We spend the majority of our lives working in our career. So many of us want to make a difference and to have a fulfilling career that truly connects with our life’s passion. This has driven a number of individuals into the medical field in hoping to make the world a better place. Dr. Pope entered the field of veterinary medicine with that same vision. What she (and many people) didn’t understand were the struggles that would be present in the field which are now becoming more public knowledge.
Suicide and burn out rates are high in the veterinary profession. A recent survey performed in 2014 on veterinary well-being [1] shared results that US veterinarians are twice as likely to have psychological distress than the general population. This survey found that 1 in 6 veterinarians considers suicide post graduation. Many believe the struggle in the veterinary field is due to the necessity to perform euthanasia or related to a more general compassion fatigue felt across the industry. From Dr. Pope’s personal journey she believes that other factors play a more significant role.
From her perspective, perfectionism and high achievement syndrome are core personality traits among those that enter the veterinary profession and other medical fields. Doctors and their teams are often placed on a pedestal, viewed by the general public (and themselves) as individuals with a higher calling as caregivers. Graduates of medical programs are set up for a daily struggle as they attempt to achieve this idealistic and impossible image of an infallible medical professional when the reality of practice does not always fit this glorified vision.
Dr. Pope’s goal is to provide visibility, awareness, and a greater understanding of the various struggles that are common among medical professionals and ultimately helping to guide individuals to find personal solutions to professional wellbeing and career contentment. Dr. Pope believes that Connecting Careers with Life’s Passion can bring us all closer to our personal happiness leading to a stronger engagement within our profession.
Dr. Pope provides this support through one on one coaching for the individual in addition to developing customized team programs. She is also a dynamic and engaging speaker that can touch a larger, broader audience through organized professional meetings. She believes that allowing each of us to find satisfaction in our career leads to a more connected work environment, which in the end supports the hospital, the quality of care, client service, and personal financial stability.
We are all 1 Life Connected and Dr. Pope helps to make that connection.
Core Values
Connect People with Their Passion
Priority in Self Well Being
Having a Sustainable Authentic Career
Peace Found through Forgiveness
Learning to Connect with and Accept Emotions
Mission
Connecting Careers with Life’s Passion
The Life I Am To Be
Stare into the darkness
Look ahead for more
Work through the mess
Connect back to the core
Take a breath
Hope to feel
Live in the underneath
Who all is real
This is the life I am to live
This is the life I am to be
People tell me how to act
Smiles
hide the pain
Starting on a new track
One fight hard to explain
A world to feel alone
Entering into a haze
Walking a path all my own
Taking unique ways
This is the life I am to live
This is the life I am to be
Begin to talk the path
Reconnect to the unknown
Not controlled by the dark
Not to live this alone
Electing to be real
Electing to feel
For this is ….
The life I am to be
A life WE are all to be
[1] JAVMA April 1, 2015 Mental Health Study Explores US Veterinary Professionals Well-Being by Malinda Larkin