Therapeutic Coaching for Veterinary Leaders
You became a vet because of the clinical work. At some point, the job became something else entirely.
You're managing people, culture, complaints, and clinical standards simultaneously, often without a confidential space to think any of it through. Most leadership support doesn't account for the specific weight of running a veterinary practice: the clinical responsibility that doesn't stop at the management door, the team whose mental health you're partly holding, and the fact that in this profession, the personal and professional are never really separate.
This is where I work.
What therapeutic coaching offers
Therapeutic coaching sits in the space between traditional coaching and therapy. It's future-focused and practical. We work on real situations, real decisions, real relationships. But it draws on psychotherapeutic understanding of how people relate, communicate, and get stuck, which means we can work at the level where things actually change.
For practice owners, that often means:
- Making sense of a team dynamic that isn't responding to the usual interventions
- Finding language for a conversation you've been avoiding
- Processing the impact of a serious incident, complaint, or staff loss
- Thinking through a structural decision without having to manage everyone else's reaction to it first
- Understanding your own patterns well enough to lead more intentionally
This is not a framework or a programme. It's a thinking partnership, built around what you actually need.
Why work with me
I'm Philippa, a UKCP-registered psychotherapeutic counsellor and a veterinary surgeon with over twenty years of post-graduate experience in the profession.
Before retraining fully into therapy, I held a senior role in independent practice focused on the human side of the work: staff management, pastoral care, clinical mentoring, and the kind of conversations that don't appear on a business plan but determine whether a team holds together or doesn't. I was doing this work, grounded in counselling skills and a postgraduate qualification in veterinary education, before I had the full therapeutic training I have now. It was formative work. I learned a great deal, often the hard way, and it shapes how I understand this territory now.
That background means I understand the specific texture of veterinary practice from the inside. Not the financial side, I'm not a business coach, but the relational infrastructure that either supports a practice or quietly undermines it: how teams form and fracture, what good clinical culture actually requires, and what it costs the person responsible for holding it.
I'm not a generic business coach with a veterinary niche. The depth comes from having been on the inside, and from the psychotherapeutic training that lets me work at the level where things actually shift.
How it works
Sessions are online via Zoom, fifty minutes or ninety minutes depending on what's useful. Most practice leaders work with me fortnightly or monthly, or ad hoc around specific situations. There's no set programme unless you want one.
I offer an initial session at £100 so we can both assess whether this is the right fit before any further commitment.
Individual sessions
- 50 minutes: £100
- 90 minutes: £160
Structured programmes Available for those who want a defined arc of work — typically six or twelve sessions around a specific leadership challenge or transition. Fees on enquiry.
All sessions are strictly confidential.
Confidentiality
I will not share information from our sessions, or any other information I hold about you, with any other person, organisation, or agency, other than with my professional supervisor or in truly exceptional circumstances required by law. All enquiries are kept confidential.
Veterinary professional circles are small, and it's likely we'll have mutual connections or may have met professionally. This doesn't automatically preclude working together in a therapeutic coaching relationship. Where a prior or parallel relationship exists, we'll discuss it openly at our initial session to assess whether it creates any conflict of interest. If it does, I'll help you find an appropriate alternative.
If it becomes clear during our work (or at initial session) that therapy rather than coaching is what you need, different boundaries apply to the therapeutic relationship. I'll explain this if it becomes relevant, and will always help you find the right support.
Get in touch
If you're wondering whether this might be useful, the first step is simply getting in touch. Use the form below or email philippa@vetamorphosis.co.uk directly.
I aim to respond within one working day.
Contact Us
In crisis?
Vetamorphosis is not a crisis support service
If you need immediate support:
- NHS mental health services: 111 or 999, visit A&E or call your GP
- Samaritans: 116 123 (24/7)
Vetlife: 0303 040 2551 (24/7) -
www.vetlife.org.uk