The Overwhelmed Vet Podcast

Dear listener, I don’t want you to race around this December, feeling you have to do everything for everyone. I don’t want you to resent work and worry about things you can’t do anything about. I want you to have the most NON BUSY month of the year, physically and mentally. So you can enjoy time with whoever you want, in whichever way you want. I’m working this Christmas, and in this episode of Th...

How does a vet work around the clock for 40+ years, conserving the passion and love for the profession AND the clients? That’s exactly what Dr. Marlene Siegel has achieved, and in this conversation we unwrap her story to find the THREE key points that keep her grounded and passionate. Don’t hesitate to run over and listen to this podcast if you want to get inspired and find out how YOU could also...

With loss comes a range of emotions - the pet owners AND ours. Are you fully prepared to have the difficult conversations? Blocked bladder and no insurance? GDV and no money? Thromboembolism and no way to help? Do you feel responsible for the owner's feelings? How do YOU handle grief? Tune into this episode and learn the 3 main issues we have to be prepared for when death knocks on a beloved...

Do you loooove getting good reviews and positive feedback?? Cards and chocolate?? Me too! Who doesn’t???!!! However … In this podcast episode I explain the danger of relying on external validation and positive feedback in order to feel good in our vet career. Because what happens when the reviews are negative - or the extreme, we’re subject to cyberbullying?? Listen in to learn how you can avoid t...

Do you need to be a perfectionist to become the best vet you can? I’d argue no, because there are THREE main ways perfectionism can be debilitating and it’s vital you know about and can recognise them.  This way you don’t fall in to the same trap as so many other vets before you, burning yourself out and feeling terrible about your “professional weaknesses” There is only one mindset from which you...

Right up until the day you leave vet school you can avoid the feeling of Failure by studying more and working harder. That doesn’t work in the real world. Failure is GUARANTEED along the way. Now how do you cope?   You’re a clever cookie, so you likely never got to experiment failure before. Therefore you don’t learn to cope with the feeling, and never get used to it. This is DEVASTATING  for a pe...

Having the heart in the right place doesn’t necessarily make you a great leader. In this episode I share what a TERRIBLE leader I used to be, and what I have learned from it. Let’s talk about the real consequences of being a subpar clinical director, manager or clinical owner, and the effect you have on your employees and the business. As an employee you need to be able to identify bad management...

2 dogs, 2 completely different cases, same narrative: “You don’t know what’s going on, and you SHOULD!” I want to show you how I reel my brain in when I’m having difficult cases that seem to prove I’m a useless vet that should just go and work in a bakery instead. When these cases survive, my brain also insists it was down to pure luck - when in reality I’ve worked my a** off to save them and keep...

I’ve often been asked why it is that vet struggle so much in this profession. It is actually not much of a mystery when you look at the Hierarchy of Needs of human beings, and put it up against vet med. In this episode I want you to listen closely to the needs that humans HAVE to have met in order to survive, and be honest with yourself: which ones are you NOT meeting?  Once you realise what you’r...

This episode is insanely VALUABLE to you as a vet and a MUST listen! Owners now showering you with cards and chocolates? Nobody giving you a raise or showing you appreciation for all your hard work?  If you don’t feel 100% valued and appreciated by your workplace or by the pet owners, or if you simply don’t think you have much value as a vet: Hold on! In this episode of the Overwhelmed Vet Podcast...

I swear there are shifts where I just seem like Dr. Death, helping one animal after the other over the rainbow bridge while I handle a stream of pet owners grieving in their own, unique way. Sometimes it can seem like we play God. It can be incredibly draining. We feel doubt, regret, grief and on top of that we have to try to be there for the owners. Society does NOT prepare us for death nor grief...

We are living in an epidemic of unhappy veterinarians - are you one of them? Here is the question that made me stop and ponder for 24 hours - and the two ways to solve it I came up with and share with you today. I discuss how you can feel better about your situation, right now, and why so few of us are ready to face the changes needed to turn everything around.  Ready for a change? Here's how...

Have you ever gone to sleep only to break out in sweat because you suddenly remember everything you’ve done wrong that day? Does your brain “helpfully” remind you of all the things you shouldn’t have done, and what you could have done better? Is it affecting your confidence and your willingness to try new things or do things you find difficult? First of all: You’re NOT alone! Second: I have the so...

Being judged and criticised by clients is one thing, but it gets taken to a whole other level when it happens to be another VET that does the judging and criticising.  When you work in vet med, you’re basically a member of a tribe. Risking ridicule and rejection from any member of such a tribe touches something deep inside us and provokes a primal human response of fear, anger and anxiety. In this...

The consequences of not teaching these 2 subjects is that we’re losing vets as quickly as the schools are pumping them out. This podcast is meant to make up for this lack (to an extent, I’m not a magician). The more you understand and work on these skills, the more likely you are to succeed, stay in vet med and have fun! So tune in to this week's episode and get a head start on these missing...

Dr. Z  is an inspiration to the veterinary community and today I bring him on the podcast so he can share with us: The real key(s) to be a happy vet (2 keys, actually!) How you know if you landed in the right job Why he doesn’t get hurt when pet owners don’t like the way he is How to overcome self doubt Why you are a valuable veterinarian What to do when you didn’t achieve the result you wanted Th...

A lot of vets are leaving the industry and one of the reasons is believing we just can’t be happy in this field.  I’ve experienced through myself and my coaching clients that there are 3 main reasons we believe this.  In this episode I want to take you through the 3 scenarios, and why it’s easier than you think to overcome the reason YOU think you can’t be happy.  If you really don’t want to stay...

You may feel overwhelmed and powerless right now in vet med. But hold on!  You can do so much to overcome the burnout. You are NOT powerless and you can totally enjoy this profession and live a great life.  How do I know? I did it! And I know many more who did. In this episode I give you my 5 tips for First Aid in burnout. You can work on them all at once, or just decide on ONE thing, and implemen...

If you don’t feel like your home is your safe haven where you can 100% relax and allow yourself to just sit on the couch and do nothing - then this episode is a MUST-LISTEN . Protecting your boundaries is your responsibility, and by doing so, you preserve your mental stability and prevent burnout - at home as well! Your home should be your happy bubble. In this episode I explain why you even have...

Do you choke on your words when you have to deny a pet owner something?  Is it hard for you to leave on time if a client wants to see YOU and only YOU at a time when you’re not even supposed to be in the clinic? Why can it be so hard sometimes to stand our ground with clients, and feel like we’re being blackmailed into doing something we don’t really want to do? If client interaction is making you...

Do you feel you’re constantly breaking your boundaries in order to keep the peace and fix problems both at work and at home? Does it feel like you’re being pulled from all sides and you just can’t keep up? This stops today. Listen in on this week's episode where I take you through boundary setting at work. Step by step, both how to say no to impromptu asks, and also how to deal with ongoing p...

Do you have days where you just feel “off” and literally DREAD going into work? How often does it happen? Is there a real problem, so something specific you dread? Or is it lack of sleep, a crappy diet, your cycle or the moon? None of the above? Maybe it’s literally just a sh**** day! In this Podcast I break down the possible causes of these “dip” days, and whether they are a problem or not.  If t...

My life as a clinic owner at times felt like I was stuck in a personal hell. It felt like we had created this monster and just had to keep up with its crazy race I was constantly putting out fires and incapable of getting a perspective and making some decisions to change things for the better. These last weeks a few of my clients have gotten past the “putting out fires” and are now in a space wher...

I learned how to set boundaries for pet owners a long time ago. It keeps my love for vet med alive as I don’t let anyone blackmail me into anything, or take it personally when they say outrageous things. In this episode I tell you why and how I got to this level, and what my ex-husband’s hip operation and my TikTok account has to do with it.  Listen to this episode if pet owners are one of the rea...

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has decided to launch a market investigation into the veterinary sector 👀 Is that a good thing? Bad thing? I dunno - I guess transparency and fairness is positive, depending on how they approach this. Said sector makes 5 billion a year, and a LOT of owners are going to read and hear about this. They will interpret these news depending on their view of the...