The current global ecosystem is rapidly paced. It is also riddled with a number of ‘pandemics’: The ‘Mental Pandemic’ is rife, causing a steep increase in depression, anxiety, addictions and suicide. Burnout is now known as a medical syndrome and is affecting ever increasing  numbers of employees and leaders globally. The ‘Great Resignation’ and increased staff turnover, demands a new way of thinking about the way we design our business ecosystems. This is also true for the veterinary profession who have additional challenges of compassion fatigue, small business challenges and unrealistic expectations from their clients. In this keynote, neurologist and CEO of Neurozone, Dr Etienne van der Walt will provide a perspective on the global factors contributing to burnout and mental health challenges. He will unpack the nature of psychobiological resilience and then translate it for practical application in today’s world. Etienne will provide a framework for collective resilience that may well be the antidote for burnout and even the mental pandemic.  In the process he will highlight the most important themes that underpin high-performance resilience, always simplifying the complex from biological neuroscience to personal self-leadership application. Then Etienne will anchor the practical drivers of resilient, high performance such as sleep, exercise, nutrition, social safety, psychological safety, mindset, mindfulness and high-performance energy for practical individual and team integration, to enable veterinary professionals to unlock the best version of themselves and their people they lead.

About our Speaker: Dr Etienne van der Walt
BSc, BMedSc, MBChB, MMed (Neurology)
Neurozone, Cape Town, South Africa

Etienne is an accomplished neurologist and an authority in applied behavioral neuroscience. Etienne’s 14-year career as a clinical neurologist means he has a deep understanding of the anatomy, biology, and physiology of the brain and the human nervous system. In more recent years, his professional and personal fascination with the remarkable discoveries coming from the various brain sciences has led him to believe in the vast potential of this new knowledge to enhance human capacity. The realization of this vision is the founding of Cape Town based Neurozone ®, a neuroscience business dedicated to the application of brain science, analytics and coaching to enhance human capacity. At the heart of the business of Neurozone ® is a proprietary High-Performance Code that informs leaders about the most current behavioral predictors for resilient and high-performance ready individuals, teams and organizations. The Code draws on research from neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry etc. and its impact has been validated and is currently being used in various industries to enhance human capacity by focusing on the brain/body system. As a result, Etienne has developed a keen understanding of the neurobiological substrates, principles and insights that underpin team and organizational performance. This knowledge enables Etienne to blend a variety of subjects into an integrated whole for practical application. Etienne is the founder of AmazingBrainz™, an organization dedicated to the design of programs for the brain stimulation of young, developing children – especially in disadvantaged communities. Etienne worked as a neurologist in South Africa, the UK, and the Netherlands. As an avid keynote speaker and masterclass teacher, Etienne engages with senior leaders, where individual, team and organizational resilience and optimizing human capacity takes center stage. In addition to his Medical and Clinical Neurology degrees, Etienne also holds BSc degrees in Chemistry, Mathematical Statistics as well as Integrated Physiology and Virology.