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.
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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, LCPC
Michele 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.
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Dr. Bree Montana on the importance of work transition rituals
Episode 184
Monday, July 27, 2026 • Duration 45:12
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 transitions
In 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, CCFP
Bree 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).
Dr. Lee Friedman on how a non-traditional path led him to his love for veterinary medicine
Episode 183
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 • Duration 53:40
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.
Dr. Tony Bartels on the latest student loan news
Episode 182
Thursday, May 7, 2026 • Duration 35:01
Listen in with student debt expert Dr. Tony Bartels in this next installment of our Student Debt Series covering the latest news and information on student loans.
In this episode we have seven major topics we’re addressing:
RAP rule change alert
What does this rule change mean for repayment strategies
Class of 2026 new grads, STILL do not consolidate
Determine your IDR profile, know your monthly interest accrual, know your starting repayment balance, & run your Simulations!
RAP subsidies – what are they? Will you benefit? For how long?
What’s next? RAP to IBR 2014 vs. IBR 2014 only vs. RAP only vs. other?
How 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. Tony Bartels
Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA graduated in 2012 from the Colorado State University combined MBA/DVM program and is a VIN Foundation Board Member and Student Debt Expert, and an employee of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). He and his wife, a small-animal internal medicine specialist practicing in Denver, have more than $400,000 in veterinary-school debt that they manage using federal income-driven repayment plans. By necessity (and now obsession), his professional activities include researching and speaking on veterinary-student debt, providing guidance to colleagues on loan-repayment strategies and contributing to VIN Foundation resources. Beyond debt, his professional interests include small- and exotic-animal practice. When he’s not staring holes into his colleagues’ student-loan data, Tony enjoys fly fishing, ice hockey, camping and exploring Colorado with his wife, Audra, daughter, Lucy, and their two rescued canines, Addi and Maggie.
LINKS AND INFORMATION:
Urgent message for Class of 2026:
Dr. Jennifer Woolf uncovers the details of veterinary forensics
Episode 181
Saturday, April 25, 2026 • Duration 37:41
Listen in as we talk with Dr. Jennifer Woolf and uncover the details of veterinary forensics. In this second episode she digs into the laws and of veterinary forensics, shares her experiences, and where colleagues can go for resources to learn about state-specific regulations.
*Trigger warning: this episode may include triggers associated with animal abuse and human abuse.*
Topics covered in this episode include:
Defining veterinary forensics
Top issues in the veterinary forensics field
Laws and legal process for reporting animal abuse
The role of law enforcement in animal abuse cases
Resources available for colleagues looking to learn more
As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation.
GUEST BIO:
Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS
Dr. Woolf (pronouns: she/her) is a veterinarian with a Master of Science degree concentrated in Veterinary Forensics. Over the years, she has worked in private practices and animal welfare organizations as well as owning her own relief veterinary services business for many years. In 2014 she founded Woolf Veterinary Forensics Consulting where she lectures internationally on animal abuse, the Link, and veterinary forensics, as well as investigating and consulting on individual cases. She also works for Veterinary Information Network (VIN) as a Topic Specialist consulting on message boards, developing resources, and providing webinars on animal abuse and veterinary forensics for VIN members. Additionally, she writes articles for VIN members and the public. Dr. Woolf has published numerous articles, education modules, and a book chapter on animal cruelty topics, and was a 2018-2019 Don Low-CVMA Practitioner Fellow at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine in the Anatomic Pathology Department. Previously, she was an instructor in the University of Florida Veterinary Forensic Sciences Online Graduate Program. Dr. Woolf is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association (IVFSA), and a founding member of the Alameda County Animal Cruelty Task Force. Previously she has served on the boards of the IVFSA and the Contra Costa County Veterinary Medical Association.
Jeanice Wiard on shooting for contentment and satisfaction and the importance of self-compassion
Episode 180
Friday, March 27, 2026 • Duration 33:33
Listen in as we talk with Jeanice Wiard as she shares her journey in veterinary medicine. She takes us through the highs and lows and lessons learned through multiple veterinary practices and shares her path to self-compassion and finding the importance of emotional wellbeing.
As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation.
GUEST BIO:
Jeanice Wiard, M.Ed., B. Tech, CVT, CCFP
Jeanice attended the State University of New York at Canton, obtaining her associate of science in veterinary technology and her bachelor's in veterinary service management. She was an active member of the New York State Air National Guard from 2004-2010 as a Command Post Controller, providing emergency communications and status reports to the commander and personnel on Hancock Air Force Base. She’s been a certified veterinary technician since 2007 and has worked in various field areas: general practice, academia (University of Illinois), diagnostic imaging, intensive care, and equine/farm animal medicine. She has held many roles within vet med: receptionist, technician, lead technician, charge auditor, and practice manager. While at the University of Illinois, Jeanice obtained her Master of Education, focusing on human resource development, and is a graduate of the Emerging Women Leaders program offered by the University. She previously served as the ISVMA CVT board member from 2021-2023 and actively participated in the CVT committee. She is currently focusing on her role as the assistant director for VSPN and offering mental health and wellness education to veterinary professionals through her business, Veterinary Wellness Education, LLC, or VetWE for short. Her non-professional interests include spending time with her husband, two sons, a spoiled cat, and a troublesome dog. She enjoys meditation, gardening, hiking, yoga, pole fitness, dancing, and loud music. Her favorite music artist is Qveen Herby. Jeanice is passionate about moving the veterinary profession toward a more individual-focused framework, allowing space and grace for all professionals to grapple with and heal from the difficult experiences we all encounter within the field and the daily struggles that all humans encounter throughout their lifetimes. She is particularly interested in teaching, psychology, compassion fatigue, cognitive behavioral therapy, growth mindset, and mental health awareness.
Dr. Bree Montana dives deep on preventing burnout and compassion fatigue
Episode 179
Monday, March 9, 2026 • Duration 31:20
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 preventing burnout and compassion fatigue
In this episode we have six major topics we’re addressing:
Identifying burnout and compassion fatigue
Understanding the cause
Task switching
How to handle feelings of losing the joy and fulfillment of vet med
The importance of team culture
How to get support
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, CCFP
Bree 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).
Dr. Tony Bartels on the latest student loan news as we start 2026
Episode 178
Saturday, January 31, 2026 • Duration 29:11
Listen in with student debt expert Dr. Tony Bartels in this next installment of our Student Debt Series covering the latest news and information on student loans.
In this episode we have seven major topics we’re addressing:
Removal of the IBR (Income Based Repayment) Partial Financial Hardship test
SAVE ending soon?
WikiDebt: What is your IDR (Income Driven Repayment) profile?
Good time to review student loan options
Preparing for more changes this year
How 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. Tony Bartels
Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA graduated in 2012 from the Colorado State University combined MBA/DVM program and is a VIN Foundation Board Member and Student Debt Expert, and an employee of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). He and his wife, a small-animal internal medicine specialist practicing in Denver, have more than $400,000 in veterinary-school debt that they manage using federal income-driven repayment plans. By necessity (and now obsession), his professional activities include researching and speaking on veterinary-student debt, providing guidance to colleagues on loan-repayment strategies and contributing to VIN Foundation resources. Beyond debt, his professional interests include small- and exotic-animal practice. When he’s not staring holes into his colleagues’ student-loan data, Tony enjoys fly fishing, ice hockey, camping and exploring Colorado with his wife, Audra, daughter, Lucy, and their two rescued canines, Addi and Maggie.
Dr. Kate Creevy on panic zone vs. stretch zone and the benefit of staying open to opportunities
Episode 177
Wednesday, December 24, 2025 • Duration 56:22
Listen in as we talk with Dr. Kate Creevy about her fascinating and insightful path in veterinary medicine. She shares how decisions she didn’t see as impactful at the time played crucial roles in her career development, and the important role of science and research for the future of human and animal kind. Plus, learn how a phone call that started with “I got this guy in genetics” led to her role as Co-Founder and Chief Veterinary Officer with the Dog Aging Project, and her advice to veterinary students and colleagues as a veterinary school professor. This is one of those episodes you will want to listen to, save, and listen to again.
As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation.
Photo credit: Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences photo, Dr Creevy with two Border Collies at different parts of their lifespan journey - Poet at age 3, and Sophie at age 14.
GUEST BIO:
Kate Creevy, DVM, MS, DACVIM-SAIM
Dr. Creevy's educational path includes Georgetown University (BS), the University of Tennessee (DVM), the University of Minnesota (small animal rotating internship) and the University of Georgia (internal medicine residency and MS in Infectious Disease). Along the way she has worked in emergency practice in the Twin Cities and Washington DC, as well as academic emergency practice at UGA, and completed a Cancer Research Training Award Fellowship developing protocols for chimeric bone marrow transplantation in immunodeficient dogs at the NIH's National Cancer Institute. After ten years as a small animal internist on UGA's faculty, she joined the faculty at Texas A&M University's School of Veterinary Medicine where she is now a Professor in Small Animal Internal Medicine. Dr. Creevy is the Chief Veterinary Officer for the Dog Aging Project, a multicenter, multidisciplinary research collaboration, with over 50,000 dogs enrolled across the US. The long-term goal of the Dog Aging Project is to understand the genetic and environmental determinants of healthy aging in companion dogs. In addition to her work on canine aging, Dr. Creevy’s research interests include infectious disease, and the development of lifelong learning skills and critical thinking skills among professional students and early-career veterinarians.
Dr. Tony Bartels on the latest student loan news
Episode 176
Monday, October 27, 2025 • Duration 27:40
Listen in with student debt expert Dr. Tony Bartels in this next installment of our Student Debt Series covering the latest news and information on student loans.
In this episode we have six major topics we’re addressing:
Quick review of student loan grace periods
Consolidation Caution
Application Ataxia
Start with PAYE, when possible
Important dates to add to your calendar
How 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. Tony Bartels
Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA graduated in 2012 from the Colorado State University combined MBA/DVM program and is a VIN Foundation Board Member and Student Debt Expert, and an employee of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). He and his wife, a small-animal internal medicine specialist practicing in Denver, have more than $400,000 in veterinary-school debt that they manage using federal income-driven repayment plans. By necessity (and now obsession), his professional activities include researching and speaking on veterinary-student debt, providing guidance to colleagues on loan-repayment strategies and contributing to VIN Foundation resources. Beyond debt, his professional interests include small- and exotic-animal practice. When he’s not staring holes into his colleagues’ student-loan data, Tony enjoys fly fishing, ice hockey, camping and exploring Colorado with his wife, Audra, daughter, Lucy, and their two rescued canines, Addi and Maggie.
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!
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 Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, having been wait-listed on his second attempt and outrightly accepted on his third. He graduated with his VMD degree in 2003.
From a perfectly average underachiever, he shares his recipe of realizing his goals: one part focus and one part attitude, all mixed together with a willingness to suspend disbelief and an embrace of impossible things. From flying military jets to writing published articles to becoming a doctor in his mid 40's, each of those goals meant pushing past gate keepers who explained all the ways it could never be possible - while maintaining an optimism that capitalized on the opportunities that made them happen. That same recipe has helped him perform both as a pilot and as a doctor.
Lee also explains how attitude played a role in carrying the debt from his education - a debt assumed in the middle of life that he expected to pay to the grave - and how a positive perspective on a negative burden allowed him to redefine what it was - and carry it with grace.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
If you like these podcast and want to hear more, please support these efforts through a donation to the VIN Foundation: https://vinfoundation.org/give/
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!
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!
