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As veterinary professionals, we are conditioned to believe that the next surgery, the next certification, or the next "thank you" from a client will finally make us feel successful. But for many of us, that feeling of "enoughness" never arrives. Instead, we find ourselves stuck in the High Achiever’s Loop—a cycle of perfectionism and overworking that leads straight to burnout.

In this episode, DVM and leadership coach Dr. Jennifer Edwards joins us to deconstruct why our drive for excellence so often turns into a pattern of self-sacrifice. Jennifer draws on 25 years of practice ownership and her expertise in energy work to explain how our early identity patterns shape our current leadership styles. We explore why achievement only provides temporary relief from anxiety, the difference between "fixing" yourself and shifting your patterns, and how to reclaim your clarity and ease without losing your professional edge.

Watch the Video Version of this Episode
https://youtu.be/3xTZVxTpNgU

Resources
Follow Dr. Jennifer Edwards on social media: www.linkedin.com/in/drjenniferedwards, https://www.instagram.com/drjenniferedwards/, https://www.facebook.com/drjenniferedwards/
Visit Dr. Jennifer Edwards’ website: www.drjenniferedwards.com

Thank you to our sponsor Hill’s Pet Nutrition
For more information about Hill's products and nutritional philosophy, please visit HillsPet.com or HillsPet.ca.

Veterinary Leadership Collective
Leadership doesn't have to be lonely. Join Dr. Marie Holowaychuk's facilitated peer coaching community for veterinary practice owners, managers, medical directors, and team leads. Learn more and join the waitlist: revivingvetmed.com/collective.

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For more practical pointers and tangible tips related to veterinary mental health and wellbeing, subscribe to our e-newsletter: https://revivingvetmed.kartra.com/page/newsletter

Online Resources
To access Reviving Veterinary Medicine’s free resources including handouts, posters, meditations, and quizzes, please visit: https://revivingvetmed.com/resources

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Email: podcast@revivingvetmed.com

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Behavioral euthanasia is one of the most emotionally complex and least supported aspects of veterinary medicine. It sits at the intersection of medical ethics, human safety, and the human-animal bond, often leaving veterinary teams grappling with moral injury. In this episode, we’re joined by Valerie Bogie, an animal trainer and Veterinary Social Worker, to discuss how we can better support both the pet owners and the professionals providing the care.

Drawing from her 20 years of experience and her work as the Director of Human Support Services at Insight Animal Behavior Services, Valerie explores how behavior science and social work principles can protect our mental health. We discuss the "Pain Connection", the fact that up to 80% of behavior cases have an underlying medical cause, and how a thorough workup can provide the "why" that alleviates a team’s moral distress. We also dive into the "Person-in-Environment" framework to help mitigate judgment and burnout, and the practicalities of "Emotional CPR" for teams after a heavy case.

Valerie also shares insights into the "invisible labor" clients perform before reaching a crisis point and how a supportive, non-judgmental response from the veterinary team can shape a professional’s own sense of identity. This conversation offers an essential perspective for anyone in veterinary medicine who wants to navigate behavioral loss with more compassion, less shame, and a stronger commitment to team longevity.

Watch the Video Version of this Episode
https://youtu.be/QfHV6bKjEUM

Resources
Connect with Valerie Bogie on social media: www.instagram.com/valerie_bogie, www.facebook.com/valeriebogievsw, www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-bogie/

Visit Valerie’s website: https://linktr.ee/valeriebogievsw

Valerie’s additional resources: https://revivingvetmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Behavioral-euthanasia-resources-for-Reviving-Vet-Med-show-notes.pdf

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Newsletter
For more practical pointers and tangible tips related to veterinary mental health and wellbeing, subscribe to our e-newsletter: https://revivingvetmed.kartra.com/page/newsletter

Online Resources
To access Reviving Veterinary Medicine’s free resources including handouts, posters, meditations, and quizzes, please visit: https://revivingvetmed.com/resources

Questions, Suggestions, or Sponsorship Opportunities
Email: podcast@revivingvetmed.com

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Burnout is a universal challenge in veterinary medicine, but does the practice environment change the experience? In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Emily Li, an Emergency and Critical Care specialist based in Melbourne, Australia.

Emily’s interest in mental health was forged on the front lines of emergency medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Driven by her own lived experience and the challenges she saw in the clinic, she dedicated her Master’s thesis to comparing burnout drivers among general practitioners and emergency veterinarians across Australia.

During this episode, we discuss how workplace structures and workload predictability impact both groups. We also explore what surprisingly does not differ between general practice and ER burnout, and why Emily believes systemic changes, rather than just individual resilience, are the only way forward for the profession. Emily shares a grounded, evidence based perspective on the real drivers of exhaustion and highlights the importance of the person in environment fit.

Watch the Video Version of this Episode
https://youtu.be/ycynLHKEEHc

Resources
Follow Dr. Emily Li on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-li-b59309137/

Read Dr. Li’s papers: A comparison between veterinary small animal general practitioners and emergency practitioners in Australia Part 1 (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10993158/) and Part 2 (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10932987/)

Thank you to our sponsor Hill’s Pet Nutrition
For more information about Hill's products and nutritional philosophy, please visit HillsPet.com or HillsPet.ca.

Thank you to our sponsor Co-Vet
For a free trial of Co-Vet, please visit https://www.co.vet/. And follow Co-Vet on social media: Instagram: @covet.ai, Facebook: @coVetAIApp, LinkedIn: @CoVet

Newsletter
For more practical pointers and tangible tips related to veterinary mental health and wellbeing, subscribe to our e-newsletter: https://revivingvetmed.kartra.com/page/newsletter

Online Resources
To access Reviving Veterinary Medicine’s free resources including handouts, posters, meditations, and quizzes, please visit: https://revivingvetmed.com/resources

Questions, Suggestions, or Sponsorship Opportunities
Email: podcast@revivingvetmed.com

Support the show