Stop the Burnout Podcast

Dr. Amber Parks, DVM, DABVP
  • 5.0 (1)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Stop the Burnout is hosted by Dr. Amber Parks, a veterinarian turned Stress & Burnout Coach, Clinical Support Consultant, and speaker. This podcast is for veterinary professionals and high-achievers who love their work but are exhausted by the people, pressure, expectations, and constant mental load that come with it. After 16+ years in clinical practice and her own experience with severe burnout, Dr. Parks shares real-world insights and neuroscience-backed tools to help you break the stress and burnout patterns that keep you overworking, overthinking, and running on empty without having to leave the career you worked so hard to build. This is honest, real-life talk about the things no one taught us and the challenges we all experience but rarely say out loud, from emotional exhaustion and guilt to perfectionism, boundaries, and the pressure to always do more. You won’t find generic self-care fluff or toxic positivity here, only practical, grounded strategies that actually work in the real world of veterinary medicine, including how to navigate tough conversations with more confidence and clarity.

  1. 6D AGO

    Epi 48: Challenging Cases, Difficult Clients, & Team Tension: The Hidden Emotion Behind Veterinary Burnout

    In this episode of Stop the Burnout, we’re talking about a rarely discussed contributor to burnout in veterinary medicine: anger. For high-achieving veterinary professionals who deeply care about their patients and teams, anger often gets suppressed in the name of professionalism and empathy. What’s worse is that unprocessed anger doesn’t disappear. It turns into resentment, exhaustion, and chronic survival mode. We’ll explore the neuroscience, research, and real-life clinical scenarios that show why understanding and processing anger is essential to truly healing burnout, and how to start recognizing your anger as useful information and working through it in a healthy way so you can begin to heal chronic stress and burnout.   Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    44 min

  2. FEB 12

    Epi 47: The Shame Pattern That Slowed My Burnout Recovery and How to Avoid It

    Burnout recovery isn’t always prolonged by a heavy workload, crazy schedules, or a lack of boundaries. Sometimes it is slowed by patterns we do not consciously recognize. In this episode, I share a personal story about how shame showed up for me and how, looking back, it clearly slowed my recovery from burnout without me realizing it at the time. I explain how shame differs from guilt, why it feels like a threat to the brain, how it activates the fight-or-flight survival response, and how it fuels overthinking, self-blame, and chronic stress in high-achieving veterinary professionals. If you have tried different approaches to heal and still wondered why burnout recovery has not fully stuck, this episode will help you identify what may be getting in the way.   Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    41 min

  3. FEB 5

    Epi 46: Burnout & Boundaries (Part III): Setting Boundaries in Real Life (What to Say, Not Just What to Know)

    In the final part (Part III) of this boundaries series, we’re breaking down how veterinary professionals can actually set boundaries without guilt, overexplaining, or burning out. You’ll hear real-life veterinary and personal examples of when boundaries are needed, what they sound like in practice, and exactly what to say to communicate them clearly and professionally, even if you’ve never set one before. We’ll also explore the neuroscience behind why boundaries can feel uncomfortable, how your nervous system’s stress response plays a role, and why that discomfort doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong.   Join me for The Vet Reset Masterclass - it's FREE! Saturday, February 7th at 11 am EST on Zoom.  Find out more & sign up HERE!    Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    48 min

  4. JAN 29

    Epi 45: Burnout & Boundaries (Part II): The Hidden Cost of Avoiding Boundaries and How It Fuels Burnout

    In Part II of the Burnout & Boundaries mini-series, we go deeper into why boundaries are so hard to hold, including the subconscious patterns that keep many veterinary professionals stuck in cycles of overgiving and guilt. This phase of boundary work is often confusing and uncomfortable, and it’s frequently mistaken for failure when it’s actually part of the process. This episode explores what happens when boundaries aren’t set, including the hidden costs that may not feel obvious in the moment but can quietly contribute to chronic stress and burnout over time. We’ll walk through the real, lived experience of holding boundaries, including the guilt, nervous system discomfort, and identity shifts that often show up after you stop overgiving. If you’ve ever thought, “I set the boundary… so why do I still feel bad?” this conversation will make everything click.   Join me for The Vet Reset Masterclass - it's FREE! Saturday, February 7th at 11 am EST on Zoom.  Find out more & sign up HERE!    Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    39 min

  5. JAN 22

    Epi 44: Burnout & Boundaries (Part I): The Neuroscience of Why Saying No Feels Hard and the Signs You Need a Boundary

    If boundaries feel exhausting, uncomfortable, or downright impossible in veterinary medicine (or in life in general!), there’s a reason, and it has nothing to do with willpower or communication skills. In Part I of this mini-series, we talk about why boundaries are so closely tied to stress, people-pleasing, and burnout in veterinary medicine. This episode lays the foundation for understanding why saying yes becomes automatic, why guilt shows up when you try to say no, and why most boundary advice fails burned-out high achievers. This episode also shares veterinary medicine–specific boundaries that can be set, along with how one of my clients regained her time (and her lunch break!) back in her schedule, even when she thought she had no options. Join me for this info-packed episode that looks at boundaries in a whole new light!   Join me for The Vet Reset Masterclass - it's FREE! Saturday, February 7th at 11 am EST on Zoom.  Find out more & sign up HERE!    Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    37 min

  6. JAN 15

    Epi 43: Breaking the Burnout Cycle (Part II): What to Expect When You’re Healing Burnout

    If you’re trying to heal from burnout but still feel stressed and exhausted, you'll want to listen to this one. Burnout recovery isn’t linear, and feeling better doesn’t happen overnight. In this episode, we talk about what’s realistic to expect, how stress starts to ease when you change how you process it, and why healing can feel uncomfortable without being wrong. In Part II of Breaking the Burnout Cycle, Dr. Amber Parks breaks down what healing burnout actually looks like for veterinary professionals. Not the Instagram version or a quick fix, but the real process of recognizing patterns, navigating guilt, and choosing differently without chasing a finish line. This episode is especially for veterinary professionals worn down by people-pleasing, emotional labor, and the belief that being a good doctor or technician requires self-sacrifice. You’ll learn how to recognize real progress, even when it doesn’t feel dramatic.   **Thurs. Jan. 15th 2026, is the last day to purchase a 90-min. Vet Med Healing Intensive session with 2025 pricing! This 1:1 private session helps you identify and rewire those patterns that have been keeping you stuck (check out the intro to this episode for more info). Grab the link HERE**   Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    37 min

  7. JAN 8

    Epi 42: Breaking the Burnout Cycle (Part I): When Burnout Feels Like a Personal Failure & What Actually Breaks the Cycle

    Ever find yourself sitting in the parking lot before a shift, stressed, dreading walking in, and wondering why everyone else looks like they have it together while you’re questioning whether you’re cut out for veterinary medicine? In Part I of the Breaking the Burnout Cycle mini-series, we explore why burnout so often can feel like a personal failure and how learned coping patterns can quietly keep veterinary professionals stuck in the same exhausting cycle. We dive into how traits like perfectionism, people-pleasing, and difficulty setting boundaries contribute to chronic stress and burnout in veterinary medicine, and more importantly, what actually breaks the cycle for good. This episode lays the foundation for real burnout recovery at the root, not by changing who you are, but by changing the pattern that has been running the show.   Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    31 min

  8. 12/31/2025

    Epi 41: Why Burnout Doesn’t Go Away, Even in Better Workplaces (Part II)

    You love veterinary medicine, but the people, systems, expectations, constant pressure, and challenging cases are slowly draining you. In Part 2 of this series, we dive into how to actually fix effort–reward imbalance and why changing jobs, even to a healthier, non-toxic workplace, doesn’t guarantee burnout will go away for good. We also explore what has to shift internally for real relief to happen, regardless of where you work. If you’re tired of working harder, feeling unappreciated or disrespected, and only ending up more exhausted, this episode explains what’s really going on and how to break the cycle.   Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session! Follow, friend request, & find me: Instagram Facebook www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com **Give us a 5-star rating on your favorite streaming platform!**

    24 min
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About

Stop the Burnout is hosted by Dr. Amber Parks, a veterinarian turned Stress & Burnout Coach, Clinical Support Consultant, and speaker. This podcast is for veterinary professionals and high-achievers who love their work but are exhausted by the people, pressure, expectations, and constant mental load that come with it. After 16+ years in clinical practice and her own experience with severe burnout, Dr. Parks shares real-world insights and neuroscience-backed tools to help you break the stress and burnout patterns that keep you overworking, overthinking, and running on empty without having to leave the career you worked so hard to build. This is honest, real-life talk about the things no one taught us and the challenges we all experience but rarely say out loud, from emotional exhaustion and guilt to perfectionism, boundaries, and the pressure to always do more. You won’t find generic self-care fluff or toxic positivity here, only practical, grounded strategies that actually work in the real world of veterinary medicine, including how to navigate tough conversations with more confidence and clarity.

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. Amber Parks, DVM, DABVP
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    51
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Stop the Burnout Podcast