Why I Started Pawsitive Reception: Seeing the Gap No One Was Addressing

I didn’t start Pawsitive Reception because I wanted to start a business.

I started it because I kept seeing the same problem over and over again, and no one was talking about it.

I Was Not Hired as a Trainer, But That Became My Job

At clinic after clinic, I found myself training receptionist after receptionist.

And things kept failing.

New hires felt overwhelmed.

Confidence was low.

Turnover was high.

At first, I couldn’t understand why. These weren’t lazy people. They cared. They were trying. But no matter how much effort they put in, something wasn’t clicking.

And then it hit me.

There was no system.

Training looked like:

• “Sit with this person”

• “Watch what they do”

• “Figure it out as you go”

There were no written protocols.

No structured onboarding.

No clear expectations.

And the most important part?

I was the only one truly training them.

Everyone else involved in training had been hired to do a different job, technician, manager, receptionist, and they were simply expected to train on top of everything else.

No one was hired as a trainer.

No one was given guidance on how to train.

So why were we surprised when it didn’t work?

Why Is the Face of the Clinic Trained This Way?

This is the part that never made sense to me.

Veterinary receptionists are the face of the clinic.

They are the first voice clients hear.

They answer questions not just about animals, but about people’s family members.

Clients don’t get the veterinarian on the phone every time. They get the receptionist.

So that person needs to be able to:

• Answer common questions confidently

• Know when and how to escalate concerns

• Communicate clearly and compassionately

• Follow clinic-specific protocols

And if they don’t know the answer?

They need the customer service skills and clinic systems in place to:

✔ Get the right information

✔ Follow up appropriately

✔ Maintain trust

Yet we were expecting people to do this job with little more than observation and hope.

Then I Started Asking Bigger Questions

I began to wonder:

• Why are so many clinics always hiring for receptionists?

• Why does turnover seem higher here than in other roles?

• Why are we losing good people?

When I started digging deeper, the answer became clear.

They weren’t leaving because they couldn’t do the job.

They were leaving because they weren’t supported.

They were thrown into a high-pressure role with:

• Minimal training

• No clear guidelines

• Constant emotional labour

• And the expectation to “just know”

That’s not a failure of the person. That’s a failure of the system.

The Pattern: Support Changes Retention

Across industries, one thing is consistent:

👉 People stay longer when they feel supported.

Structured onboarding and training:

• Improve confidence

• Reduce overwhelm

• Increase engagement

• Improve retention

When people know what’s expected of them, and are shown how to succeed, stress decreases and performance improves.

Training isn’t just about efficiency.

It’s about psychological safety.

The Shift: From ‘Figure It Out’ to Structured Support

This is where Pawsitive Reception was born.

I made it my mission to create:

• Clear training guides

• Practical protocols

• Structured onboarding systems

Ones that support new hires:

• Even if they’ve never worked in vet med before

• Even if they have experience, because no two clinics are the same

What a receptionist does at one clinic can look very different at another.

So training should never be assumed.

It should be intentional.

The Cost of Not Doing This

Without structure, clinics pay the price through:

• High turnover

• Burnout

• Client frustration

• Team breakdowns

With structure, the ripple effect is powerful:

• Receptionists feel confident

• Clients feel heard

• Teams communicate better

• Clinics function more smoothly

Retention improves, not by accident, but by design.

This Is the “Why” Behind Pawsitive Reception

Pawsitive Reception exists because I saw a gap no one was addressing.

Because I watched capable people fail in roles they were never properly trained for.

Because I knew receptionists deserved better support.

And because clinics deserve systems that actually work.

When we stop throwing people to the wolves and start setting them up for success everything changes.

In One Sentence

I started Pawsitive Reception because veterinary receptionists deserve structured training, real support, and the opportunity to thrive and clinics thrive when they do.