Shaping Veterinary Workplaces: An Interview with Olivia Oginska

Q: Can you share with us the highlights of your career journey leading up to your role as an EQ and Wellbeing Coach at Human-Savvy, as well as the Bright Minds Awards winner?

A: I feel that the highlights aren't necessarily about big moments of success; they're more about those everyday special moments. It's when you see the person you've been working with for such a long time, and suddenly, they're living their life a little bit better because you helped them. Work can be tiring sometimes—studying, preparing yourself, creating courses, creating talks—it's quite a labour. It involves a lot of mental and sometimes physical effort. But when you receive those little rewards, those doses of motivation every day, it comes from working with people. Hearing the news from my coachees and seeing their progress... That is just enough to keep me going. That's my biggest career highlight.

Q: How did it feel to be selected as the 2023 Bright Minds Awards Wellness Champion? What does that mean to you?

A: It was a big surprise, super flattering, and made me feel very appreciated for the effort I put in my work. Knowing that what I do is making a difference is incredibly rewarding. The award made me realise that people notice the meaning behind my work and motivates me to keep going. I'm very grateful and appreciate the recognition in the industry that the award gave me.

Q: How has winning the Bright Minds Award influenced your connection with the veterinary community?

A: I think awards always bring some publicity, which is nice, however, working on something as niche as my topic—emotional intelligence— it truly means a lot to me to emphasise that this award isn't just for me. I mentioned this when I received the award, but this award is for emotional intelligence in the veterinary industry. Emotional intelligence is something that people in the industry did not consider 3-4 years ago. The topic used to be frowned upon and something people didn't really think about. Truly, the term 'emotion' may seem out of place in our logically driven profession. We are professionals, after all, but perhaps emotions haven't been given their rightful space in our industry. What's important to me is that more people learn about emotional intelligence, become intrigued, delve into research, and develop their knowledge. They may discover ways to improve themselves, benefiting not only their own lives but also the lives of others. It's truly amazing to witness others' growth because of this topic.

Q: What have you been working on since the last LVS? Are you currently involved in any exciting projects?

A: So obviously one the biggest one is my PhD, which is a constant work in progress, and it will be for another two and a half years for sure. In terms of focusing on the topic of emotional intelligence and bringing that to directly to our community, the newest project I'm about to release in March is a new course. It's called the Human Savvy Medicine Course. It was created not only for veterinarians, but for all medical professionals in the world - doctors, nurses, anyone who works with patients. It aims to provide them with tools to take care of their emotional needs as well as protecting themselves from the burden of emotional labour. I’ve created the course to make sure that even when we are really busy, we do have access to convenient resources. It's a self-paced course that you can listen to like a podcast, with some additional visual materials that complement it. The next cohort of the Human-Savvy Medicine Course is launching on the 20th of May and people can join during the month of June as well! I'm very excited about it, because I always heard from people around me that they would love to get to know the topic of emotional intelligence a little bit better.

Q: What are your future goals and aspirations?

A: I would like to take it step by step. I want to make sure that what I'm doing now is always in the best possible version. Whenever I ask my coachees for feedback, I want them to let me know how I can improve and make the experience fantastic for them. In my business, it's not about me - it's about the people I work with. if they don't get anything out of my programmes, then it makes absolutely no sense for me to continue my work. My goal is to make our work together successful. I have a lot of people under my care, and I get very attached to them. I’m a one-person business and I have a completely different perspective than big businesses that might be doing something similar in the well-being sphere, or emotional intelligence. What I think is unique in my work is that I get very much engaged personally with every single person that I work with. I want to educate myself for them, finish my PhD and then keep building those resources for people and speak around the world.

Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?

A: The only person in the world who can make you feel truly worthy is YOU. Other people's opinions are just perspectives, and there are millions of them in the world. Listen to them with grace but follow only the advice that supports your values.