Episode 1009 - Employer of Choice VetsOne: From Burnout to Return - Dr Mia (Part 1)

Julie South [00:00:04]: Welcome to Veterinary Voices: Employer brand conversations that help veterinary clinics hire great people. I'm Julie South and this is episode 1009. Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetClinicJobs. Build your employer brand. Do your own recruitment better.

Continuing our VetsOne Employer of Choice series, today we meet Dr Mia, a veterinarian who describes VetsOne as her forever home. Dr Mia came to veterinary medicine as a mature student after completing an animal science degree and trying unsuccessfully to make the desire to be a vet go away.

Julie South [00:00:38]: She started at VetsOne as a new grad in mixed animal practice, transitioned to small animal work when that's where her passion led, left for 18 months when she needed space to recover from, as many veterinary professionals know, this thing called burnout, and then came back because, as she puts it, she couldn't speak highly enough of the people at VetsOne.

In this chat, you're going to hear why Dr Mia is nicknamed Witchy Poo, how VetsOne supports her complementary herbal medicine side hustle as a separate business, what makes nurses her favourite piece of kit, and why she says that even on hard days, it's still a good day coming to work because you come to friends.

VetsOne in Hastings in New Zealand's Hawke's Bay is currently looking for their next small animal veterinarian, specifically someone with leadership potential or experience who wants to help guide their companion animal team. If you're drawn to a clinic that genuinely celebrates diverse clinical interests and supports professional growth in unconventional directions, then stay tuned. Let's join that conversation here with Dr Mia.

Dr Mia [00:02:21]: My name's Mia and I'm a vet and I've actually worked at VetsOne twice, so for a total of about five years.

Julie South [00:02:29]: Are you a large animal vet or a small animal or a mix now?

Dr Mia [00:02:33]: Now I'm small.

Julie South [00:02:34]: Did that transition from mixed to small happen while you were at VetsOne?

Dr Mia [00:02:40]: Yes, it did.

Julie South [00:02:42]: How did that come about?

Dr Mia [00:02:44]: Well, I was initially employed as a mixed veterinarian and after a period of time, I was quite—as brand new, I started as a new graduate of VetsOne—and after a couple of years I realised that while I enjoyed part of the large animal work, that actually it was really the small animal work where I was finding my passion and what I enjoyed. And I went to one of the directors and said, look, I love the equine work and I love the small animal work, but I'm just not finding that farm work is where I need to go. If you want me to do this work, I will stay doing it, but if I have a choice I'd rather not. And then they just accommodated that and said, that's fine, no problem, and made it happen.

Julie South [00:03:23]: You said that you have worked for VetsOne twice?

Dr Mia [00:03:27]: Yes.

Julie South [00:03:27]: How did that happen?

Dr Mia [00:03:29]: So I did placement as a student a couple of times here, and in my final year at Massey, a friend actually sent me an email in class and said, hey, that clinic you like is hiring. And so I hurriedly sent my CV in and I actually had my interview with them on the day that my dog died in the clinic.

I'm laughing—I only laugh, it was not a funny time. I only laugh because one of the directors rang me and said, Mia, we've just put two and two together about what's happened this morning and we're supposed to see you after lunch. Would you like to reschedule? And I said, no. I said, I'm not dressing up, I'm coming in leggings, and if you like me today, I only get better from here.

Dr Mia [00:04:11]: And so I had the interview with them in my leggings with no makeup, having cried a lot. And yeah, they offered me the job.

Julie South [00:04:20]: Are you a Hawke's Bay girl through and through?

Dr Mia [00:04:24]: No, I'm not. I'm actually from the South Island, and I moved to Hawke's Bay in my early 20s and had another life before I was a vet.

Julie South [00:04:31]: Okay, so are you—I wouldn't say mature—Jason was telling me that he went to Massey as a mature student.

Dr Mia [00:04:41]: I was a quote unquote mature student too. Yes.

Julie South [00:04:44]: Okay, so what drew you to veterinary and why did it take that long?

Dr Mia [00:04:52]: I always wanted to be a vet right from very young, and I actually went to Massey straight out of school to be a vet. And when I got there, I was actually just academically tired. In my first semester I realised pretty quickly that I was really tired. And while I still wanted to do it, I just didn't have the energy to commit to what I had to do.

So I finished another degree and then I worked. A lot of that was actually over here in Hawke's Bay. Then I still wanted to be a vet and it wouldn't go away. I tried lots of other jobs, hoping it would go away, because I knew what it would take and it wouldn't.

Dr Mia [00:05:25]: So instead of saying shoulda, coulda, woulda, I went and did it. So I left Hawke's Bay, went back to Massey, completed my degree, and one of my fears of leaving Hawke's Bay was that I wouldn't be able to get a job back here.

Julie South [00:05:37]: Has veterinary lived up to everything that you really dreamed it would be?

Dr Mia [00:05:41]: 500%. I regret nothing. Absolutely best decision I've made.

Julie South [00:05:46]: In that gap from doing another degree—if I was academically tired like you said that you were, I don't know that I would have done a degree. I would have, I don't know what I would have done, but I wouldn't have studied. What was that degree? Did it kind of support or complement veterinary or was it totally different?

Dr Mia [00:06:12]: No, it was an animal science degree, so it's still a science degree. So academically tired—I just knew that I did not have the energy to, I saw pretty quickly what it was going to take and I was like, I just don't have that in me. But I ticked along and did a science degree and absolutely loved it and learned a lot. There's a lot that really fit in to what I do now. Definitely, yeah. Animal nutrition, welfare, physiology. It was excellent.

Julie South [00:06:39]: What sort of small animal vet are you now?

Dr Mia [00:06:43]: Well, I do a couple of different things. I do mainstream GP vet practice and I've also done further qualifications in herbal medicine. I do more of the holistic care as well.

Julie South [00:06:53]: I hear you have a nickname.

Dr Mia [00:06:55]: Yeah, probably someone else has told you. It probably has something to do with witchy or weirdo or alternative or something like that. I don't know. What have they said to you?

Julie South [00:07:08]: Witchy Poo. Is that it?

Dr Mia [00:07:10]: Yeah, yeah.

Julie South [00:07:12]: Okay, tell me about that.

Dr Mia [00:07:15]: I love science, 100% love science, but I also enjoy holistic medicine and in particular herbal medicine and the very, very long history that is now being backed by science with that. And I'm lucky enough here that everyone just completely accepted that and trusted that whatever I wanted to learn and do was going to be effective, applicable, helpful, which meant that I can talk freely about it and be a little bit weird and show them things.

And yes, everyone's just sort of accepted it and was more interested in learning rather than scared of something different, which probably really sums up the culture here—is interested in learning rather than something different not being okay.

Julie South [00:07:58]: Was this your first job from Massey?

Dr Mia [00:08:00]: Yes, VetsOne was my first veterinary job, obviously, yes.

Julie South [00:08:04]: So this team has seen you grow from being a new graduate to this weird complementary alternative herbal veterinarian.

Dr Mia [00:08:19]: Yeah, but I'd say seen—I wouldn't say just seen. I would say supported and really embraced.

Julie South [00:08:26]: What does that look like for you? How did that kind of go from a new grad to where you are now, where you're sharing, openly sharing, proud to be who you are, truly who you are, with this interest that's not traditionally Western and still received and embraced by your team with open arms?

Dr Mia [00:08:52]: I think probably because of the nature of the clinic, the culture in the clinic, I was allowed to develop that and the interest for it. It's always been a personal interest for my own health journey. And as my veterinary skills developed, I started seeing that I wanted to use more nutraceutical and complementary therapies to complement the beautiful medicine that we do. But there started to be—I felt like there was more I could do alongside the mainstream that would be of benefit.

And when I explored a few options and I went to one of my bosses and I said, I want to do this course. And she had a look and she said, yeah, great. Oh, okay.

Dr Mia [00:09:30]: That was easy. I was waiting for the, well, how does it fit? Or anything. So that was completely embraced. They said, how much time do you need to do it? You know, how much does it cost? Let's get all the nuts and bolts. And then it was just supported. That was it.

And in terms of integrating it, I'd always go and say to them, this is what I'd like to do. And they'd say, okay, that's fine. And I'd have my whole explanation and PowerPoint of why, how I should sell it to them. And I never ever needed it. They just trusted that if I was wanting to implement something that it was for the best interest of the patients, the clients and the clinic. And there was this real trust there, which I was like, would I have been that trusting if I'd come to me? I don't know.

Dr Mia [00:10:10]: But I think probably they'd known me long enough to know that I wasn't cavalier or, you know, fly by the seat of my pants, that I would have considered it. Also that there is a mutual trust and respect that I'm not going to do anything that's not in line with the best interest of the clinic as well or damaging in any way.

Julie South [00:10:28]: Can you give me an example of one of these PowerPoints that you never had to hit show on?

Dr Mia [00:10:37]: I'd probably more printed out a lot of things and gone to show Sharon or taken my textbook or printed out some of the webinar or something that I've done. And she'd—like I'd go and she'd just say yes. And I'll be like, do you want to see? No, I trust you. Oh, okay. I've prepared this for you. It's fine, no problem.

Julie South [00:10:55]: So you've got the support from your team and your colleagues and management. How about the clients? Because there has to be a willingness on the clients to embrace this as well.

Dr Mia [00:11:07]: Yes. And so I don't—you kind of feel it out. Sometimes people say to you straight up, I don't want to, I'd rather he or she not be on medication, I'd rather not be on this. And I'd be like, well, we can't do that, but here's what we can do.

Or for example, if an animal comes in and they have arthritis, I do the same spiel, I guess, for all the options. And one of the options, once we've been through the diet and the supplements and the medication and the surrounding therapies, is I always say, and there is this option as well. I think I call it the fourth door or something like that.

Dr Mia [00:11:27]: And some people, you can see straight away, they light up and gravitate towards it, and other people don't want a bar of it, and that's fine. So it's just always offered as an option that people either naturally move towards or they don't. So it's pretty clear whether that goes anywhere else.

Julie South [00:11:58]: You work part time, is that right? Because you have developed your complementary medicine as an aside.

Dr Mia [00:12:07]: Yes.

Julie South [00:12:07]: When you did that, was that part of your presentation to the directors? That I want to go from full time to part time?

Dr Mia [00:12:15]: I started obviously full time when I was a new graduate and I actually got pretty burnt out. And it's definitely not through—I don't think I would say it's an industry thing with a personality thing. It's not any reflection on them that I'd like to make really clear. It was a personality thing and I had some learning and growing to do. So before I left, I dropped down to four days a week. And that was supported by the directors as well.

Julie South [00:12:45]: Are you a perfectionist?

Dr Mia [00:12:48]: How did you guess? Yes. Yes. I think my doctor said, oh, you're just one of those A type personalities. And I had to go home and Google it because I didn't know what she meant. Yes.

Julie South [00:13:00]: How many days a week do you work now in clinic?

Dr Mia [00:13:04]: I work three days a week in clinic. And that was—I wouldn't say negotiated because that makes it sound like there was resistance. That was what was agreed upon when I came back to work beginning of 2024. And the reason behind that was that, yes, I have another business that I essentially started from VetsOne, but is now a separate entity, which I kind of can't believe my luck how they have supported that. Like they really didn't have to, but that's who they are. Like they really didn't have to. Yeah, I couldn't be more grateful to how they have embraced that.

Julie South [00:13:37]: Do you have any colleagues coming to you with clients who might want a complementary herbal approach, or they themselves have seen your results, which has opened their eyes?

Dr Mia [00:13:53]: Yeah, definitely, absolutely. Or what else can I give alongside XYZ or what else can we do? Or I don't know what to do with this person because they have this situation. Can you do anything? I'm like, yeah, we can do something. Sure.

Julie South [00:14:08]: So you're working with a team who is open minded.

Dr Mia [00:14:12]: Definitely. And I think it's not just about what I'm doing. Everybody within the team has areas that they are really interested in and passionate about. One of my colleagues, she loves dentals and she's studied dental. She does—and so when you get stuck on one, you're like, I don't know what to do here. She, you know, everyone has their little bit or someone else loves surgery and you've got a surgery coming up and you just need to plan something or they step in and help you.

So it's about everyone respects everyone else's interests and strengths.

Dr Mia [00:14:44]: And I think that's something here that is really easy to do, is it's fine to have your own interests and strengths and it's not only financially supported as well. You know, if you have a passion, they're like, great, that's wonderful. Let's see how that fits.

Julie South [00:14:58]: What sort of person do you think would fit into a team with such a diverse range of interests?

Dr Mia [00:15:07]: Someone that wants to fit into a team. Someone that wants to have a bit of fun, who loves to learn and not just about veterinary medicine, but is interested in getting to know other people and happy for us to get to know them as well. You know, everybody here is different and that's far from being shunned, it's celebrated and you just do get to know everyone's weird and wonderful parts. And it's a beautiful feeling to be completely accepted for who you are.

Julie South [00:15:35]: Even though you're a mainlander.

Dr Mia [00:15:37]: Even though I'm a mainlander.

Julie South [00:15:40]: Tell me, for overseas listeners, the South Island of New Zealand is referred to as the mainland.

Dr Mia [00:15:49]: It is.

Julie South [00:15:50]: Mia, tell me, what's it like coming from the South Island to the North Island and living specifically in the Hawke's Bay?

Dr Mia [00:15:58]: Well, I'm actually from Blenheim and Blenheim and Hawke's Bay are geographically very similar. They look almost identical in terms of geography. I've got the stony beach to the east, we've got the dry hills to the south, and you've got more of the forest and ranges out to the west. So weather wise and scenery wise with all the grapes, it didn't actually feel very different to me.

It's nice living close to the sea. It kind of—when I first moved here, especially after living in Palmerston North for a couple of years, it felt like I was on holiday all the time.

Dr Mia [00:16:27]: If you like to be outside, come to Hawke's Bay. That's a big difference I learned from other parts, other cities I've lived in, is that it doesn't take very long for you to be out of the town and not just by a farmland, but by a beach or up a hill or to a mountain. It's very easy to get away.

Julie South [00:16:47]: How do you spend your R and R time when you're not working? What does that look like in this almost looks like Blenheim location?

Dr Mia [00:16:57]: I'm pretty quiet. I like walking my dogs along the beach or getting out of town. That's what I like to do. I like walking up the hills. I like—yeah, there's a lot of places just to go and move outside. It doesn't have to be paragliding or jumping off things, it can be peaceful, but I just like being out. It's just a beautiful place to be outside.

Julie South [00:17:16]: When you said you like walking, I had visions of you walking Te Mata Peak.

Dr Mia [00:17:20]: Oh, yes, absolutely love Te Mata Peak.

Julie South [00:17:23]: But you don't jump off the top.

Dr Mia [00:17:25]: No, no, I think humans belong on the ground.

Julie South [00:17:30]: How easy was it to integrate as a mainlander? How easy was it to integrate into the Hawke's Bay?

Dr Mia [00:17:41]: Well, I'd come from the mainland to Palmerston North, where it went from a thriving student community where you got friends instantly by moving into a flat. And I came over to Hawke's Bay when I was, like I said, younger, in my early 20s. And I actually initially, very, to be very honest, found it difficult because I'd moved from a student centred population to a slightly older population, just purely by numbers.

That didn't last long for me. I think probably the first year here was the hardest for me, but I made friends very quickly. There is a lot to do here and like, when I came here, social media wasn't a big thing, so there wasn't groups I could join, so I actually had to go physically out and find people.

Dr Mia [00:18:36]: But I think you do, then you do develop your sense of community. So it's very different from moving into a student population to moving into an adult population. But if you have an interest and you want to go out and do things, you'll find your people. Absolutely.

Julie South [00:18:42]: And what's the community like? What are your clients like?

Dr Mia [00:18:46]: We have wonderful clients. We've got some really, really loyal clients that have been with this business for like decades, like really long time. We have quite a diverse clientele as well. We've got everyone from farmers. We are surrounded by multiple socioeconomic areas in Hawke's Bay. And so we see a full spectrum of clients here. And I really enjoy that. It brings a lot of interest to the role and you meet wonderful people from all walks of life.

Dr Mia [00:19:16]: Yeah, that's something I really enjoyed when I briefly worked elsewhere. I really missed the farm dogs. They're lovely, lovely patients. And the sense of some of these clients, I mean, like I said, they've been with the business through name changes and decades and so they feel like they're at home and part of the furniture. And that's really a neat thing to experience.

Julie South [00:19:34]: How long is your commute?

Dr Mia [00:19:36]: 20 minutes max.

Julie South [00:19:37]: That's a long way.

Dr Mia [00:19:39]: 15 minutes. 15 minutes if the expressway is clear and they're actually widening between Napier and Hastings, a part of the expressway which will make it even quicker. So it's not a—it's just enough time to wind down from the day. It's not a bother.

Julie South [00:19:58]: You've just heard Dr Mia describe her journey from new graduate to established veterinarian with a complementary medicine side hustle, her transition from mixed to small animal work and why VetsOne became the place she chose to return to after 18 months away. But we've only just scratched the surface of what working at VetsOne actually looks like day to day.

In the second part of our chat with Dr Mia, we're going to dive deeper into the practical realities. You'll hear about the after hours arrangements that mean the latest that she works is 6pm once a week, the twice daily team huddles that keep everyone connected across a very large building, and what the Lincoln Institute training has meant for both her personal growth and team communication.

Julie South [00:20:54]: Dr Mia will also unpack what it really means to feel emotionally safe at work, why she describes her favourite veterinary tool as a nurse, and what she'd say to someone considering whether VetsOne might be their next career home.

A quick note about what you're hearing in this series: this depth of employer brand storytelling—multiple team members, genuine stories, cultural specifics beyond just job requirements—this is what makes recruitment actually work. When clinics struggle to get suitable applicants despite advertising for months, it's because they're posting job adverts without showing who they really are.

Julie South [00:21:41]: Veterinary professionals can't choose you if they can't see whether they'd actually fit or not. VetsOne isn't just posting a job ad hoping the right person sees it. What they're doing is showing veterinary professionals what working there genuinely looks like through real Veterinary Voices sharing real stories. That's employer brand marketing in action and it's why they attract people who actually want to work there—people who, as you're hearing, are genuinely proud to work at VetsOne.

If you're responsible for recruitment at your clinic and thinking that yes, you have stories like this, but you don't know how to capture them, then please email me directly at julie@vetclinicjobs.com because I'm happy to talk about how we can help clinics like you build this kind of genuine employer brand through our REAL+STORY programme.

Julie South [00:23:09]: If you're a veterinary professional considering your next move, then you can check the vacancy that VetsOne currently has. The details can be found at vetclinicjobs.com/VetsOne.

This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be your most authentic, genuine self because you work in a team that's just like VetsOne.

Referenced URLs:

• https://vetclinicjobs.com/VetsOne
• https://veterinaryvoices.com
• mailto:tania@vetclinicjobs.com
• mailto:lizzie@vetclinicjobs.com
• mailto:julie@vetclinicjobs.com