Speaking

Passionate about fostering wellness within veterinary medicine, Marie Holowaychuk is a dynamic speaker who ignites audiences with inspiration to prioritize their personal and professional wellbeing.

With over 15 years of experience captivating veterinary audiences, Marie is renowned for her approachability, authenticity, and vulnerability. Her engaging talks, enriched with personal anecdotes, evidence-based insights, and practical tips, create a transparent atmosphere that empowers audiences to embrace necessary changes. Witnessing audience members' epiphanies and "ah-ha" moments fuels Marie's passion to continue supporting those working in veterinary medicine.

Marie's impact extends beyond the stage; her blogs, newsletters, and social media presence resonate widely among veterinary professionals, earning her recognition as a highly-regarded speaker and industry leader.

She firmly believes that veterinarians, technicians, nurses, managers, and other team members must prioritize self-care and mental health to sustainably serve the pets and clients who rely on them. Additionally, Marie emphasizes that practice owners, managers, and leaders play a crucial role in workplace wellbeing through their communication and leadership skills, making them accountable for fostering a culture of wellness and resilience.

Learn more about how and why Marie connects with veterinary audiences

Watch an excerpt from one of Marie’s keynotes

Marie provides keynote sessions, webinars, workshops, and team retreats for veterinary organizations, hospitals, and conferences around the world.

Her most popular topics include:

Team communication and conflict resolution
Client communication and handling difficult clients
Mindfulness and meditation
Practicing self-care
Boundaries and work-life separation
Perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and self-compassion
Coping with euthanasia, mistakes, and negative self-talk
Sleep hygiene and coping with shift work and on-call
Recognizing and mitigating workplace toxicity
Mental health, stigma reduction, and suicide prevention
Burnout management and prevention

Testimonials

I am so grateful that we got to have Dr. Holowaychuk present a live webinar on Overcoming Perfectionism and Imposter Syndrome to our VGP members as well as other veterinary professionals worldwide. As a veterinarian and expert in the well-being space, it was so great to hear her story and experience and provide helpful, practical tools for our participants to put in place. She is wonderful to work with and I hope to have her speak again at a future event.

— Rachel Teichberg, CVPM, CVBL, CCFP (Veterinary Growth Partners)
I have had the pleasure to work with Marie on multiple occasions and had the opportunity to witness her display of professionalism and expertise. She is extremely passionate and dedicated to helping veterinary professionals achieve mental health and wellness as well as work life balance. She is an exemplary leader who works tirelessly to deliver relevant content and resources to empower veterinarians. She is extremely hardworking and great at collaborating with other industry experts to bring impactful and fulsome content. I highly recommend attending her webinars as they are very informative and enlightening. She has been a very valuable partner to my team and I.

— Romel Roopchand, Regional Manager - Professional Banking (TD Bank)
Dr. Marie Holowaychuk provided an engaging well-being webinar for our organization on the topic of “Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution for Thriving Workplaces.” Through the use of relatable scenarios, Dr. Holowaychuk easily painted a picture of life in practice and how we can best address conflict with our hospital teams. We received tremendous feedback from those that attended this discussion and look forward to having her speak again soon.

— Amanda Endsors, Veterinarian (NVA)
Marie delivered two powerfully impactful workshops at our BSAVA national conference that were truly transformational for our audience. Delving into real world examples and case studies of challenging situations allowed the exploration of what resilience really means, how to be more confident in having difficult conversations, and the psychology, beliefs and emotions that underpin all of this. Her warm, empathetic and honest delivery, sharing examples from her own life and career, resonated powerfully and opened a safe space for audience members to share and explore these important areas. I would absolutely recommend Marie as an expert speaker and facilitator - book her!

— Andy Green, Transformational Change Leader, Keynote Speaker (British Small Animal Veterinary Association)
Marie has a gift for creating an environment where people feel safe to ask difficult questions and share personal challenges. Through her openness and honesty about her own journey, Marie is able to facilitate conversations that are both inspirational and transformative for all of those participating in her workshops. People leave the events with a new perspective on the importance of their own wellness and the wellness of the people on their teams.

— Lee Boothe, Director of Business Development, Vet Alliance
Marie is a trailblazer as an educator and coach for individual and team wellness. She is passionate about sharing her extensive knowledge on this timely, crucial topic in order to sustain healthy veterinary caregivers. I’ve had the great pleasure to partake in Marie’s wellness workshops and to listen to her engaging seminars. She is always authentic, inspiring and thought provoking as she delivers valuable tools and perspectives.

— Jayne Takahashi, DVM, MBA, Speaker, Facilitator, and Coach, Communication Leads
I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in on a few of Marie’s wellness workshops, and each time I have been moved by her presentation style, content, and have taken away valuable information and strategies. What can sometimes be a heavy topic; Marie is able to present the information with compassion and her presentation style and approach to the topic often has a profound affect on people in the audience. Marie’s approach to wellbeing should be heard by everyone in the veterinary industry.

— Dean Murphy, AHT, Director of Business Development, Vet Strategy
Dr. Holowaychuk is one of the leading thinkers in our industry. Her lectures are always thorough, thought provoking, and very well researched. She is an articulate and engaging speaker with an abundance of information and wisdom to share with her audience.

— Shane Bateman, DVM, DVSc, DACVECC, Associate Professor (Ontario Veterinary College, Department of Clinical Studies)
Marie brings warmth and sunshine to every group. She combines her incredible intellect with a depth of caring for clients and colleagues. As an academic veterinarian and certified yoga teacher, she has the skills to understand veterinarians and guide them to health and vitality. Marie is truly a gift for Wellness.

— Carol Hutchison, BSc, MD, MEd, FRCS(C), Certified Yoga Teacher Associate Professor, Education Portfolio Director, Section of Orthopaedic Surgery (University of Calgary)
Dr. Marie presented during a seminar series hosted for hospital team members during Mental Health Awareness Month. Based on the post-seminar feedback, her lecture was the fan favorite for our team members. Dr. Marie’s knowledge base is impressive, her desire to effect positive change is infectious, and she leads with evidence-based resources that I would happily share myself.

— Francesca Tocco, MSW, LCSW (Companion Pet Partners)
We were lucky to have Marie speak to our veterinary technician students about self care strategies. Marie spoke with empathy and expertise and created a safe and supportive space for our students and faculty. She shared practical strategies and tools and reminded us that self care is essential for us to continue to provide excellent care to our patients. Marie is an articulate, genuine and compassionate speaker. Marie's presentation was thought provoking and engaging and the students have already started discussing how they can use the strategies for themselves both in and out of the classroom. Thank you, Marie, for being so inspiring!

— Amy Bradbury, RVT, Faculty Instructor, Central Carolina Community College (Veterinary Medical Technology)

To connect with Marie about a potential speaking engagement, workshop, or retreat for your practice, conference or organization, please schedule a 30-minute discovery call.

Schedule Here

You may also submit this form to correspond with Marie electronically.