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About UniVets Global

UniVets Global appeared in the late months of 2021, but existed much before that. Here's who we are, what we do and how we bring change to the veterinary profession.

Hi there, colleague!

If you're here, it's most likely because you are intrigued as to who I am and what's the story behind this little project of mine called UniVets Global. Well, sit tight and enjoy a little journey back in time to learn more about me and UniVets Global.

My name is Andreia Dias

I'll start with life facts, because that's easy. I was born in Portugal and lived most of my life there. I had what many would call a "normal" life and childhood. No big events, no traumas. Play like a child, do what your parents say, study. I would pretend I was working in a nursery, that I had a little grocery shop, that I was a doctor, that I was a teacher. I would sometimes go to great extents with these. I created little activity books and crosswords and then I would make my poor younger sister do them and grade them... I painted my bedroom wall with white crayons, pretending it was a school blackboard. I wrote stories and did the drawings and painted them (some masterpieces there, true copies of Sailormoon!). Later in life I taught myself to draw and paint and also how to code HTML and CSS. I created a website with HTML and CSS on Wordpad. I started to write more orchestrated stories, I started to play in online communities and until I was 18 years-old, this was my life.

I was always lucky that my learning methods were well adapted to the teaching environment we have in Portugal. All I needed to do throughout my entire studies was pretty much pay attention in class, make sure I understood the concepts and then simply revise them at home. It was a great life, studying for tests the day before, meaning I had all the time in the world outside of school to do what I wanted. I scored high on many tests because of two simple things. 1) I understood the concepts I was studying 2) I was able to properly read the questions in the tests and understand what was the answer that the teachers wanted, even if I didn't know the exact content of the answer. This didn't work out very well for Maths though! So... seeing what my life was like until I was 18, you may be wondering if you're really talking to a vet or not...

My veterinary career

How it all started

Well, indeed you are talking to another veterinary colleague. In Portugal we don't have to decide on our University path until quite late. I only made the decision of going to vet school when I was nearly 18 years-old. And here are the reasons why I went to vet school:

I was strongly discouraged from becoming a horse riding instructor (seeing I didn't really know how to horseride)
I loved horses (and other animals too, but mostly horses)
I loved science
I didn't like blood and there was no way I would become a human doctor (what every Portuguese parent wants their kids to be)
I was told that being a teacher was a bad idea (big crisis in the profession in Portugal)
I didn't know what else to do!

So you see, all valid reasons and quite far from the "I always wanted to be a vet". I consider myself a veterinary professional by competence, not by vocation. I don't think that makes me a bad vet. Actually, I think that helped me put some healthy barriers in my profession and career. I did enjoy vet school, a lot actually. Same old same, go to classes, make sure you do the homework, study the content of one semester in 5 days before the semester exam and hope for the best. It did work out well for me, I kept having good grades and still had some time to continue with some of my hobbies, despite spending almost 2 hours travelling every day. These included a lot of online gaming, art and moderating online communities (turns out I always liked the mentoring). Meanwhile, I focused my veterinary studies on horses, hoping to become an equine vet. I didn't think I had much of a chance for that in Portugal, but that's not why I moved to the UK (I also didn't think I had much of a chance there...).

Hello, Scotland!

The Move

I did move to Scotland at the end of 2014, after spending some time there in 2013. That is when my professional career started. I was very very lucky!

I got a mixed job in a small town practice where I learned how to be a vet. I was working mostly with small animals, some farm animals and a handful (literally) of horses. I was in a young team, a supportive team. Honestly, if I were to go back to the UK to live permanently, I would really consider going back there.

However, my professional experiences taught me a lot. I mean, a lot. About me, about what I enjoyed, about what I didn't enjoy, about what I wanted, about what I didn't want. Here's a list of a few things I discovered in my path...

I do not want my life to be consumed by my career
I want to actually have time for a life outside of my career
I don't enjoy a lot of the technical aspects of being a vet (I actually dislike performing most veterinary procedures - it's not to do whether they are simple or not, it's that I am fully aware I am causing pain or discomfort to the animal. And I just don't like the "doing" part...)
I like talking to clients
Talking to clients all day is exhausting...
I like cats. I'm a cat person. I thought I was a dog person. Then I got a cat in my second year of Uni. I'm totally a cat person.
I love horses, but I really don't like the work that veterinary professionals have to do around horses (seeing sick horses and stabbing them with needles is not something I can translate internally to "I love horses")
You can easily make the "right" choice for the wrong reason. What I mean is, you can convince your logical and reasonable self that you are making a correct decision, but deep down you know it's not. Aka, listen to your guts

I think we can stop here now... And get to the part where I started to diverge from the traditional veterinary career.

My non-traditional vet career

Hello, Scotland!

I normally joke around saying I had my midlife crisis when I was 25. At that point I was getting quite burned out. I was working more hours than I wanted and I was becoming more and more aware of how many things I was doing that I didn't actually enjoy. I was doing emergencies and weekends. When I was on call, I would often sleep with my scrubs on, especially if I had patients at the clinic that I knew I was going to visit. I was starting to feel like my life was get up - get ready - go to work - make dinner - mindlessly do something for 1 or 2h - go to bed - rinse and repeat. I knew I didn't want that. So I started to think about what I wanted. I also started to think that, regardless, I needed to make money... So I started to think about developing my own business. This didn't result in an amazing epiphany, motivation and drive. There was some drive there, but mostly it just resulted in more work... I didn't know what I wanted to do so I started to spend a lot of time reading, watching videos and so on about coaching, affiliate marketing, starting your own YouTube channel, creating a podcast, create an online store, make courses,... I was hoping to find "the thing". Well, turns out to find "the thing", you need to find "your thing". That involves a lot of personal development! My (ad)ventures included an online store that sold equestrian clothes and apparel, cat blogs, vet blogs, vet coaching, and my first real venture, UK VetMove. This may be the one that you've encountered me on, because it's the one that stood the longest. With UK VetMove, I was sharing my knowledge and expertise to colleagues that needed it to succeed. It was not a very viable business model, but it included me doing things that I loved ("teaching") and leading to someone else's success. Anything I had done with these ingredients had worked for the people who I had helped. My problem was that I had (have...) too many ideas and too little focus. In 2019, I had an opportunity to take over the business of a colleague who was doing something similar to me. This is how I ended up working with Spay Academy Spain, VetAbroad and PracticeAid. I now had a surgical attendance course to run in Spain and two more services. Mind you, I took over it in 2020. 2020. The year that didn't exist, but changed our lives. The year of the C virus. The year where running attendance courses was not a good idea. I put a pin on it and let it slowly simmer, carrying on with UK VetMove. However, I kept getting requests, people wanting to know when the next course was going to be. In 2021 we had a break and managed to get the students from 2020 in the courses. I brought a friend to one. It was amazing. Not the course itself, but the vets. The experience they had gone through. That is when I found "my thing".

My thing...

"Zhu Li, do the thing!" (a little shoutout to the other Avatar and Korra lovers out there)

My thing is a "thing" that works for everything and everyone.

- Me. I get to do something I love.

- The vets. They truly learn something for their lives and, more importantly, they gain self-love.
- The tutors. They too have the opportunity of doing something they love applying their knowledge and being paid for it.
- The animals. We are actually directly contributing to the welfare of the animals we work with and enabling the vets to do the same for hundreds more.

This is how UniVets Global appeared.

HELLO!

And UniVets Global was born!

There are many silly reasons behind "UniVets" and the "Uni" part.

I love unicorns. The most stupid reason. The most honest reason. Look at the colours of the logo :D
We are all UNIque
We do better UNIted than tearing each other apart
This venture is a UNIversity of life for veterinary professionals
Really. Unicorns. The original logo had a unicorn.

I wanted to bring it all together. I needed to be able of letting go of the past. I needed a whiteboard. So here we are.

This is UniVets

UniVets is Global. UniVets is honest, unique, non-judgemental and kind. UniVets reflects one vision, my own vision, which luckily is also shared by many others. UniVets is a way of being, being whole, being an individual, being a veterinary professional that goes beyond that, but can start there. It's about believing in ourselves. It's about believing in becoming better the next moment, not the best. It's about understanding that we are all giving our best, all the time, every time. That includes you. That includes the people around you.

UniVets is loving who we are, how we are.

ABOUT

UniVets Global

Loving who we are, how we are.

Our Name

Identity

UniVets Global is a training company for veterinary professionals.

Our Work

Mission

We specialise in teaching and training clinical hands-on practical skills.

Our Impact

Vision

The veterinary profession is full of passionate individuals that struggle to live their best life and enjoy their career of choice. We work so that other clinicians can look forward to go to work, not dread it.

Our Heart

Values

We believe in growing through upskilling and that being a better professional leads to a happier career.

Kindness

Treat every person as the individual that they are showing kindness and compassion.

Impartiality

Don't judge others and respect them for who they are, not who we wish they were.

Support

Encourage growth and learning with the curiosity and courage of a child, without fearing mistakes.

"Golden rule"

Treat others not as you'd like to be treated, but as they would like to be treated themselves.

Our Work

What we do and how we impact the veterinary profession, one person at a time.

Academies

These are our signature hands-on practical courses in Portugal and Romania, created for veterinarians to develop their confidence, competence and skills with hands-on technical procedures.

Ongoing Education

We offer a wide range of free or paid clinical and non-clinical training for continuing development of veterinary professionals throughout the world.

Resources

We also have a series of resources available for vets to assess their skills and test their knowledge.

Head over to the quizzes section and check out our self-assessment tools.

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UniVets Global

UniVets Global Training Centre

Rua José Falcão nº 9 - 11

2600-172 Vila Franca de Xira

Lisbon, Portugal

+351 924 951 900

UniVets Global UK Hub Office 272 Bath Street Glasgow G2 4JR +44 07918796877

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