Psychological safety: Heart of successful teams

Adaptability is essential in all areas of veterinary practice: treating patients, communicating with clients, and building team cohesion. Psychologically safe workplaces—where every team member believes it’s safe to ask for help, voice concerns, and acknowledge errors without fear of embarrassment or reprisal—allow teams to adapt and excel. This, in turn, enhances business agility, employee wellbeing, job satisfaction, resilience, and innovation. 

Learn how to cultivate psychological safety in your organization. Come away with strategies to create a work environment that encourages open communication, question-asking, and acknowledgment of mistakes. Understand why psychological safety is vital both for team wellbeing and for delivering superior patient care and ensuring efficient operations.

This session originally was presented at AVMA’s 2025 Veterinary Leadership Conference.

Learning objectives:

• Recognize the impact leaders have on psychological safety.
• Understand the difference between fear-based thinking and confidence-based thinking when it comes to handling mistakes and change management.
• Learn strategies to increase trust, collaboration, and communication in your organization.

Dr. Philip Richmond is a practicing veterinarian and the founder and CEO of Flourishing Phoenix Veterinary Consultants, LLC. He advocates and consults for positive culture and individual, team, and organizational psychological health, safety, and wellbeing in veterinary workplaces.

He has led and been involved in state, national, and international projects for advancing workplace wellbeing and culture in veterinary medicine, including serving as chief medical officer for Veterinary United. He also is a member of and advisor to several national committees and boards for workplace suicide prevention, psychological health and safety, and veterinary wellbeing. These include the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Veterinary Hope Foundation, Veterinary Visionaries, MentorVet, and Appalachian State University. 

Dr. Richmond is a speaker and published writer, and a frequent veterinary podcast guest. He holds multiple certifications in applied positive psychology, appreciative inquiry, workplace wellbeing, psychological health and safety, trauma-informed workplaces, resilience training, behavior change, and suicide prevention. He received the Florida Veterinary Medical Association’s Gold Star award for service in 2019 and Veterinarian of the Year award in 2021. He also earned the Uncharted Veterinary Community Founder’s Award in 2023 and was one of three finalists for the 2024 U.S. Bright Minds Veterinary Wellness Champion Award.