After loving the Veterinary Nursing Program at MSU and trying out both private practice and academia, Andi Davison (LVT ’06) felt it was time for something new. In her current role as a positive change agent at Flourish Veterinary Consulting, Davison is shifting her attention to the humans in the veterinary medicine industry and providing them with positive leadership, resiliency, and other customized wellbeing programs to help them thrive in the profession.

Initially, as a kid, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian because that was what everyone knew about, the common thing you did if you wanted to work with animals. But after earning a bachelor of arts in communications at Indiana University, I entered an exploratory phase. I went to the local vet hospital and got a job as a veterinary assistant, and I met two outstanding technicians. They said they went to school at Michigan State, and that it was an outstanding program. When I looked into it, my mind was blown, and I was so excited to have found what I wanted to do; I’ve never looked back!

I absolutely adored tech school. I had been through a lot of school prior to it, but it was the first time I was in a program where I wanted to study. I wanted to spell all the names of the drugs correctly. I wanted to understand the anatomy. I had this intrinsic motivation to really dive in. I am still in touch with a good majority of my classmates, and we cheer each other on and follow each other’s lives. I loved the community, the camaraderie, the support, and the empowerment.

When I graduated, my then-fiancé was in veterinary school at Mississippi State University. So, I went down to Mississippi State and served as the head technician in the equine department at their teaching hospital. After my husband graduated from veterinary school, we moved up to Kentucky, where we opened our own practice. We owned our own mixed animal ambulatory practice for a little over ten years. That was true mixed animal; we got to do the dogs and cats, but also the llamas and chickens and horses and calves. After that, I moved back into academia. I spent some time at the University of Florida, where I served as the veterinary technician manager on the large animal side. That was a great experience with some really good technicians on my team. From there, I moved into what I’m doing now in the well-being space with Flourish Veterinary Consulting.

Flourish is not your traditional consulting firm; we’re not as concerned with the bottom line, we’re more concerned about the people. We take the science of human thriving and translate it into something veterinary professionals can understand and utilize so they can continue to do the job they love and thrive while doing it. We strive to help people become more resilient, work toward optimistic thinking, and bring in positive leadership. Having been in the field for almost 20 years, I get it—I hit a compassion fatigue wall, and I didn’t even know that’s what it was. I love this role because I’m able to support the humans of veterinary medicine so that they can continue to do this job that they love.

One thing I love about this work is that it’s very different day to day. I spend quite a bit of time traveling to different educational events. I speak at a lot of conferences, which is fun. I get to go out and lecture on the concepts of positive psychology. One big, exciting thing coming up for me is a trip to Zimbabwe in February to speak at a CE conference through a company called Worldwide Vets. The CE initiative is called Thrive, and it focuses on wellbeing and mental health, so I get to facilitate this event for two weeks. Beyond that, it’s a lot of connecting with the humans of vet med, supporting, and encouraging them. We do a lot of consulting with hospitals to bring about effective leadership, communication, and resilience programs to ensure their clinics are moving in a positive direction. I’m also a certified coach, so I offer professional and personal guidance to help folks get from where they are to where they want to be.

The reason you started nursing school in the first place, that sense of purpose, is enough to carry you through your career. For me, the success I have in my position now comes from the variety of experiences I’ve had. And throughout everything, I’ve been an advocate for the value of a credentialed veterinary technician. Stand for that! Show everyone what you can do and how valuable you are as a team member.

I enjoy seeing people in public that are wearing Michigan State stuff and just screaming “go green!” and having them yell “go white!” back. That moment of connection is so fun for me.