Five Veterinary Wellbeing Sessions from the WellVet Archive
- Vet Empowered
- Nov 3, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 24
We're really proud to be hosting a library of sessions from WellVet - a veterinary wellbeing community that, over the years, brought together some genuinely brilliant speakers to talk about the stuff that actually matters. These aren't your standard CPD tick-box topics. These are the conversations about the human side of being a vet that too often get squeezed out by everything else.
We've been working through the archive and wanted to share five sessions that particularly stood out for us. Whether you watch one this weekend or bookmark them all for a rainy afternoon, we hope they land the way they did for us.
Bear in mind that some of these sessions are from 2020-2023. The information is relevant and actionable, if you allow for awareness of the context.
"Selfcare, yeah right!" Fitting self-care into a busy life as a veterinary professional - Dr. Claire Gillvray
Dr. Claire Gillvray is a GP and psychiatrist with a genuine passion for the intersection of mental and physical health, and she shows up in this archive more than once - because when you find someone this good, you keep inviting them back.
This session cuts straight to the thing we all know but rarely say out loud: it's not that we don't know what self-care is. It's that we have absolutely no idea where to put it. Claire doesn't offer a 12-step programme or a colour-coded routine. Instead, she makes a genuinely compelling case for small moments — five to ten minutes of something restorative, done consistently — being more powerful than we give them credit for. She also talks about burnout in a way that gently removes the idea that it's entirely your fault, which, honestly, more of us need to hear.
If you've ever caught yourself thinking "I'll sort all that out once things calm down," this one's for you.
This session was run as part of a WellVet x VetMums collaboration
Sport as Therapy — Dr. Claire Gillvray
A second session from Claire, and a different angle entirely. This one explores the evidence behind using movement as a genuine therapeutic tool - not just "exercise is good for you" but a proper look at what the research actually says, including the chemicals involved, the studies comparing exercise to CBT, and what happens when sport becomes less of a solution and more of a coping mechanism in its own right.
Claire is careful and honest here in a way we really respect. She's pro-movement, deeply so, but she also flags the places where exercise can tip from helpful to harmful - exercise addiction, disordered eating, the particular challenges of injury or retirement for people whose identity is wrapped up in their sport. It's a nuanced conversation, and it's worth your time even if you'd never describe yourself as sporty.
This session was from WellVet Virtual 2020
Combatting the Winter Blues — Dr. Claire Gillvray
Yes, it's Claire again. We did say she was good.
Recorded during the winter of 2020 — which, if you cast your mind back, was a particular kind of relentless — this session covers seasonal affective disorder, winter blues, and the biological reasons why so many of us feel like we're wading through treacle between October and March. Claire explains the science behind light, melatonin, serotonin, and vitamin D in a way that actually makes sense, and then gives you practical things to do about it.
This one is evergreen (so to speak). It's relevant every autumn, and we'd encourage you to watch it before you need it rather than when you're already deep in a January slump.
Ultra Adaptive Thinking — Dan Tipney
Dan Tipney is Head of Insights and Evidence at VetLed — an organisation we collaborate with closely, including on an upcoming Human Factors event we're really excited about. He's also a former elite rower, a pilot, and someone who thinks deeply about how humans perform under pressure.
This session borrows from aviation, healthcare research, and occupational psychology to explore how we adapt — or fail to — when things don't go to plan. Dan talks about curiosity as a professional skill, the power of briefing and debriefing properly as a team, and what he calls the confidence to do nothing: that crucial pause between something happening and reacting to it. There's a story about a Qantas flight with 53 simultaneous system failures in here that genuinely stopped us in our tracks.
If you work in practice, lead a team, or are just trying to get better at not catastrophising when things go sideways, this one will give you real tools.
What I Wish I'd Known When I Started — Dr. Rosie Allister
We've saved this one for last, and we want to be honest with you about it.
This session is different. When Rosie Allister shared this in 2020, she had spent fifteen years in veterinary mental health — as a researcher, as a VetLife helpline lead, and as someone who has sat with a lot of pain in this profession and tried to understand it. At the time she said this talk was the most personal thing she's ever shared publicly, and it shows.
We checked in with Rosie in 2026, and she was still happy for this to be shared.
She talks about the gap between awareness campaigns and real action. About the cost — personal, professional, and financial — of pushing for structural change in a profession that doesn't always welcome it. About discrimination she faced following a life-threatening illness, and what it taught her about the parts of veterinary culture we still need to reckon with. She talks about running towards things rather than away from them. And she ends with something that, if you're in the right place to hear it, might just change how you show up for the people around you.
This is not a session to put on in the background while you're doing admin. It's a hard listen in places — deliberately, honestly, and beautifully so. If you're going through a difficult time yourself right now, please make sure you're in a good headspace before you press play. And if you're not sure, leave it for now. It will still be here.
But if you can, watch it. It's the kind of talk that reminds you why this work matters.
All of these sessions are part of the WellVet archive, which Vet Empowered is proud to host.
If anything in this session brings up difficult feelings, please reach out. The Vetlife helpline is always there (24/7) via confidential phone and email to professionals within the UK: vetlife.org.uk (0303 040 2551) https://www.vetlife.org.uk/vetlife-email-support/
