Dr. Vanessa Downing (Avondale, PA) is a licensed psychologist and executive coach. She has been a peer coach with VITAL WorkLife since 2021. She received her doctoral degree in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Downing is the founder of Congruence Coaching & Consultation where she coaches individual clinicians, teams, and leaders on well-being, practice satisfaction, goal fulfillment, and workplace culture.

Dr. Downing started her career as a cardiovascular psychologist working at the bedside of patients facing life altering diagnoses. Her experiences on multidisciplinary teams included navigating intense system demands while fighting for the lives of patients. These experiences sparked her enduring passion for the well-being of physicians, nurses, and all healthcare workers.

This work led to the creation of one of the nation’s first hospital-based centers dedicated solely to original interventions and well-being services tailored for delivery to individuals and teams on the job. Her role as Director of the ChristianaCare Center for WorkLife Wellbeing emphasized advocacy for frontline workers, leadership development, and empowerment of individuals to influence culture change in meaningful and lasting ways.