About Us

A world where veterinary professionals, teams, and organizations thrive through proactive self-care and well-being practices, fostered from the beginning of your careers and embraced industry-wide.

Our VISION

Our MISSION

We bring lifestyle medicine to veterinary professionals through our well-being coaching services, and we strive to empower veterinary professionals to lead healthy lives by teaching behavioral and psychological skills that support well-being, despite the demands of your busy careers.

Our goal for the Veterinary Well-Being Buddy is to provide resources and experiences that enhance the lives and well-being of veterinary professionals, teams, and organizations. We strive to "buddy" up with the individuals who desire to be positive change makers within veterinary medicine to cultivate an industry that encourages veterinary professionals to prioritize self-care and well-being.

Our VALUES

Positivity | Compassion | Empowerment | Flow | Humor

1/3/2010 - 9/16/2023
Our Legacy & The Heart of Our Brand

I rescued Buddy when he was 10 months old after I had stalked his profile on PetFinder.com while I finished an internship across the country - rescuing him will forever be one of the BEST days of my life!

After sharing almost 13 years of my life with sweet Buds, he supported me through so many difficult life transitions and challenging times over the years - he could make me laugh at his goofy ways, he could comfort me with his soothing energy, and he could help me get out of bed on days when it felt the hardest.

I wanted to capture Buddy's personality and energy in our brand, because he is the inspiration for WHY we do what we do! I've relied heavily on veterinary teams throughout Buddy's lifetime to provide the highest quality care - from the time he broke his canine in half trying to escape his crate as a puppy, to the difficult discussions about his quality of life as a senior dog...

We are forever grateful to the teams that cared for Buddy throughout his lifetime, and that's why we've dedicated our business and brand to supporting YOU.

Meet Buddy

As a double board-certified lifestyle medicine professional and health and wellness coach, I am trained to use therapeutic lifestyle interventions to coach veterinary professionals on adopting health promoting habits that support physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

I have firsthand experience witnessing the dedication of veterinary professionals in their careers while I worked as an animal trainer. After transitioning to a role coaching human healthcare professionals during COVID, I recognized the need for more support resources for veterinary medicine given the unique occupational challenges faced within the industry.
 
Using my training in mental health, well-being coaching, and lifestyle medicine, I dedicated my business to include comprehensive well-being solutions to support veterinary professionals, teams, and organizations.

Our Founder

Melyssa Allen, MA, NBC-HWC, DipACLM

Professional

Skills/Experience

Clinical Psychology, M.A.

Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach

Board Certified Lifestyle Medicine Professional

Former Health Educator at a hospital system of 23K+ employees

Former Clinician Well-Being Coach at a hospital system of 20K+ employees

Expert for Inlightened

Lake Nona Performance Club Medical Advisory Council

Secretary - Fitness and Medicine Member Interest Group, American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Public Speaking

Behavior Modification

Well-Being Coaching

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Stress First Aid Facilitator

Positive Psychology

Lifestyle Medicine

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-i)

Motivational Interviewing

Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

My love for animals started when I was only 4-years-old and I've been chasing my dreams ever since!
While I enjoyed my time living out my childhood dream as a marine mammal trainer and made incredible memories with amazing people, I am excited for my new dream!

My animal training career helped me develop many skills that I continue to use today like...

✔ Effective Public Speaking
✔ Extensive Knowledge of Behavior Modification
✔ Ability to Improvise
✔ Sensitivity to Behavioral Cues and Body Language

I am grateful that I made the leap from training animals to "training humans...!" Although I no longer use fishy snacks and belly rubs with my clients, I thoroughly enjoy the process of coaching veterinary professionals to restore their well-being with positive health habits!

My Story

Originally, our brand name was Mind-Body-Thrive Lifestyle because I had started my business with more of a general population focus. It captured our well-being messaging just fine, but as I started focusing in on veterinary professionals I wanted something that would more clearly share who we serve and what we do...

That's how the Veterinary Well-Being Buddy brand came to be! Not only that...but as Buddy continues to age, I wanted to bring him front and center to our brand - so our new logo is extra special to me:

The hand in the logo? It's an outline of mine.

And the paw?? It's an outline of Buddy's paw print! 🥹
(I know, I know...I'm crying too!)

Our Brand

Veterinary Well-Being Buddy


Buddy has always been part of my brand's story, and now it is truly his legacy - and my goal is to capture Buddy's energy in our brand! From his ability to make you laugh and uplift your spirits, to his ability to comfort you during difficult times...that is what we strive for in our business: to meet you wherever you are on your journey!