Hey vet med,

Tell me if any of these scenarios sounds familiar…

You return from a conference realizing your anesthesia protocols could use some serious updating. But you’re overwhelmed just thinking about where to begin…

There are frequent bottlenecks in treatment and radiology. Technicians are often looking for alternative protocols, or asking to increase dosages after the patient has been sedated. And client wait-times draaaag.

Your staff has gaps in their anesthesia knowledge and it shows. Rather than solely focusing on cutting, your surgeons feel like they also need to be on top of anesthetic monitoring.

You catch the hardest of eye rolls from your staff when you ask them to train new recruits. You could count the number of times you’ve heard the excuse “I’m too busy to train. I don’t have time for this” instead of counting sheep to get to sleep.

Your clinic is plagued by frequent call outs. And staff has left you, citing stress, overwhelm, and burnout as the reason why.

What if… by this time next week, all these challenges could be behind you?

Hi. 👋🏼 I’m Michelle.

I’m an LVT, VTS (Anesthesia & Analgesia), and I’ve served as the Director of Training and Education at the ASPCA Animal Hospital for the last 9 years.

I also happen to be a registered yoga, breathwork, and meditation instructor (more on that later 🧘🏻‍♀️), and I’ve got a slew of other certifications in adult learning principles, conflict de-escalation, and instructional design.

Before joining the ASCPA, I worked at Schwarzman Animal Medical Center in New York City, where I was awarded LVT of the year in 2011. As one of the busiest, most prestigious specialty hospitals on the east coast, working at AMC was no walk in the pug park. Hours were long and cases were tough, but I spent 15 years there learning first-hand what practicing the gold standard of veterinary medicine looks like.

By the time I’d left I’d been promoted to Team Leader of Anesthesia. It was my job to optimize operating room flow to maximize efficiency and minimize mistakes. It was also my job to train all incoming staff. That often meant taking a shaky, wide-eyed vet school graduate who’d never so much as intubated a Persian kitten before and getting them to meet and maintain our high standard of care, fast.

Joining the ASPCA nearly a decade ago was an absolute dream-come-true. The dedication and reach of the org is second-to-none. Shortly after starting there, I began consulting for other clinics. I quickly learned that there’s a real gap between your average general practice medicine and what a specialty hospital can do given the resources they have at their disposal.

It’s become my mission to close that gap.

I’ve developed multiple trainings and SOPs that demystify complex anesthesia principles, making them easy to understand and follow.

I’ve learned how to make the most of veterinary technicians, amplifying their voices and empowering them to work independently, confidently, and feel a sense of ownership over patient care.

I’ve equipped many, many veterinary professionals with tools that help them manage their time and their energy, enabling them to practice better medicine while lowering their stress. Some of these tools come from my work as a yoga and breath work instructor, others from meditative traditions… All of them are evidence-based, easy-to-learn and implement, and highly effective.

Remember: a calm, confident staff not only helps you retain the talent you have. It helps your recruitment efforts because the brightest talent wants to do their best work in a supportive environment that holds the highest standards.

So….I’d love to know - how can I help YOU best? 👀