community, and humanity. Marcus doesn’t just share ideas—he leaves you changed.”Dr. Sara Lea, Medical Director, Education, Onboarding and Leadership Development, Island Health
Book Marcus to Speak
Upcoming Events
I'm often speaking at conferences, leading workshops or attending events across Canada. If you'll be at one of these, I'd be glad to meet you.
November 2-5, 2026 - Winnipeg
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Conference
Attending - If you're there, I'd love to say hello.November 10, 2026 - Thunder Bay + Virtual
Harm Reduction Conference
Keynote - When Care and Constraint Collide: Staying Human in Harm Reduction WorkNovember 19-21, 2026 - Calgary
Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine Conference
Attending - Come say hi if you're attending, too.
Watch Marcus Speak and see how he works with audiences.
Watch Marcus Speak
Watch Marcus in action in this PechaKucha talk on street medicine, burnout prevention, and why compassion is a strategy, not a weakness.
Social Media Reach
I share practical education on frontline care, addiction, homelessness, difficult conversations and sustainable practice across TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.My content reaches frontline workers, clinicians, leaders, families and people with lived experience across Canada and beyond.45,000+ followers across social platforms
Marcus Greatheart MD, CCFP, MSW, RSW, is a family physician, registered social worker and addiction medicine leader based on Vancouver Island.His work spans street medicine, hospital-based addiction care, outreach, health-system leadership, education and writing. He works primarily with people experiencing homelessness, substance use and mental illness, and with the teams and systems responsible for their care.Much of his work sits where care and constraint collide: when workers know what people need but the available system cannot reliably provide it.Marcus writes and teaches about practical frontline care, difficult conversations, sustainable practice, leadership and the responsibilities of healthcare systems toward people who experience exclusion and discrimination.He is the author of The Field Guide to Frontline Care and speaks with healthcare, social-service and community organizations across Canada, the US and internationally.
I live and work on the unceded territory of the Laichwiltach people, and the We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwaikah First Nations, for which I am truly grateful.“Compassion is empathy in action.”© 2026 Dr. Marcus Greatheart