Finding Balance Through Veterinary Wellness Retreats | Episode 83 | Reviving Vet Med

In a profession defined by constant care for others, veterinarians often struggle to make time for their own recovery. What if stepping away, even briefly, could be the key to sustaining joy and longevity in practice?

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Heather Gunn McQuillan, veterinarian, educator, and founder of Nature Space Resort and Retreat Centre and AwareVet Veterinary Consulting. After nearly two decades in clinical practice and academic leadership, Heather now helps veterinary professionals restore balance through nature-based wellness retreats.

She shares how mindfulness, rest, and intentional time in nature can promote resilience, health, and emotional recovery, and why immersive retreats can create lasting change. You will learn how to integrate mindfulness and rest into daily life and how community and connection can revive your passion for veterinary work.

Whether you are feeling depleted, curious about retreats, or looking to reconnect with yourself and your purpose, this conversation offers inspiration and practical guidance for sustainable wellbeing.

Watch the Video Version of this Episode
https://youtu.be/zMh4X8V2ErQ

Resources
Learn more about Heather’s retreats and offerings on her website: www.naturespaceresort.com 

Follow Nature Space Resort on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NatureSpaceResort 

Thank you to our sponsor Scribenote
See how Scribenote works: https://www.scribenote.com?utm_campaign=RVM&utm_source=rvm-podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=MARK-402

Book a Demo: https://calendly.com/d/4zm-dsr-wfh/scribenote-demo

Start with a Free 14-Day Trial Today: https://app.scribenote.com/auth/register?utm_campaign=RVM&utm_source=rvm-podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=MARK-402

Newsletter
For more practical pointers and tangible tips related to veterinary mental health and wellbeing, subscribe to our e-newsletter: https://revivingvetmed.kartra.com/page/newsletter

Online Programs
To learn more about Reviving Veterinary Medicine’s offerings including lunch & learns, critical incident group debriefing, and online programs, please visit our website: https://revivingvetmed.com/

Questions, Suggestions, or Sponsorship Opportunities
Email: podcast@revivingvetmed.com

Thank you to our sponsor Scribenote
The first AI-powered veterinary SOAP creator that builds accurate medical records effortlessly.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Dr. Marie Holowaychuk - If there's one thing every veterinarian wishes they had more of, it's support someone to help you keep up, think ahead and take some pressure off your day. That's exactly why ScribeNote created Companion, your personal veterinary workflow assistants. It's like having another vet or assistant following you around through your day, helping you get things done faster and with less stress. There's Sumi, the History Companion, who can take a big, messy medical history and instantly summarize the key details. There's Quill, the writing companion. Ask him to tidy up your notes, change the tone, fix formatting, or even translate and he'll handle it for you. And there's Sage, the research Companion, who deep dives into trusted veterinary sources and brings you clear answers with citations so you can make decisions quickly and confidently. You can try them all as part of the free plan and see what it's like to have real backup in your workflow. Just head to scribenote.com to learn more. 

Dr. Marie - Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Reviving Vet Med. Today we're exploring a topic that lies at the heart of wellbeing, the power of rest, reconnection and retreat, and how intentionally stepping away from our day to day routines can help us rediscover joy and sustainability in veterinary medicine. My guest today is Dr. Heather Gunn McQuillan, a veterinarian, educator and wellness advocate whose career has spanned nearly every corner of veterinary practice. For almost a decade. Heather served as Assistant Dean of Clinical and Professional Programming and Hospital Director at the Atlantic Veterinary College where she championed communication, conflict resolution, leadership and wellness education for vet students and professionals alike. 

Dr. Marie - After retiring from academia in 2025, Heather turned her attention toward a new chapter founding Nature Space Resort and retreat center and AwareVet Veterinary Consulting, where she now blends her extensive background in vet medicine, mindfulness and leadership to create transformative wellness retreats. In this episode, Heather and I talk about what makes retreat such a powerful tool for recovery and growth, how mindfulness and nature immersion can restore balance, and why stepping away from work might actually be the key to sustaining long, fulfilling careers. So let's dive in. Here's my conversation with Dr. Heather Gunn McQuillan. This is the Reviving Vet Med podcast and I'm your host, Dr. Marie Holowaychuk. My mission is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of veterinary professionals around the world. 

Dr. Marie - Hello Heather, it's so great to see you and so wonderful to have you on the podcast today. Hi Marie, Good to be here. I am wondering if you can share a little bit about your journey from veterinary medicine and academia to creating nature space, resort and running wellness retreats with what inspired this transition? 

Dr. Heather Gunn McQuillan -  Yeah, it's such a good question. I definitely have had an unconventional journey, I think it's safe to say, both in my veterinary career and post. I don't want to say post-career because I think like many of us, we define ourselves as veterinarians as part of our identity. And that's still very much a part of who I am and what I do. But for me, the journey really evolved over time, especially in working with colleagues and students and seeing that wellbeing supports were needed. People want it to thrive in their careers and we're looking for resources. 

Dr. Heather - And so I had practiced for a decade or so myself, I had felt the same feels that everybody else was feeling with burnout, with heavy client demands, with on call, gosh, on call, with not enough time and too much to do and workload and volume and all of that. And then I had kids and then I got the experience of dealing with mental health issues. I suffered from postpartum depression after my son was born. And I really do consider that a gift, Marie, because I got a chance to really understand mental illness a lot better having gone through it myself. I got to walk around in those shoes for a good solid year. And I'm very grateful that I got to take those shoes off. But it gave me a level of empathy and an understanding that I wouldn't have appreciated otherwise. 

Dr. Heather -  And through all of that I went, gotta be something more here. And as I started teaching this in the curriculum at the veterinary college in Charlottetown and building this out, we started to develop, my husband and I, a passion to build more of our dream, which was a wellbeing resort. That's kind of the pathway and there's a million more details, but I better keep it short or I'll chew up all our time. 

Dr. Marie - I love it so much. I mean, we have so many parallels in our journeys. And you know, I too experienced postpartum depression when my daughter was born and had pre pre-existing mental illness. But nevertheless, it really gives you greater appreciation for what so many humans go through both in and outside of our profession. And I'm wondering, you know, what is it about retreats that makes them such a powerful tool for personal and professional wellbeing, particularly for veterinarians, with that being, of course, your personal expertise. 

Dr. Heather - Yeah. And I've asked myself this question a lot. I've done a lot of personal retreats myself. So I come back to me and what is it when I do a retreat that makes such a fundamental difference. And it's very different than a conference. A lot of us go away and we go to conferences and we sit in the seats and we're with colleagues and we learn and we go, go, go. But I think there's the big difference. Conferences are go, go, go. And retreats are slow, slow, slow. And it's that chance to slow down and process and reflect. And even if they're a busy retreat with lots of guidance, the goal of most retreats is to really go inward and think a lot about what's happening and what you need. 

Dr. Heather - As opposed to a conference setting which is very outward, it's somebody else telling you what you need to learn. This is more about tuning into your inner wisdom of huh, what am I going through right now? What would be important for me? What do I need help with? And it really, truly is personal development in the vein of your professional identity as opposed to a deep professional development. 

Dr. Marie - Yeah, I'm getting lost in your words. And I'm realizing it's probably been too long since I've been on my own retreat. I too used to go on retreat all the time, at least once a year. And I've never thought about it that way. Like that opportunity to really go instead of looking out and to slow down rather than taking in as much information as possible. You know, I'm wondering, in a profession like vet medicine, rest often feels like a luxury. Or we feel guilty about slowing down, guilty about taking time off. Heaven forbid I don't work Saturday so that I can go to a retreat on the weekend. How do you think that retreats help people truly step away and recover mentally, physically and emotionally? 

Dr. Heather -Wow. First off, let's go back to guilt because I think let's normalize that. I think every one of us experiences guilt. And I used to talk about that a lot, that when I was at work I felt guilty about not being at home and when I was at home I felt guilty about not being at work. And heaven forbid you do anything for yourself because then you just feel guilty about everything. I should be at my kids soccer game, you know, I should, I shoulda, shoulda, should. And we're so good at shoulding all over ourselves and it's just messy. So I think when we are looking at retreats and that ability to go inward and to self focus, it really helps us to get some clarity on what we're experiencing. And it's a funny thing when you're in the go, go, go. 

Dr. Heather - You get on autopilot, you just keep going. You get through the days. The workload is heavy and you're just plowing through it, but you're not really in it. You're not immersed in what's showing up for me. Is this how I even want to show up? Is this the right path for me? And sometimes taking a pause is the space you need to actually reflect on what's the right direction and am I anywhere close to being on it? And I don't even know if I answered your question, but I went down the garden path on guilt. 

Dr. Marie - No, you totally did. I think that is such an important reminder that we do need those moments to pause in order to recognize how is my physical body, how am I feeling right emotionally, where am I at mentally? And looking at it both from a personal and professional standpoint. Like you said, okay, we get on the hamster wheel and then it's so hard to get off of it. And while we're on the hamster wheel, we're just thinking about keeping the hamster wheel going. We're not thinking in terms of the big picture about where do I want to be, am I happy, am I feeling pockets of joy, how are the other people in my lives doing and how are we doing relationally and everything else? So I do think that intentional pause is so very important because I can relate to that. 

Dr. Marie -Again, even thinking that I can't even remember when my last retreat was. We get into this place and, you know, the days and the weeks and the months just go by and there's been zero time for pause and reflection. I think society today and the way that our lives structured, there is just so little time for pause, let alone in the day to day busyness of the veterinary work environment. 

Dr. Heather - I totally agree with you. And it leads us to being so reactive and then we're not responding mindfully, we're hyper stimulated and we tend to just show up not in the best ways for ourselves, for others, for our clients, for our patients, but most importantly for ourselves. 

Dr. Marie - Yeah, I can relate to that as well. And I know that you mentioned, you know, being on autopilot, you mentioned mindfulness. You and I both are particularly passionate about mindfulness. We both have had life changing experiences doing the mindfulness based stress reduction program. And so I know that you're highly trained in mindfulness and yoga. How do those practices specifically integrate into your retreats and what do you think the measurable benefits are that you've seen for people who are participating. And you've got that experience with students and with your retreat participants. So I'm eager to hear what your thoughts are. 

Dr. Heather - Yeah, it's been interesting. So I led the Mindful vet elective at the veterinary college for the last number of years. And it was also we had mindfulness embedded in our core curriculum in our professional foundations program. And a lot of this is that you can't respond if you're not aware of what's going on. So for me, mindfulness is this tool to really dial in what's showing up for me, what's showing up in my body, what's showing up in my thoughts, what's showing up in my emotions, where do I feel it, get really granular about it. And using that tool so that we can go, huh, something's not right. I might not know what I need to do about it, but I know something's not right. I've essentially left homeostasis. I'm in fight and flight. And here's where it's showing up. 

Dr. Heather - And now I can start to think about, huh, how do I get back? How do I get back into rest and digest? And so to your question, like, how does it show up? I think people have a lot of misconceptions around mindfulness. I think a lot of people hear mindfulness and I get this question, like, how much meditation is there going to be and are we going to sit around and oh my day. And no, we're absolutely not going to do that. What I found really interesting in teaching mindfulness to veterinary students is one, you have to show the evidence based approach. They need to see the facts. And the good news is there is a ton of research around mindfulness and its benefits. So we can talk about everything from increasing joy to neuroplasticity, reducing stress, reducing things like addiction. 

Dr. Heather - I mean, the list is long, as my arm, of what those tangible peer reviewed studies have shown us that mindfulness can do. But I don't think it can be force fed. And what we learned with a lot of the students, and frankly, I think with just the population in general, is a lot of the informal short practices are just as powerful is sitting for 20 minutes in meditation. And so a lot of the students said, hey, this is really cool going out in nature and doing a mindful nature walk, doing some forest work. So we're going to spend an hour walking something that would normally take you 10 minutes because we're really going to see things, smell things, taste things, touch things, experience it, be in it instead of through it. 

Dr. Heather - I would talk to people all the time and say, oh, I go in nature all the time. I take my dog for a walk in nature. Sure, you walk through nature. You're taking Fluffy or Fido, you've got them on the leash, you've got your ear pods in, and you're off you go, and an hour later, you've checked your steps, you've burnt your calories, this, that, and the other thing. And the last thing you've done is paid any attention to what's happening around you. So when we do our mindful walks, literally it's a half a kilometer, and I take 90 minutes to walk in it. And my heist drivers go, oh, my God, this is gonna be horrible. And by the end of it, they're like, that was awesome. I had no idea that was 90 minutes. 

Dr. Heather -  I lost all track of myself, and I paid attention on purpose to what was happening around me. So it's pretty cool. Okay. 

Dr. Marie - I have so many things to say. One, I think that speaks to your aptitude as a facilitator if you can, like, you know, make it be this immersive experience, you know. And two, it just really highlights what has been, you know, very resonant for me in my understanding around mindfulness is moving away from doing and into being. I loved what you said about, like, you know, walked through a forest. You weren't actually being in the forest. You know what I mean? And so, you know, what I'm hearing from you is there is this opportunity to really be present and to tune into your senses, which is something I think that we really emphasize with mindfulness, is really this tuning in, like smell, taste, touch, sound, mind, everything that just really brings you into the present moment. 

Dr. Marie - And outside of what just happened, you know, with that last client or what's coming next in my, you know, appointment scheduling or even, like, what's on my to do list. And what am I doing after this? And, yeah, how many steps am I getting in? Who's calling me on the phone? What's that notification? You know, all of these places except for the present moment. So I love that. And I love that you mentioned nature. What could be a better place, of course, to have a retreat? The nature of Prince Edward Island. I know when I first started offering retreats years ago now I think my first retreat was back in 2015 or 2016. I did it in the Rocky Mountains here in Alberta. Like, I thought people need that nature experience to get away from the hustle and bustle of their lives. 

Dr. Marie - Like, it's almost like an interruption. You know, like you said, when people go to a conference, they're still in that doing mode that go, go. But when we move people away from their regular environment and into a space of beauty and awe and just amplified senses that aren't clouded by traffic and technology and screens, I think that can be so transformational as well. And it really does seem central to your retreat philosophy. What can you tell us about the role of outdoor in nature time in supporting resilience and well, being so critical? 

Dr. Heather - So many things came to mind when you were talking there. And I think when we're in the conference setting, it's the same thing as being in the clinic setting. We've got weird lighting, we've got lots of stimulation, there's lots of people, there's lots of noise. It's very much a do, do do environment. When we get into nature embodies what we're trying to do in retreat. Because nature happens in its own time. You can't rush the changing of the leaves. You can't make them go faster. Right? You can't make the snow fall. It falls when it wants to fall. The leaves change color when they change color. And it will. And it's not permanent. And everything shifts and everything cycles. And so nature really embodies that idea of everything happens in its own time. 

Dr. Heather - And if that's what we're trying to get into, if that's what we're trying to embrace, that idea of mindfully responding, then nature's the perfect place for it. And then you can take all of that, which might sound a little woo to some people, and then go into the science side, because there's some really compelling science around how nature heals us. And I mean, nature therapy is actually being prescribed in major city centers to deal with hyperstimulation, technostress, all of these kinds of things. Because what we know is the phytochemicals released from the trees all around us help with things like lowering our resting respiratory rate, lowering our resting heart rate, lowering our baseline cortisol, increasing natural killer cells. And one hour in nature can increase your natural killer cells for up to one month. I mean, a month. 

Dr. Heather - I don't know what else will do that. So I feel like when I do an hour in nature, I'm preventing getting sick in bed. So sometimes it's like those can help with the rationale of why you need to spend that time so that you know that you can be your best self going forward for others. 

Dr. Marie - I love it. Yes. Let's prescribe that more often. And certainly, you know, cold and flu season. Who would have thought just getting outside for a little bit, which is often counterintuitive to what we think. We think like, hunker down inside and, you know, yeah, you're just not getting exposed to all those natural phytochemicals and other things outdoors. I know that you spend a lot of really intentional time planning out your retreats. We were just talking about a retreat before we recorded that. You did with a lot of corporate leaders and really integrating these activities and, you know, the learnings and other things that they've come there for. How do you design a retreat that has that balance of a little bit of maybe structured learning or unstructured learning, guided activities and then personal time? 

Dr. Marie - I think a lot of people I know, when I used to host my retreats, they were like, we didn't get any time to ourselves. And I was like, er, okay, let's incorporate that next time. Think is that secret sauce to making it transformational? 

Dr. Heather - And it's hard because people are investing when they're coming to retreat. And so I'm sure you like me. We want to provide a really good product. You want to give them lots of opportunity to learn and to grow. You want to provide lots of experience. Sometimes people just need to sleep and they need permission to like, dial off and shut down and get quiet. So I think the balance comes from giving people true permission to choose their own adventure. I might have a fairly robust schedule planned, but the very first thing we do on the very first night is say to everybody, look, if you wake up in the morning and you don't feel like you want to do yoga, you don't do yoga. 

Dr. Heather - If yoga for you would be more meaningfully done in bed with your eyes closed, still napping, then give yourself permission to not show up for the morning yoga class and sleep in and get that rest. So I think we need to, as facilitators, give that space for people to make permission to not come to some of the activities and then not take it personally. I used to take it personally. I'd be like, oh my goodness, they're not showing up. Maybe I haven't planned this right? And then I realized, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. I have said right from the get go, you don't need to come to this if you don't want to come to this. You don't want to do the forest bathing, the nature interpretation. 

Dr. Heather - You want to sleep and take an afternoon nap, by God, do it, because that's what your body is telling you to do. So I think the balance is to offer good programming, offer some time for free space in there, but more importantly, give people permission to choose the path that they need to choose when they come to retreat. I know when I've gone to conferences in the past, if you missed a session, you're like, bad girl. Right? I, my employer's paying for this and I have to show up all the things I need to bring back this wealth of knowledge. That's not the point of retreat. 

Dr. Heather -Their point of retreat is when you come back, you have had some time to process what you need to process, to be able to take care of yourself so that you can take care of others and to just feel a little better than you did when you came in. And if that means sleeping through half the sessions, well, then you're doing it right. 

Dr. Marie - I love that. And you know, I think that really tunes into this whole notion of self-awareness. Right. Giving yourself the opportunity to slow down and really recognize what is it that I need, what is it that would serve me best right now. And then like you said, the big piece is the permission to lean into that. I know that veterinary professionals are their own people. I will say we are our own people and we are unique in some ways. Not in all, we're obviously all still human. But when it comes to planning retreats, I know that you do plan retreats specifically for veterinary professionals. 

Dr. Marie -What is the difference in the structure of those retreats and what do you feel the unique challenges are that you are addressing when you are welcoming a group of veterinarians and others in our profession? 

Dr. Heather - That's a great question. I think a lot of times when veterinary professionals go to something like this, they need to have a justification. I wish they didn't, but they do. And I know that. And so I do make sure I provide a cell with this that I wouldn't ever worry about with anything else. So I do find my veterinary specific retreats have a little bit more layered CE involved in it. But we tend to work on something very different. We're not going to focus on cardiology or physiology or immunology. We're going to focus on wellbeing and we might focus on professional development in the vein of wellbeing. So for example, in the last one we did a lot of work on personality and how your personality guides you when you're doing well, but also what shows up when conflict happens. 

Dr. Heather - Because you and I both know conflict is ripe in Our profession, and it's a major contributor to negative wellbeing. Most veterinarians, shockingly, do not like conflict. And yet we're in a profession where conflict happens, if not every hour, it certainly happens every day. And so knowing that most vets, and we've got research to back this, have a very high conflict avoidance scale, giving them some tools to help with things that they're going to face every day, like managing conflict more effectively can actually show up really nicely in a wellbeing retreat, which I wouldn't integrate into a general public retreat. 

Dr. Marie - I love that. Yeah, I'm just nodding and agreeing because, you know, as somebody who spends a lot of time as well delivering trainings around communication, conflict resolution, leadership skills, you know, all of these things are so important. And the intersection between those skills and our wellbeing, it's astronomical. And as you said, the research really bears that out. So I love that. You know, I know I can think back to some of the retreats that I've been on and just the amazing relationships that I've walked away with. Even just feeling for a time that there's a group of people that are like minded. We often use that word in, you know, the yoga world. You know, these like minded individuals because they're going there for the same reasons. You're often sharing enough that you can recognize your common humanity in one another. 

Dr. Marie -  And so that has been very impactful for me with retreats. I know that has probably been impactful for others. How do you think that connection with peers in this immersive environment can enhance wellbeing? 

Dr. Heather - Yeah, I agree with you completely. One, we see that common humanity. But the difference with retreats than with conferences and let me pause and go back to conferences for a quick second, you'll often hear people say the best things that happen at conferences are the sessions between the sessions. It's like at the coffee time where people get chatting. Why? Because they're talking about their struggles, they're talking about their challenges, they're talking about what's happening. But that is a 15 minute break between heavy learning sessions. A retreat is essentially taking that break and whoop, making that the weekend. Right. With a little bit of structure put around it. And so what happens is when you spend a lot of time in that space, it cracks people open and they allow themselves to become vulnerable. And you almost see people go, oh my gosh, me too. 

Dr. Heather - Like things they hadn't expected that other people were struggling with. You almost always hear you're dealing with that. I had no idea. I thought it was just me. I thought it was just me who had a hard time dealing with clients when they were whatever. And so that cracking open and that vulnerability. And again, a small group is key. You can't do this kind of work. And that's a big difference with conferences versus retreats. Conferences might have hundreds of people. Our retreats, we max out at 15. I don't want a big group. I want a niche little container where we can come together and actually deeply share. I think back to the one we ran last summer, one of the best sessions. We were watching the sunset go down on the beach. We had a big bonfire. 

Dr. Heather - We were having a beach cookout, roasting some marshmallows. And were having this glorious summer evening here in Prince, Rhode island. And the sun was setting and the ocean was there and we all had beach chairs and were sitting around and we waded into some deep waters stuff that I had not anticipated were going to touch. And people cracked open. And it was interesting to hear because there were some very different perspectives. But even underlying the different perspectives, there were common interests and shared beliefs. And then all of a sudden, people went, Oh, that's interesting. I never thought about it that way. So I don't know, it's kind of magic. I think retreats allow people the space, the time, the vulnerability to connect, and connection's the key with this stuff.

Dr. Marie - Oh, my goodness. Okay. If I didn't say it before, I'll say it again. Yeah, it just sounds so wonderful. I definitely need to get out to get across Canada to enjoy one of these retreats with you in the future. I think for me, you know, when I think back to the retreat experiences I have had, they feel so incredible in the moment. And I know for me, I felt this dread going home. Like, I just know that this feeling is going to evaporate or I'm going to just get right back on that hamster wheel. And, you know, this is something that, as a facilitator, that I too, really try to focus on as the retreat is wrapping up. Like, how do we integrate all of these things after returning home? 

Dr. Marie - So I'm wondering, what are your strategies for making sure that your attendees can sustain these practices and these mindsets that they have learned on retreat with you when they go back into the high stress veterinary work environments or just the high stress pace of life that so many of us experience today? 

Dr. Heather - Yeah, and it's true. I think it happens with any kind of personal or professional development we do in the moment. You're all in. You're like, yeah, I've got so many good ideas. And then you get back and you get back on autopilot, you get back on the hamster wheel and away you go and it all sort of falls away. So we need purposeful, intentional work. When you leave the retreat, what is one, maybe two things you are going to implement immediately into your life, into your practice, into whatever it is that you do? You're going to do it, and then who's going to be accountable to help you with that? So sometimes within the group, you'll form an accountability group. Or maybe you just need a gentle reminder. So we do some really interesting activities. I'm going to tell you a funny story that'll make you laugh. 

Dr. Heather - So I'm going to show you this. This is a little bracelet for those of you who can see online. We often build a bracelet together. You're going to laugh. So I had a group of veterinarians down in Costa Rica. So I did one of these in Costa Rica last year. I had these six wonderful women down in Costa Rica. And the one lady, and if she listens to this, she'll know exactly who it is and she'll laugh and it'll be okay. She was like, nope, not doing it. Not building bracelets. That's stupid. It's dumb. Not doing it. And adamant for two days leading up to the bracelet making. Cause we’re down there for a week. She's like, nope, it's dumb. I'm just gonna go buy myself a bracelet. I don't need to make a bracelet. 

Dr. Heather - When we got to the bracelet making session, because really what this is about setting intentions. So the stones all have different meanings. You build it out, you. And it's to serve as a living reminder. It's on your wrist. Oh, yeah. When I was on retreat, I was going to take with me the fact that I need it to do X, Y, Z or I want it to embrace X, Y, Z or this is my intention going forward. It's a visual cue. Well, when it came to time to make bracelets, it was like a kid in a candy store. She was so excited. She made three. She made one for my husband, who was with us. And she's like, I'm making him a masculine one so that he knows what to do when he goes. 

Dr. Heather - And they hired me to do some facilitation work just last month. And they're like, we're going to do the bracelet thing. Can you bring all your bracelet supplies to Monte Bello with you? And I was like, sure. It was so neat to see the mindset shift and she let herself open up to it. And I think that's the thing, you crack open a little bit and she was able to let it go. 

Dr. Marie - Hey there. Are you feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just ready for a change in your veterinary career? Coaching with Reviving Veterinary Medicine might be exactly what you need at Reviving Vet Med. Coaching is a transformative partnership that helps you reconnect with your purpose, set meaningful goals and create a sustainable, fulfilling career in veterinary medicine. You can book a free 20 minute introduction archery call, no obligation, no pressure, just a chance to see if coaching could be a good fit for you. Visit RevivingVetMed.com/coaching to learn more and schedule your free call today. 

Dr. Heather - Another tool we often use, and I've done this a lot, is before the retreat ends, we're going to write ourselves a letter to home. And that letter isn't one you're taking with you. What that letter is it's a letter to yourself. And so this is an idea and I hope others out there take this idea because it's such a good one. And it was taught to me by a dear friend, Dr. Darcy Shaw, actually, and some of you may know Dr. Shaw, he's an internal medicine specialist at ABC and professor emeritus there and big into this work. 

Dr. Heather - And so I had been one of his leading with integrity retreats and we did this activity where you wrote yourself a letter and in that letter you wanted to talk about things that you want it to remember three months, six months down the road, something that was impactful, that was meaningful, that you got out of the last three, four, five days with the group and then you left it with the facilitator. You didn't take it and they mailed it to you three, four, five, six months down the road and it shows up in your mailbox and you read it and you're like, right, that was it, that was the thing. So sometimes we just need to kick our own butts a little bit. 

Dr. Heather - You know, you need that cueing from the bracelet, you need the letter to show up in the mail that says, hey, are you doing the things? You need your accountability buddy. And it's normal. And I think the biggest one is we've got to forgive ourselves if we fall off the train and get busy back into the reactive hamster track that we're on. Then when those things show up, then grab it, remind yourself and then respond. 

Dr. Marie - Oh my goodness, I love all of these suggestions and I still use in some of my online Programs, this accountability piece, you know, having a little accountability group or accountability buddy that just. You have that deeper connection with and. Or just that trusted piece of. I know that they're going to remind me of what I'm declaring out loud or whatever it is that I've committed to. The letter to yourself is just such a great practice. It's actually not one that I've used on retreat, but I love that idea. I have a coach who has done that with me. So I have a coach that will often when we, you know, have kind of a quarterly planning session or, you know, goal setting session, that at the end of that session we will write that letter. 

Dr. Marie - I will write that letter to myself and then she will mail it to me towards the end of the quarter. And it's weird, like, I'm not gonna lie. Like the first time I was like the bracelet participant. I don't know. I'm not. No, I'm not writing a letter to myself. That's ridiculous. What am I gonna read it later? And then it's just gonna be weird, you know, and then it's funny because I just got one of the letters at the end of the last quarter and was reading through it and I was like, wow. Like the energy of the space that I was in after we had gone through that session together and, you know, putting it into words and directing that to myself, it's something I definitely recommend that people participate if they're given that opportunity. Yeah. 

Dr. Heather - We actually integrated it into the curriculum at the vet college. So at the end of first year and second year, they had to write themselves letters and they would get it a whole year later. So they were getting their first year letters at the end of second year. And it was interesting. You know, sometimes I don't know that it was always positive, but I would say 90% of the time the students were like, huh. It was interesting to see the space I was in then and the things I thought I couldn't do and look at where I am now. 

Dr. Heather -  So I think it's a really good check in tool. It's like a time capsule. Totally. Right. It's capturing a moment of where you were at when something happened and now you're reexamining it with new eyes. And so that's why I really like that work in retreat because it helps with that accountability of here's where I was at when I was learning some really powerful, cool, deep water, meaningful stuff. And then I got back on the hamster wheel. Oh, and then this shows up and I‘m like, right. That was my intention. I had set and I'm partially doing it. I want to kickstart that back into gear. So, yeah, it's been a really good, rewarding practice. I do it for almost all of my retreats, not just veterinary ones. I think it's really powerful. 

Dr. Marie - I love it. I love that it's an opportunity for a recalibration. You know, just like, okay, yep. And especially for the vet students, I can only imagine, like, wow, like, how far have I come? How much have I accomplished? How much have things changed since that letter? You know, for whatever good, bad, and of course, in mindfulness, there is no good bad. It just is. But. But nevertheless. Yeah, it's so interesting. I know you mentioned before this visualization, which I think some people have around retreats, which is like, we're going to be sitting around a. A fire and holding hands and singing Kubaya or chanting, like you said. What do you think some of the common misconceptions are around retreats? And what would you want other people to understand before going? 

Dr. Heather - Yeah, I think the biggest misconception is people feel it's selfish. So we hear all the time. If I have to take a weekend to do something, it needs to be to do something, to learn something, to take care of my kids, to do X, Y, Z, or I'm going to go on a trip with my family. I hear a lot of people saying, I can't justify this because it's selfish. And the biggest response I have to that, and it's so cliche. I said, this is where Air Canada teaches you all the life lessons, like, you've got to put your own oxygen mask on first before you help others. And as cliche as that is, it's legitimately true. 

Dr. Heather - As somebody who has suffered burnout and has suffered compassion fatigue and just general fatigue, I know that I cannot hold space for others and I cannot be effective as a professional. And let's be clear, as a human being, without taking some space for myself, I'm not a good wife, I'm not a good mom, I'm not a good friend. I'm not a good person, frankly. When the candle gets burnt at both ends, the retreat is the chance to burn out both ends of the candle, let the wax gather so that you can light one end again and hopefully leave the other end alone. So that's the biggest misconception I hear over and over again, is I can't do it because I have so many other things or other priorities I need to do. 

Dr. Heather - And I always respond, if you won't make space for yourself, who's going to make space for you? Because nobody else will do it. You have to do it yourself. So that would be my biggest myth, I think. 

Dr. Marie - I think that's incredible. And gosh, you and I, of course, you know, we're not just colleagues, but we're friends. And so we've connected on a lot of these points informally. And it just, I get emotional thinking about it because honestly, I think of all the times where I have shown up to work, not the version of myself that I wanted to, you know, and I was like snippy with a team member or I made a mistake with a patient or, you know, after a long workday, I, you know, snapped at my daughter or yeah, just like showed up the person that I didn't want to be. 

Dr. Marie - And I have just come to learn and quite frankly embrace and hold to myself as a personal rule that I will not be able to show up the best version of myself if I don't first care for myself. And that trumps everything. That means in the morning I get up and I work out. That means I get out every day and I walk the dog. That means I sit in meditation for even just a couple of minutes or do a breathing exercise. Like, those are my non-negotiables. And I think that absolutely, if an individual is in a place where they really do feel like they've gotten themselves burned at both ends of the candle, then it's not really like a should I do this? It's like I must do this. 

Dr. Marie - You know, this is what I need to recalibrate and get back on track. And I love that you shared, you know that I feel like this is especially true for new graduate veterinarians, which based on the research we know that they are struggling with integrating into veterinary practice or, you know, adjusting to veterinary practice the most, those early career veterinarians, you know, that kind of two to five, even up to the first ten years of practice. And I feel like that is the time when they're like, must learn more, must go to conferences, must gain skills. And it's like, slow down. 

Dr. Marie - Because if you do not first gain the skills to take care of yourself and to practice self care and to learn mindfulness and practice mindfulness and embed these conflict resolution or communication strategies into your life, it doesn't matter how many techniques you've learned at conferences, you are not going to be able to sustain yourself in this profession. And, you know, I'm wondering what advice you would have specifically for those early career or new graduate veterinarians. How would you encourage them? Is it the same mindset or do you have other words of wisdom for them? 

Dr. Heather - It's an especially tough time when your early career, and I think back to myself, and that's 20 some odd years ago and the world was really different then. My heart really goes out to this generation of veterinarians who are going out into the world. I was blessed with very little fear of repercussions, of blowback, of there was hardly, well, social media didn't exist. This is dating me. But there was no Facebook, there was no Instagram, there was no Yelp review. 5 stars, 0 stars. There was nobody who was going to go online and, you know, bomb your social media about what a terrible person you were. So I just had to deal with my own inner critic and all of the things that I was dealing with personally about not feeling good enough. 

Dr. Heather - My imposter syndrome of oh my gosh, I should know more, I should better. The shoulding came up a lot as an early career veterinarian and I didn't even have 90% of the challenges that this generation has. So my heart goes deeply owed to this generation of new graduates who have the challenges of the online bombardment of voices and noise and crap, and I'm going to call it crap because it's mostly that's out there and I think it's very difficult to drown out. So I think they're incredibly hard on themselves as a result of that. The wisdom and advice I can give is you need this work more than anybody. Because of that. Because of that, I needed this work. When I was a new grad and didn't know it, I had to wait until I crashed and burned. 

Dr. Heather - So my reality was get sick, crash and burn, get help. I would love it if people didn't have to do that and just skip steps, get sick, crash and burn and just get help and recognize that's not a weakness, that this job is hard, it's heavy. The world is challenging, the clients are challenging, the medicine is challenging, the expectations are high. So it would be like saying, here, I'm going to put you in the cockpit pit of an F18 fighter jet. And yeah, you know, maybe you went to pilot school, you know how to fly planes, but like, go fly this over some crazy enemy territory and take online fire and hope you do okay. Good luck. Oh, and we're not giving you a parachute if you get hit. No one would ever do that. No one would ever do that. 

Dr. Heather - So why are we doing that to ourselves? Get the support, get the skills, get the training, and gosh darn it, get the parachute so that when you do get hit, you actually know how to float over it and let some of it go and be okay so that you can keep doing this. Because, gosh, what a shame. When I hear people say I put all this time, energy, effort, money into becoming a veterinarian, and two years later I'm done. Oh, breaks my heart. Breaks my heart. I don't want to see that. So if nothing else, if one of these retreats keeps somebody able to be fulfilled so that they can thrive in their veterinary career for, you know, decades, that's the goal. This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. We gotta, like, keep on going. 

Dr. Marie - I love it. Beautiful sentiments. Thank you so much for sharing those, Heather. I really hope that people take everything that you've shared to heart and do consider one of your retreats or reaching out to you. Where is the best place for people to connect with you to find out more about your different offerings? 

Dr. Heather - Thanks so much for that. Yeah, I'd love to chat with veterinarians about this. We do both private retreats for single vets to come in. I've also done resort boots for clinic groups to come in and do a specific tailored program for their clinic, especially if they're dealing with something challenging at the clinic level. And I would say the best way to reach me is at our nature Space business. So info at. That's all one word. So Nature Space resort info@naturespace resort.com we do post our retreats on there. There is going to be one just open for everybody to sign up for it this coming June. It'll be June 28th to July 1st. That abuts nicely with the CVMA conference. If you happen to be coming to Charlottetown anyways, you can just add a couple extra days and stay. 

Dr. Heather - But, you know, otherwise, if you just want to chat about this stuff, drop me a line and I'm happy to have a little conversation. 

Dr. Marie - I love it. And last but not least, same question that we ask all of our podcast guests, Heather, what does the phrase reviving veterinary medicine mean to you? 

Dr. Heather - I've reflected on this. I think reviving is all about thriving. And when we're looking at that, we need to stop. It's going to be another word, striving. So it's that idea of being okay with finding comfort in the discomfort. It's okay with things not being perfect. And it's okay with just showing up with your authentic self so that you can do this for the long run. That's how we revive that med. 

Dr. Marie - I love it Heather. That's just been a real gift to be able to share this time with you, share this information with all of our listeners. So thank you so much again for your time today and I will make it out to PEI to see you and to enjoy one of your retreats sometime soon. Dr. Heather - Thanks Marie and thank you for doing this work. It's so powerful and so important. 

Dr. Marie - Aw, thank you. 

Dr. Marie - So that's it for this episode of Reviving Vet Med. I hope you found Heather's inside insights as inspiring as I did, from understanding the transformative power of retreat to recognizing how mindfulness, rest and community can bring lasting changes to our lives and workplaces. If this conversation sparks something for you. I encourage you to explore Heather's work at Nature Space Resort and retreat center or AwareVet Veterinary Consulting. You'll find links in the show notes and maybe even consider gifting yourself the time to pause, reflect and restore. It might just change the way you show up in your work and in your life. If you haven't already done so, please subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss future episodes and follow us on social media at Reviving Vet Med for more wellbeing tips, tools and inspiration for veterinary professionals. A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Heather Gunn McQuillan for sharing her wisdom and warmth, and to you, the love listener, for joining us. Until next time, take care of yourself. Bye for now.