VIN Foundation: Veterinary Pulse

About VIN Foundation: Veterinary Pulse

The heartbeat of the veterinary profession. Join us as we talk with veterinary colleagues about critical topics from student debt to mental health. And share stories, stories connect us… as humans, as animals, as a veterinary community.

Publisher

vinfoundation

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Mar 2020

Latest episode

27 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

84 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Aug 2026

   Dr. Michele Gaspar on the ins and outs of therapy

   Listen in as we dive deep on the topic of therapy with VIN Foundation Vets4Vets® team member Dr. Michele Gaspar in this Inhale, Exhale podcast series.In this episode we have 15 major topics we’re addressing: Why people reach out for therapy Difference between therapy and coaching Different types of therapy How to find a therapist How to pay for therapy Determining a good fit Therapy frequency Red flags Confidentiality Identifying goals Is important for the therapist to have a relevant background to your situation Does therapy have a timeline How do you terminate therapy When is it appropriate to seek psychiatric support How do you find a psychiatrist As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation. GUEST BIO: Michele Gaspar, DVM, MA, LCPCMichele Gaspar is a veterinarian and a psychotherapist. She is a 1994 graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and received her Master's in counseling from Loyola University/Chicago in 2012. Michele has worked in a variety of settings in both of her professional careers. As a veterinarian, she has had experience in general practice, emergency and critical care, shelter medicine and feline-exclusive medicine. As a therapist, she has worked in community mental health, group psychotherapy practices, hospital chaplaincy and now owns a private psychotherapy practice in Chicago. Michele is a consultant in Feline Internal Medicine on the Veterinary Information Network (VIN), where she also co-facilitates the NAVLE Review Workshop and offers webinars to veterinarians on psychosocial issues that impact veterinary clinical practice. As a member of the VIN Foundation's Vets4Vets® team, she facilitates an annual mindfulness retreat for veterinarians each Fall and consults with veterinary colleagues and students who wish to access local mental health resources. She is an advanced candidate at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and is a Fellow of the American Balint Society. LINKS AND INFORMATION: Find A Therapist/Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists Fifty Therapy Red Flags: https://open.substack.com/pub/jonathanshedler/p/50-therapy-red-flags?r=n0o0o&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web What Is CBT?: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-is-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-202406053047 What is DBT?: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/dialectical-behavior-therapy-what-is-it-and-who-can-it-help-202401223009 What is Psychodynamic Therapy?: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-65-2-98.pdf VIN Foundation Vets4Vets®: https://vinfoundation.org/v4v VIN Foundation Connect with Vets4Vets®: https://vinfoundation.org/resources/vets4vets-connect/ VIN Foundation get updates: https://vinfoundation.org/updates/ VIN Foundation GIVE page to support these programs & tools: https://vinfoundation.org/give You may learn more about the VIN Foundation, on the website, or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. If you like this podcast, we would appreciate it if you follow and share.

2. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Dr. Bree Montana on the importance of work transition rituals

   Listen in as we chat with VIN Foundation Vets4Vets® team lead Dr. Bree Montana as part of our Inhale, Exhale Series and this time were talking about the importance of work transitionsIn this episode we have eight major topics we’re addressing: Defining work transitions Why thought through work transitions matter Build a departure ritual Create a rejuvenation plan Add in technological barriers Build a work transition ritual for homecoming Things that go bump in the night Where to get help As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation. GUEST BIO: Dr. Bree Montana, DVM, CCFPBree Montana, DVM, CCFP, is a small animal practitioner and Founder of the Agate Bay Animal Hospital and Dog Gone Crazy boarding/training facilities in North Lake Tahoe California. Following the completion of a B.S. in Biology at the University of Cincinnati’s McMicken College, Dr. Montana graduated from the Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine with a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1992. A past member of the external advisory and admissions committees for UC Davis’ College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Montana also served as a working member of the VIN Foundation Board. In 2010, Dr. Montana helped to create the VIN Foundation’s innovative Vets4Vets® program, a confidential support group providing critical emotional care to veterinarians struggling with all forms of stress/addiction/mental health issues. The program is international and free for all veterinarians and veterinary students. Learning to balance the life of a rural solo practitioner, mom, wife, husky wrangler and aspiring dressage queen while coordinating the Vets4Vets® program has allowed Dr. Montana to become an expert at thinking outside of the box when advising veterinarians who feel stuck in their careers and personal lives. Dr. Montana enjoys lecturing on topics at the intersection of personal and professional life balance, including strategies for a healthy mentoring relationship, job seekers’ success techniques, effective communication in the workplace, as well as teaching the workplace ergonomics section of The Other Side of Veterinary Medicine: Healthy Clinicians Make Better Practitioners (a RACE approved course). LINKS AND INFORMATION: Leaving Work at Work: A Daily Transition Checklist: https://vinfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/VIN-Foundation-_-Veterinary-Pulse-Podcast-_-Inhale-Exhale-Series-_-Bree-Montana-DVM-CCFP-_-Transitions-Checklist.pdf Brene Brown on transitions: https://brenebrown.com/podcast/lock-in-and-lock-through-power/ VIN Foundation Vets4Vets®: https://vinfoundation.org/v4v VIN Foundation Veterinary Pulse Podcast Inhale, Exhale Series: https://vinfoundation.org/category/inhale-exhale/ VIN Foundation Veterinary Pulse Podcast Future’s So Bright Series: https://vinfoundation.org/category/futures-so-bright/ VIN Foundation get updates: https://vinfoundation.org/updates/ VIN Foundation GIVE page to support these programs & tools: https://vinfoundation.org/give You may learn more about the VIN Foundation, on the website, or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. If you like this podcast, we would appreciate it if you follow and share. As always, we welcome feedback. If you have an idea for a podcast episode, we’d love to hear it!

3. 

   14 Jul 2026

   Dr. Lee Friedman on how a non-traditional path led him to his love for veterinary medicine

   Listen in as we talk with Dr. Lee Friedman as he shares his non-traditional path to veterinary medicine. From selling encyclopedias to training as a Navy fighter jet pilot, heart-touching and fascinating, this story is a great reminder of how life brings us profound learning and through it we find our way. As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation. GUEST BIO: Stuart Lee Friedman, DVM Woody Allen once said that Parker Brothers offered to buy his memoirs so that they could make it into a board game. If Lee's story was a board game, it would most certainly be more chutes than ladders. "I'm more proud of my struggles with failure than my actual successes in life. What I achieved doesn't define me as much as the failures I prevailed over." At first, failure came easily. By the time he hit college, Lee was well-practiced in the art of underachievement. He managed to drop out of college on academic probation after two and a half years for more aimless pursuits. Lee found work as a movie theater usher. Then as a busboy. Then a school janitor. Driving a taxicab lasted all of two weeks before being fired for a minor fender bender. He then sold encyclopedias door-to-door, where he once had his pants torn off by an angry dog. Selling stereo equipment was more lucrative, fun, and promised greater wardrobe integrity. And he helped introduce the idea that bicycle couriers - already popular in the condensed city of San Francisco - could actually work in the sprawling freeway metropolis of Los Angeles. He established himself as the only bike messenger with a city-wide courier agency of automobile messengers – and made it work. Despite little successes, however, most of his jobs could well be classified as failures - both the way they ended (often at the insistence of management) and the way they failed to measure up to his existing potential. The gift of treading upon failure's floor was not knowing any ceiling of success. That naivety stood in the stead of accepting less lofty "realistic" goals. Most everything he achieved was launched from the simple question, "Why not?" Friends who offered ready answers to that question soon found themselves outside the small circle of friends who did not. From nothing, he turned daydreams into goals, and goals into realities. Coming out of life's starting blocks late, he achieved most of the targets he set for himself while being nothing extraordinary in terms of talent or intelligence. He managed to gain admission to UCLA despite a miserable academic record at SUNY Buffalo (a success which he attributed to turning the required essay on his application into a written treatise on why someone like him could make UCLA proud). He obtained an appointment to the highly selective US Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) at NAS Pensacola with the help of a good citizenship letter written by the San Francisco Police Department after he tackled a suspect running from an officer. At AOCS, he endured a 16-week "pressure cooker" program designed to cull candidates who failed to meet stringent medical requirements, physical training goals, academic performance, and standards of character. Class attrition rates were typically over 30%. Orders to primary flight training were received at the officer commissioning ceremony (AOCS graduation). Lee's orders sent him immediately to VT-2 at NAS Whiting Field, where he met performance standards for selection to the strike (jet) training pipeline at VT-19 at NAS Meridian. A failed vision test ended his training, but not his love of aviation. He continued in the civilian sector. earning instrument and multi-engine ratings and is a commercially-rated pilot and instrument flight instructor. With the airlines in furlough mode, he restructured his goals along a new set of impossible dreams, dusted off his undergraduate studies, and gained acceptance to the University of Pennsylv

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 55 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

57

Social presence

94

YouTube

0

Engagement

85

Contact VIN Foundation: Veterinary Pulse

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.