The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success

Knowing one should say no is one thing. Actually doing it — when someone is standing right in front of a person expecting a yes — is something else entirely. In Part 2 of the “Wired to say yes” Resilient Vet podcast series, cohost Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, brings in her CORE Element framework, a framework for intentional life and leadership, to explore what reclaimed agency actually...

Most veterinary professionals are highly skilled at saying yes, and it may come at a greater cost than many realize. In this first episode of a two-part series, cohost Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, goes beneath the surface of burnout and overaccommodation to explore where the inability to say no actually comes from. Spoiler: it starts long before veterinary school. For those who have fe...

In veterinary medicine, being the person who always comes through is often celebrated, until it starts costing more than it's worth. In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, cohosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, examine chronic over-accommodation—a habit that gets rewarded in veterinary medicine while quietly depleting...

The instinct when something isn't working is to fix the behavior, but according to Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, that is often where the fix goes wrong. In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, Edwards breaks down the CORE Element Framework, a conscious leadership model she created that locates the real driver of outcomes not in what people do, but in...

Veterinary work is physically demanding, yet chronic neck, back, and wrist pain are often treated as unavoidable parts of the profession. In this episode of Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, discuss the physical demands of clinical practice, from repetitive strain from dentistry, surgery, to the physical...

In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , the focus shifts from motivation to what actually sustains healthy habits. Hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, discuss why relying on motivation often falls short and how small, consistent changes, supportive environments, and realistic expectations can help veterinary professi...

This episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success focuses on a familiar challenge in veterinary medicine: maintaining proper nutrition during long, unpredictable workdays. As clinic schedules fill and breaks become limited, meals are often replaced with quick, convenient options. Cohosts Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, and Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, discuss how th...

Why do so many workplace frustrations in veterinary medicine feel hard to explain? Building on episode 11 of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, delve deeper into the hidden cost of unspoken expectations—how assumptions, unclear standards, and mismatched “mental bars” quietly erode performance, r...

In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS; and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP explore how everyday thought patterns, which often go unnoticed, can drain energy and keep veterinary professionals feeling stuck. Designed as a rapid-fire but actionable conversation, the episode breaks down 3 common roadblocks in veterinary...

There is a veterinary technician — you probably know her, or someone exactly like her — who has been at the practice for 11 years. She knows which cats will bite before they're out of the carrier, which clients need five extra minutes, and how to talk a panicked owner off a ledge at 4:45 on a Friday. She is, by every reasonable measure, indispensable. And that is precisely the problem. Veterinary...

Veterinary medicine can take a toll on the body and mind, especially during long, physically demanding clinic days. In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, outline the 5 levers of durability—5 practical upgrades veterinary professionals can begin incorporating into their daily rout...

In this episode of The Resilient Vet Podcast: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, discuss the impact of catabolic energy on veterinary teams. Edwards explains that the exhaustion many veterinary professionals feel is often tied less to their workload and more to the breaking-down, draining nature of catabolic energ...

In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, discuss how physical and emotional preparation before shifts can help veterinary professionals become more resilient in their careers. They explain that resilience is not a "switch" one flips, nor a product that can be bought. Rather, it is a...

Veterinary medicine asks a lot of the people who practice it. To continue showing up for difficult cases, emotional clients, and challenging demands, many veterinarians learn to put on “emotional armor,” like humor and control. However, what happens when this “armor” stops protecting and starts wearing down? In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, hosts Aaron Sh...

In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, delve into workplace culture and the role it plays in personal well-being. They explore how the well-being of each individual contributes to the collective culture and how that culture can either support or hinder the whole team. Shaw and Edw...

“We all know that burnout in [veterinary] medicine is really kind of an epidemic,” cohost Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, begins in this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success . In this installment, Shaw and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, dig into why veterinary professionals continue to struggle with burnout despite the abundance of wellness information availab...

In this episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success , hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, delve into the concept of “VetSpan,” a term coined by Shaw, that describes the years veterinary professionals can thrive in their careers.

Hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, discuss how physical sensations, like tension, fatigue, or even excitement, can serve as valuable tools for self-awareness, balance, and performance in and outside the clinic.

Through personal anecdotes and practical tips, hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, talk about how just 15 minutes each day can make work easier in this episode of The Resilient Vet.

In this debut episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, share their personal journeys, explore what resilience means in veterinary medicine, and more. Read more, and watch the full video clip, here: https://www.dvm360.com/videos/the-resilient-vet