About | VDS Training

Our philosophy

At VDS Training, we are driven by a shared passion for empowering veterinary professionals and teams to excel in their careers and thrive in the veterinary workplace. With a team encompassing vets, coaches, and even neuroscientists, and using insights from the VDS Claims team and VetSafe, we use a person-centred approach in our online, face-to-face and blended veterinary training courses, and offer one-to-one coaching and bespoke solutions to support you and your team to reduce and prevent complaints, manage them when they do happen, and embed a culture of quality improvement to learn from mistakes.

Our expert-led training is designed to support and protect you, reducing the risk of claims and complaints with practical tools to enhance client communication, develop leadership, and improve patient safety and team wellbeing, allowing you to focus on the animals in your care.

Our team

Get to know us a little better

Carolyne Crowe

Carolyne is an equine vet, personal performance coach, mentor, international speaker, researcher and lecturer, and has a Masters degree in Workplace Health and Wellbeing. As Head of Training at the VDS, and a founding member of the Coach of Excellence Accreditation, Carolyne was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2020 for her outstanding contribution to the profession.

Kirsty Sturman

Kirsty is a qualified coach and trainer with expertise in resilience, communication and time management. Kirsty has over 20 years experience in the veterinary sector with roles from sales and marketing to business strategy and consultancy. Kirsty is passionate about helping teams and individuals to thrive in often challenging environments, whilst helping them to grow and develop. Outside her role at VDST Kirsty is a passionate dressage coach and resilience/mindset coach.

Ruth Serlin

Ruth is a small animal vet who has spent much of her career working for charities or in education. Ever the ‘word nerd’, she is fascinated by how communication works. She is currently completing an MA in Applied Linguistics and is particularly interested in vet-client communication and pet euthanasia. Her goal here at VDS Training is to help veterinary professionals recognise and develop their expertise in communication because she believes this is the key to thriving in practice.

Dr Iain Price

Iain is a qualified neuroscientist, executive coach, experienced trainer and educator who is passionate about elevating people’s thinking to help them better understand themselves and their teams. Iain combines an infectious, enthusiastic training style with a disarming, insightful and thought-provoking coaching approach. Iain grew up working on a farm in the Welsh borders and is married to a GP.

Helen Harris

Helen is an RVN, coach and trainer. She has extensive experience with veterinary nurse education and training, qualification development and quality assurance.

Freya Rooke

Freya, a dedicated researcher and educator in veterinary medicine, holds an MRes and BSc from the University West of England, and a PhD from the University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. Her passion lies in quality improvement (QI), evident through her recent thesis. Eager to promote QI methods within the veterinary sector and share her insights with others.