Between The Lines

Why Trust Takes Time

Understanding how professional trust is built—and why it cannot be rushed

Trust in animal rehabilitation is rarely immediate.

Not because professionals lack goodwill, skill, or shared purpose—but because trust is shaped by training, responsibility, and risk in fundamentally different ways across disciplines. When physical therapists and veterinarians come together, they often arrive with aligned goals but very different internal maps of what trust looks like and how it is earned.

Veterinarians are trained in environments where trust is inseparable from responsibility. Their license carries the weight of diagnosis, medical decision-making, and ultimately, life-and-death outcomes. Trust, in this context, is built slowly and often conservatively. It is proven through consistency, predictability, and time. Caution is not hesitation—it is stewardship.

Physical therapists are trained in environments where trust is built through collaboration. In human medicine, PTs routinely enter teams and contribute movement-based insights early and often. Trust is fostered through shared problem-solving, open dialogue, and iterative refinement. Speaking up is not seen as overstepping—it is expected.

When these two cultures meet, friction can arise—not from disrespect, but from mismatch.

A veterinarian may interpret early PT input as premature.

A physical therapist may interpret veterinary guardedness as dismissal.

Both interpretations are understandable. Both can be softened with awareness.

Trust takes time because it is built through repeated, low-stakes moments. It is built when communication is clear, when roles are respected, when boundaries are honored, and when each profession demonstrates—not declares—the value they bring. It is reinforced when collaboration makes care easier rather than more complex.

Importantly, trust does not mean agreement on every decision. It means confidence that each professional is acting within their expertise, with integrity, and in service of the patient’s best interest.

In animal rehabilitation, trust grows when veterinarians see that physical therapy improves outcomes, supports clients, and reduces downstream stress. It grows when physical therapists respect and support veterinary care paths to clients and their pets.

Rushing trust often undermines it.

So does silence.

What builds trust instead is patience, clarity, and shared accountability—over time.

Action Steps

For Physical Therapists

Demonstrate consistency before depth.
Focus first on reliable communication, clear documentation, and predictable clinical reasoning. Trust grows through patterns, not performances.

Respect the pace of medical responsibility.
Recognize that guardedness may reflect care, not resistance. Allow collaboration to unfold gradually.

For Veterinarians

Acknowledge contribution explicitly.
Naming the PT’s role and expertise—especially in front of clients—builds trust faster than private agreement alone.

Allow trust to form through experience.
Repeated positive outcomes are the strongest foundation. Curiosity accelerates that process.

A Shared Collaborative Approach

Start with small, repeatable touchpoints.
Trust does not require grand gestures. A brief check-in, a shared discharge conversation, or a consistent referral loop creates familiarity—and familiarity builds trust.