Hi! I'm Amelia.
Veterinarian, Integrative Health and Life Coach, Consultant, Speaker, and Advocate for PosChange in Vet Med
I'm so glad our path have crossed. 💗
One of my core values is connection and my favorite thing about the online space is how easy it makes it to connect with like-hearted people around the world.
You can find a little bit about me and my story on this page, but I'd love to get to know you, too! If you feel called, send me an email or message on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
Who I Am
Since earning my VMD and VBMA certificate from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014, I have worked in small animal general practice, urgent care, and locum which has provided the opportunity to work in over 30 different veterinary practices including corporate, privately owned, mobile, high and low income, and both toxic and thriving cultures.
That experience combined with my extensive and holistic training of the brain and body and personal journey recovering from burnout has given me a unique perspective about why the vet profession is struggling.
I've used that insight to develop a variety of resources and programs to make it easier for veterinary professionals and practices to be thriving "unicorns" who are breaking the norm in order to create positive, sustainable change in their own lives and to lead by example in creating a much-needed paradigm shift in our profession.
Learn more about my story below
Who I Am - The short version
Since earning my VMD and VBMA certificate from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014, I have worked in small animal general practice, urgent care, and locum which has provided the opportunity to work in over 30 different practices including corporate, privately owned, mobile, high and low income, and both toxic and thriving cultures.
That experience combined with my extensive and holistic training of the brain and body and personal journey recovering from burnout has given me a unique perspective about why the vet profession is struggling.
I've used that insight to develop a variety of resources and programs to make it easier for veterinary professionals and practices to be thriving "unicorns" who are breaking the norm in order to create positive, sustainable change in their own lives and to lead by example in creating a much-needed paradigm shift in our profession.
Learn more about my story below
My Story: Why I'm A Vet Who Also Helps Humans
I was 6 when I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian.
From a very early age, I knew how competitive it was to get into vet school which means I don’t remember a time growing up when I didn’t feel pressure to be the responsible good girl, who followed all the rules, got perfect grades, and set a good example for my little sister so that I could achieve my dream.
In my mind, one mistake could mean not achieving the dream that had already become a part of my identity.
And it worked! I excelled in high school, majored in Biology at Wheaton College (MA), got into the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine my first time applying, and achieved my childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian.
It felt amazing - for a while.
Stressful, but amazing.
Your unconscious mind and body will always win. It’s the part of you that knows more and it’s determined to take care of you - whether you like it or not.
I’m a veterinarian who also helps humans because I’ve seen and experienced first hand how these messages are negatively impacting my profession and our ability - as veterinary professionals and pet parents - to work together and provide the best care we can to the animals who trust us.
I learned the hard way what doesn’t work, so I could learn what does.
And man, does it feel like a breath of fresh air when you start tuning into what your body, mind, and heart need and unlearning all of the rules and messages that were never going lead to real health and success.
But slowly, things started to change.
On the outside, it looked like I had it all. I was living my childhood dream, had a great home, loving husband, nice vacations, and was healthy and active.
On the inside, it was a very different story.
I started waking up dreading work and wishing the day was already over.
Yet by the time I finally got home, I felt numb and irritable after a day of being "on" - smiling and looking calm while being a pressure cooker of anxiety and unprocessed emotions on the inside.
I lived for days off to relax - except recharging never actually happened because my to-do list was never ending.
I was living for retirement, imagining that would be when I'd finally get to enjoy life.
This photo sums up the way I lived my life for the first 30 years. I’m running a marathon 30 degrees and torrential downpour, under-fueled, and ignoring the pain from a running injury I’ve been ignoring. Crossing the finish line felt amazing. Afterwards, I couldn’t run for over a year because I had pushed my body too far.
I was wishing decades of my life away for a future that wasn’t even guaranteed.
It sounds totally obvious that I was burned out, but it took me a long time to realize that.
I knew that I was stressed, but I didn't think I was that stressed. I also believed that I loved being a vet and that I was doing all the right things.
The reality that the dream I had worked my entire life for was making me miserable wasn’t exactly convenient. My identity had been tied to being a veterinarian forever.
Eventually, my body gave me the wake up call.
Despite my healthy habits and looking healthy (striving for perfection applied to all aspects of my life including my body which never met my standards), I didn't feel healthy.
I struggled with random severe stomach pains, afternoon brain fog, and exhaustion.
When doctors dismissed my symptoms (and praised me for being healthy), I turned to a functional medicine doctor.
She asked me a simple question:
"Are you happy being a veterinarian?"
For the first time, instead of cheerfully insisting "yes", I started to cry.
Realizing I was burned out made me feel stuck, ashamed, and alone.
Judgment caged me in:
Why was I struggling when it seemed like everyone else was doing just fine?
I had invested so much time, money, and energy into being a veterinarian, this was the life I had signed up for and it seemed too late to do anything else
How could I trust myself to even know where to go from here after making such a huge mistake thinking I wanted to be a vet?
What would other people think? Everyone thought I loved being a vet.
Finally, I realized that the only thing that was really keeping me stuck were my beliefs that it was too late and an unconscious desire to punish myself for making the “wrong” decision.
The 3 Life Boost C’s - compassion, curiosity, and connection - saved me from spending the rest of my life on the exhausting hamster wheel of despair and opened the door to the cage I had unknowingly created.
COMPASSION
Instead of blaming and punishing myself for making such a huge “mistake”, I started to have compassion for myself. I didn’t deserve to stay stuck in a life that was making me miserable.
CURIOSITY
Instead of judging myself and my circumstances, I started to get curious:
What went wrong when I tried SO hard to follow all the rules that lead to health and success?
CONNECTION
That curiosity helped me to slowly start putting the puzzle pieces together to understand why things hadn’t worked and to reconnect with all of me: body, mind, heart - to find a path forward that was in alignment with my values and what I had wanted and needed all along.
Embracing those 3 C’s led me down a path that I never planned for but it’s exactly where I belong.
Giving myself the option to pursue other passions and possibilities and to explore why things had gone wrong without judgment allowed me to recover from burnout without ever leaving vet med.
Instead of my identity being the high achieving, people-pleasing, quiet, nice veterinarian, I got to discover what was underneath all of that - the real Amelia.
That’s a life-long, liberating journey and one that I now support my clients with, too.
I’m now an integrative health and life coach, entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, podcaster, veterinarian, and advocate for positive change passionate about raising awareness of the root causes that are making so many of us unhealthy, unhappy, and overextended and providing resources and programs to help you find the sustainable and fulfilling path that lights you up instead of burns you out.
What I've Learned:
The rules that we're taught lead to health and success don't.
They seem like they do, because they lead to moments of feeling healthy and successful, but they’re not sustainable. They create a carrot-on-the-stick situation where what you want is always just out of reach.
Why? Because of a devastating message that diet and hustle culture have programmed into us:
We’ve been taught that our bodies are an inconvenience or the enemy that we need to ignore or control.
In reality, that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Your body’s one mission is to keep you safe and to take care of you.
It is the only thing in this world with that sole intention. And it is constantly giving you really valuable feedback about what’s working and what isn’t in your life.
I like to think of it as a really devoted dog.
Your body and unconscious mind want what’s best for you, but it does have basic needs in order to do that.
If you ignore the messages from your body because you think you or someone else knows better, that’s when things start to feel out of alignment, draining, and unsustainable.
Your unconscious mind and body will always win. It’s the part of you that knows more and it’s determined to take care of you - whether you like it or not.
I’m a veterinarian who also helps humans because I’ve seen and experienced first hand how these messages are negatively impacting my profession and our ability - as veterinary professionals and pet parents - to work together and provide the best care we can to the animals who trust us.
I learned the hard way what doesn’t work, so I could learn what does.
And man, does it feel like a breath of fresh air when you start tuning into what your body, mind, and heart need and unlearning all of the rules and messages that were never going lead to real health and success.
The root causes of burnout in vet med are the same issues that are creating a society where the norm is to be unhealthy and unhappy:
- We’ve normalized (and even select and reward for) the warning signs that we’re living in survival mode (like constant busyness, impossibly high standards, and, self-sacrificing) which isn’t sustainable
- In an effort to be "professional" we compartmentalize stress and emotions until it's too much or it manifests as unhealthy habits to numb rather than being taught how to feel, process, and release uncomfortable emotions so they don't weigh you down
- We treat physical and mental health like they’re separate - they’re not. How can you possibly solve a puzzle if you’re only looking at one of the pieces?
- We self-sacrifice basic necessities (like bathroom breaks, pausing for a nourishing lunch, water, movement, and fresh air) when we're "too busy" or unless we've “earned” it instead of treating them like a critical foundation for our bodies and brains to function. Physiological safety is just as important as psychological safety from the body's perspective.
My programs look at everything - physical, mental, and emotional health, life in and outside of work - because there is no other way.
Everything is connected and if you don’t look at all the puzzle pieces, you can’t see how they all fit together and which ones don’t belong.
As a veterinarian, I love science and understanding the WHY behind our bodies, brains, actions, and feelings, but I’ve also learned that it needs to be balanced with getting out of our heads and reconnecting with your body and heart.
That’s the journey I take you on in my coaching programs so that you can unlearn the rules and messages that were never going to lead you to what you truly want in order to reconnect with what you truly need to enjoy the life you have now - even when life throws you curveballs.
When I experienced burnout, I felt alone and ashamed. I also felt gaslit by the doctors who made me feel like my physical symptoms were all in my head. I don’t want anyone to ever feel that way.
If my story and approach resonates with you - let’s connect!
I'd love to get to know you and to hear your story. Send me an email or message on:
And if you want to embrace curiosity, we can chat about which podcast episode, resource, or program is the right fit for you.
My Experience + Certifications
I've spent the past two decades continuing to expand my understanding of how the body and mind work and learning how to problem-solve in a holistic way. When you work with me, you get all this knowledge boiled down into one simple step at at time. I've gone down all of these rabbit holes so that you don't have to.
Wheaton College - BA in biology (2009)
University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (2014) - VMD
VBMA - Business certificate
Curacore - Veterinary Medical Acupuncture Certification (2014)
Small animal veterinarian - 10 years of experience in general practice, urgent care, and relief
Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) - Integrative Nutrition Health Coach (2000)
Ethical Coaching Collective and International Association of Counselors and Therapists - integrative change worker and life coach certification
Center for Integrative Hypnosis - Integrative hypnotist certification
PQ program for coaches
Fear Free Certification
Senior Dog Veterinary Certification - Levels 1 and 2
Additional courses and continuing education on gut health, unshaming, trauma, effective communication, change management, practice management, and more
Endless books, podcasts, and research studies - every day I learn something new and I get to bring that into my coaching and programs
These are some of the rabbit holes I’ve gone down that have influenced my coaching style and programs:
Self directed neuroplasticity (the ability to change and rewire your brain)
Therapeutic memory reconsolidation
Integrative hypnosis (it's not like the stage hypnosis that might come to mind!) and coaching the unconscious mind
Unshaming
Self-compassion
Burnout
Trauma and the polyvagal theory
Gut health
Blood sugar regulation
Nutrition
Functional medicine
What clients had to say about working with me
"What I noticed right off the bat and I appreciated was a place of non-judgment and meeting everybody where they were. I saw it for myself and also for the other participants. We obviously put enough judgment on ourselves, and to have somebody who is there saying ‘it's okay to be where you are’ was really nice. It's not this expectation of ‘why haven't you done this?’ and ‘why are you here?’ It's just like, ‘that's where you are. No problem. What else can we do to move this forward?’
–Caroline, Medical Director
“I saw one of Amelia's posts on Instagram and it really resonated with me, so I started to follow Amelia. The information and things that were posted really spoke to me. I then started talking with Amelia via Instagram DM and she was so kind, patient and helpful. The Life Boost program sounded like it had everything I needed to move forward and figure out why I was so stuck for so long. The experience of working with Amelia far exceeded my original expectations. I figured she would just help me choose healthy foods and I would lose weight and feel good. Amelia's program is so much more. It has helped me to change my habits, thought patterns and the way I generally feel about myself. There is some much information, tools and techniques in Amelia's program that you can always find something to help in all areas of your life.”
-Sue
"Everything else I have tried only lasted a few months/weeks. I would hop off the “bandwagon” and be back where I started. I know these changes are permanent and I am never going to go back to where I was 6 months ago because that is not the life I want to live. I am much happier and healthier with my life now!" -
-Katie, veterinarian
It’s an eye opening experience. Amelia does a wonderful way of breaking down the science behind food and your body. She’s kind and supportive and realistic. You’ll learn so much about yourself.
-Diana
It changed my life and Amelia is such a lovely human, you will absolutely LOVE working with her!
"I overcame the mindset that I had tried everything, nothing worked, and nothing will — with Amelia’s help, I have named my inner critic, helped compassionately tame her, learned to partner with my body and mind, and love myself so much better. And I have lost weight, which I never thought would be possible for me at this point in my life."
-Sara, veterinarian