b'EMPOWERED TO INSPIRE, ACHIEVE AND LEAD TOGETHEREMPOWERED TO INSPIRE, ACHIEVE AND LEAD TOGETHEREMPOWERED TO INSPIRE, ACHIEVE AND LEAD TOGETHEREMPOWERED TO INSPIRE,VETERINARY WOMAN CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGEACHIEVE & LEAD TOGETHER During this time, I worked as a lecturer forAs far as our patients emotional welfare goes, the team is animal management, and as a veterinarysolidly behind the assessments. We are seeing a positive care assistant (VCA).Everyone is different, and by recognising howdifference to how we manage our patients emotional Ifinally landed at Optivet as anwe can create change in our own specialisedwelfare, and if we have a stressed animal coming into the experienced VCA and was providedhospital, we have seen, through application of the assessment the opportunity to develop my nicheway we can create something robust, and that and carefully tailored interventions, a positive impact on by providing emotional and behaviouris bigger than ourselves. emotional state. support for our clients.What motivated you to want to change things?Upon completion of my MSC, myHaving come from an industry where I felt powerless to change background and work as a VCA mentorthings on behalf of the animal, I felt encouraged and reassured allowed me to develop the role I am inwithin my role that I was able to make a meaningful impact now as an education and developmentto an animals welfare. So, when the chance came to push officer, providing mentoring andthat impact further, and pioneer a change in something that is continual development opportunities forpoorly recognised clinically, but holistically valued, it felt like a my colleagues. With a cheeky bit of feline behaviour consultancy as my personalstep I had to take. Likewise, starting in the veterinary industry side hustle.on what was considered the bottom rung of the ladder gave me a fresh perspective as to how I would want others to feel at that stage in their career. Although I was confident enough to ensure my voice was heard in the early stages of my veterinary journey, I am aware it is not as easy for others. So, if I can provide the megaphone to empower others to advocate for themselves, and their patients, I have done my job.How have you encouraged other people to get on board with your ideas?Having come from a background in public engagement, I love to inspire! I truly believe in empowerment, and to build buy-in to a new idea, I found giving people the information and the tools to make a change themselves the best way. If you are presented with information that challenges what you already believe, you find it hard to integrate that new knowledge into your in-built system. However, if you can utilise this new knowledge and synthesise it in a way that makes sense to you, and you can see positive results, its more likely to stick. their role within the practice, giving them more confidenceEveryone is different, and by recognising how we can create to work within the team to make impactful contributions tochange in our own specialised way we can create something the clinical team and our patients. By working with externalrobust, and that is bigger than ourselves. People are the key to organisations, hopefully we can make this a standard for otherchange; its reaching them that can be the hard bit! But if youre VCAs within the industry.passionate enough about something, you find your people! www.veterinarywoman.co.uk 43'