The Resilient Vet: A new podcast for a better life in vet med

Burnout, exhaustion, and difficult cases often define life in veterinary medicine. The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, a new dvm360 video podcast, aims to help veterinary professionals build the physical and emotional resilience needed to thrive in the profession.

Through the show, hosts Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, and Jennifer Edwards, DVM, ACC, CPC, ELI-MP, set out to change and improve veterinary medicine for professionals through transparency and curiosity, offering practical tips on everything from stress management and mindset shifts to nutrition, movement, boundary-setting, and more.

In this debut episode, Shaw and Edwards share their personal journeys, explore what resilience means, and discuss some of their own viewpoints about veterinary medicine that may “go against the grain.”

Partial transcript:

Edwards: How is life in veterinary medicine? As we all know, it can be very challenging. Do you find it stressful? Do you sometimes experience burnout? Get overwhelmed with all the cases and the clients who, well, we know sometimes can be a challenge? How is it really for you? And what do you want?

Life in veterinary medicine actually can be really great. Do you want to be able to create the physical and emotional resilience that's needed for long-term sustainability? It's available. It's not always easy, but it is available. And if that's what you want, you have come to the right place. Welcome to The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success. We're your hosts. I'm Dr Jennifer Edwards.

Shaw: And my name is Aaron Shaw, and in this show, we're going to share practical tips and strategies to help boost your physical and emotional resilience. We're going to discuss everything from nutrition on the go, boundary-setting, stress management, physical exercises to add the physical durability to the demands of veterinary medicine, and how to create the deep mindset shifts that are needed for the sustainability in this demanding profession.

Future topics that we'll cover will also be based on what your feedback is for us—what piques your interest. We will do a deep dive to make sure you have the tools needed for a fulfilling career. It's always going to be practical tips, real action steps you can start applying today, inside the clinic and outside the clinic.

Edwards: But first, this is The Resilient Vet. So, what does “resilience” actually mean? Resilience is defined as “the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties.” It also means “toughness.” The reality is, veterinary medicine is tough, and it's okay to say that.

It doesn't mean it's bad. It's actually great. It's an amazing profession, and honestly, your toughness is part of the reason you were attracted to this profession in the first place.

We deal with so much, we know so much. We can do so much. [There] are few professions in this world that compare. But that doesn't mean it's not also challenging.

We are here to help you to be tougher, to be able to sustain yourself, to build a great life, taking care of your patients, interacting with your clients and your teams in ways that light you up, make you happy, and make you want to be here. The animals, the difference that you make is so, so important for the people and for everybody involved. In our show, we will always have a theme of resilience. We're here to help you learn how to do whatever it is that you need to create a long-term, amazing life in veterinary medicine.