Dr. Steve Deels, a New Zealand emergency veterinarian and career coach, joins Dr. Andy Roark to tackle a familiar gut punch: “you can save a life at 2:00 a.m. and still get a one-star review because the wait was too long.” They dig into dark humor as a healthy coping tool, the unrealistic expectations placed on vets as jack-of-all-trades clinicians, and how Steve’s early mixed-animal work and later corporate clinic burnout pushed him toward life coaching and practical strategies like daily journaling (three successes and one gratitude). You will walk away feeling validated, more resilient, and better equipped to spot the 90 percent that is good, not just the 10 percent that drains you, plus a preview of Steve’s upcoming book ‘Bite Marks and Burnout’. Gang, let’s get into this episode.
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ABOUT OUR GUEST
Steve is a veterinarian and writer based in New Zealand. He has worked across rural practice, suburban clinics, emergency settings, and a short detour through the pharmaceutical industry, giving him a rare, whole-system view of veterinary medicine that few people ever see.
His debut novel, Bite Marks and Burnout, is a dark comedy inspired by veterinary practice. It draws on observation, experience, and the stories professionals share when the doors are closed, using diary entries to explore the realities of care, responsibility, and exhaustion in high-pressure work.
Steve writes about systems that ask too much, the quiet cost of caring, and the gap between how professions are imagined and how they are actually lived. While veterinary practice provides the setting, the themes will be familiar to anyone who has ever wondered how a “sensible career choice” turned into something else entirely.
