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 TOGETHERwhereby they can see these beneficial changes. This empowers them to continue making the change, and witnessing first hand this sense of victory has helped me to keep ploughing the path for change! Being able to provide a safe space to encourage growth, and then seeing that growth and confidence in my colleagues continues to inspire me, every day. What is the best advice youve been given, or thatyou would give to someone else, about drivingpositive change? A fantastic comedian once said; Reality is like a dogs penis. its ugly, but you cant help but stare right at it! The same I guess goes for driving behaviour change, it can be ugly, but you must stare it in the face and just keep on going! You should never strive for perfectionism, but you should always strivefor happiness. What are the biggest challenges you have encounteredBeing able to provide a safe space to in this journey and how have you overcome them?encourage growth, and then seeing that growth The biggest hurdles for this journey were very personal; when I started my career at Optivet, I was hit with grief fromand confidence in my colleagues continues to multiple aspects of my life. I am lucky to have such a stronginspire me, every day. support system at home, and likewise within the workplace! My leads have been incredibly supportive; not only did they offer me the flexibility and adaptability during my personalWhat are your next steps to continue creating changetimes of need, but they have actively encouraged me to chasefor the better? for the change the industry needs, and my developed roleKeep putting my fingers in many, many pies! Get to know has given me the scope to do that. At times, the industryspeople, talk about their journeys and successes and hopefully natural hierarchy has posed some challenges, but as a truefind some fun collaborations along the way! I am having scientist, I found that presenting an evidence-based approachexciting talks with some amazing veterinary associations about for positive outcomes helped overcome the challenge.their work on supporting the VCA role as its own speciality, Sometimes, I still feel like an imposter having come from aand I am hoping to validate our emotional welfare assessment. non-clinical background, but I am slowly realising my ability toMaybe, if I have time, I get round to publishing my thesis to push for positive change.support the culture growth around emotional welfare. What has most helped and motivated you along Perhaps most importantly, I will continue to provide a safe the way? space for growth for my colleagues. They are the most Seeing the positive impact that the change has made; ourdedicated, knowledgeable team of individuals I have ever had patients have a better system in place to support theirthe pleasure of working with, and it is truly an honour to help emotional wellbeing, and our clinical support staff have a toolthem find their voice and grow. 44www.veterinarywoman.co.uk'