Daring DVM

Ep66: Veterinary Anxiety and Your Doctor Brain

It’s no secret that veterinarians and veterinary professionals suffer from higher rates of anxiety, pessimism, and poor mental health compared to other professions.
And most of us think we know why… but most of us are wrong.
A lot of the clients I work with, on top of feeling anxious (or even burned out or borderline depressed), have a lot of confusion and shame about why they feel that way. They think that their brains are broken or that there’s something wrong with them and it can’t be fixed.
Thankfully, they’re wrong.
There’s a specific set of reasons why we are anxious. In this episode, I go through these reasons and explain why your veterinary doctor brain works the way it does and why knowing this is important if you want to reduce your stress levels and create a better work experience.
What You’ll Learn From this Episode:
What veterinary “doctor brain” is and how it differs from the brains of people in other professions.
Why your doctor brain tends to spin out of control and create unnecessary stress and anxiety.
The real reason why veterinary professionals are stressed out (it’s not quite what you think).
How the pressure of professional responsibility and the competitive nature of our careers contributes to our anxiety.
Why there is nothing inherently wrong with you or your brain.
And how your thinking can be changed.
PLUS a downloadable PDF workbook to help you get started in taming your anxiety 💗
 
LINKS in this episode:
Fixing Your Anxious Veterinary Brain
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
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Ep65: Dr. Jennifer Edwards - Creating Joy and Happiness through Coaching in Your Life and Your Career

Dr. Jennifer Edwards is a veterinarian and a life and leadership coach.
And what I admire about her is that she embraces her own path of personal growth and transformation, as well as helping her clients do the same. With a passion for fostering consciousness in veterinary leadership, she empowers professionals to transform their challenges into stepping stones for success. Dr. Jennifer is deeply passionate about helping others find their happiness, just as others have helped her.
In today's special guest interview, we are talking all things coaching!
How to use coaching to create self-awareness
How coaching changes your perspectives
How coaching changes the ways you show up in your life
And using mindfulness in your day
 
Connect with Dr. Jennifer Edwards:
Website
LinkedIn
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
LinkedIn
 
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Ep64: A Practical Strategy for Deeper Connection

"Hearing is physiological. Listening is a choice".- Roland Barthes (translated)
Active listening is a skill that can dramatically improve both your personal and professional life. Yet many of us don't know how to do it well.
We may think we are listening, but when it comes down to it, we are often missing the point.
So how do you become a pro at listening? It all starts with your nervous system and setting the intention to truly be present.
In this week's episode we cover
A step-by-step process on how to actively listen
Pitfalls to avoid
Tips to make the best of any heated conversation
And what you can do to improve your listening skills today.
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
LinkedIn
 
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Ep63: Lost in Translation - Five Mistakes That Make You Miss What Matters

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood."- Dr. Stephen R. Covey
Communication is one of the most important skill sets we can develop in our lives. Our communication styles and abilities affect how we interact with the world, and they build the foundation of ALL our relationships!
But how many of us truly know how to listen? Really, really listen?
Active listening is a skill that can dramatically improve both your personal and professional life. Yet many of us don't know how to do it well. We think we are listening, but when it comes down to it, we are often missing the point.
In this week's episode we cover
The importance of listening versus hearing
How listening requires full nervous system presence in your resilient state
The top 5 mistakes that we make when listening
And what you can do to improve your listening skills!
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
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Ep62: My Amygdala Made Me Do It!

Today we are taking a look at a fascinating brain structure - the amygdala!
This little brain region is so interesting because it does way more than just control our fight, flight or fright response. Yet for many of us, we only know it as the fear center of our brain.
Our amygdala actually plays a very important role in our reward pathways and helps us to make decisions through the lens of motivational significance. 
If you're interested in learning more about this powerful little brain structure, then this episode is for you!
 
Links from Episode:
Dr. Kay Tye and her research lab.
Input-specific control of reward and aversion in the ventral tegmental area (Nature)
Extraneous factors in judicial decisions (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
LinkedIn
 
Join the Daring DVM Newsletter For more in-depth tools, strategies and practices delivered weekly to your inbox 💌
 

Ep61: A Simple Tool to Stop Feeling So Bad!

This week I'm sharing a simple and effective tool to help you process and regulate your emotions.
The RULER technique is based on the work of Dr. Marc Brackett.
It is an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning and is an acronym for the five skills of emotional intelligence (Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating).
Using this tool helps in understanding the value of emotions, building the skills of emotional intelligence, and creating and maintaining positive environments (home, school, work, social...).
Developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, RULER has been proven to boost academic performance, decrease school problems like bullying, enrich classroom climates, reduce teacher stress and burnout, and enhance teacher instructional practices.
 
Want to feel more empowered and in control of your life? Then you're gonna wanna learn this simple, effective tool!
 
Links from Episode:
How We Feel App
Marc Brackett and the RULER Technique
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
LinkedIn
 
Join the Daring DVM Newsletter For more in-depth tools, strategies and practices delivered weekly to your inbox 💌
 

Ep60: Dr. Alexandra McLaughry - Innovative Solutions to Life-Work Alignment and Building a Practice You Love

Daring DVM Special Guest Interview with Dr. Alexandra McLaughry.
Dr. Alexandra McLaughry is a veterinarian, a practice owner, and innovator.
She is the owner of BarburVet in Portland OR, and has grown a thriving practice in which they are only open four days a week!
Dr. Alexandra and her husband created the practice management software, VetBadger, which is one of the secrets to them being able to support their business and run their hospital in the way that they do.
Because they have been able to improve and streamline their day-to-day using VetBadger, they have created a successful, thriving hospital where they foster an environment promoting mental health, having fun at work, honoring personal boundaries, and cherishing and celebrating a rich and fulfilling personal life.
 
Links for episode:
Interested in contacting Dr. Alexandra - mclaughry@barburvet.com
Find out more about VetBadger
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
LinkedIn
 
Join the Daring DVM Newsletter For more in-depth tools, strategies and practices delivered weekly to your inbox 💌
 
 

Ep59: Putting Feelings Into Words - The Science of Affect Labeling

Affect labeling is one of my favorite tools to use.
It's simple. It's easy. And it's so darn powerful!
This week I'm sharing some of the science behind affect labeling and why it works. We'll also cover a simple 3 Step Process that you can use to teach yourself how to do this. 
Want to feel more empowered and in control of your life? Then you're gonna wanna learn this simple, effective tool!
 
Links from Episode:
How We Feel App
Torre, J. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2018). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling as implicit emotion regulation. Emotion Review, 10(2), 116–124.
Jamieson JP, Nock MK, Mendes WB. Mind over matter: reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2012 Aug;141(3):417-22. 
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
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Ep58: Lead Like You Mean It - The Responsibility of Veterinary Leadership

If you want to attract future veterinary professionals to the industry, then you need to be willing to make changes that invite them in.
This week we are discussing the importance of veterinary leadership and how these roles simply cannot just be enjoyed for the privileges and authority that they bring. 
If you are in a leadership position within our industry, you have a responsibility to make changes to the system that reflect the needs and desires of the incoming veterinarians, technicians, and other professionals whose future careers are at stake.
You are accountable for what you choose to do with your leadership and what you fail to do with it.
It's well past the time to offer more than just appreciation pizza and free coffee in the breakroom. It's time to step up and to make real change.
 
Topics covered:
Self-responsibility for improvement in all veterinary professionals
Why leadership roles matter in fostering change
The importance of a growth mindset
How the industry takes advantage of individual resiliency and what we can do to change this
Ideas of change at the hospital, university and corporate levels that are already working
What you can do as a veterinary leader
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
LinkedIn
 
Join the Daring DVM Newsletter For more in-depth tools, strategies and practices delivered weekly to your inbox 💌
 

Ep 57: Permission to Pivot: Changing Your Mind and Changing Your Career

In this episode Dr. Amy discusses the importance of having a growth mindset and why this is integral to changing careers. 
Topics covered
Why the ability to rethink things is a necessary human skill
What is a growth mindset and why it matters
Four types of mindsets through a nervous system lens
How to use your mindset to your advantage when making a career pivot
Guilt, shame, grief and regret associated with leaving behind a career that you thought you wanted
Applications of rethinking in a global context and why it is important for social change
 
Let's connect!
Schedule a ✨gifted coaching conversation✨. I love hearing from you, building lasting connection, and helping you heal. No strings attached. Just support when you need it most. 💞
 
Follow me on social media for free insights, tips and tools to help you overcome your overwhelm, quieten your anxiety and live a less stressed life!
Instagram
LinkedIn
 
Join the Daring DVM Newsletter For more in-depth tools, strategies and practices delivered weekly to your inbox 💌