We are sponsoring a webinar this month that will look at how veterinary students and student veterinary nurses can stay healthy and look after their mental wellbeing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The one-hour webinar, titled ‘Calm in the Corona’ takes place between 11am and 12 noon on Saturday 25 April and is being led by the VetKind team, a collaboration between the Association of Veterinary Students of UK and Ireland and SkillsTree Training, and supported by Mind Matters.

The session will look at some of the common responses to uncertainty during the pandemic, with an emphasis on how to recognise and nurture more adaptive or helpful responses that do not lead to heightened anxiety or distress. Key topics will include creating routines, setting boundaries and how to seek social support despite quarantine measures.

Building on the interactive approach from previous VetKind conferences, student veterinary nurses and veterinary students will be invited to share their COVID-19 experiences, ideas and successes with their colleagues.

Jenny Moffett, Managing Director of SkillsTree and VetKind facilitator says: “Although we’re all talking about social distancing right now, it’s more accurate to think of it as physical distancing. Social support is more important than ever, and webinars can be a really effective way to connect, and work together on a common challenge.

“We know that many students may be facing heightened stress and anxiety right now as they worry about the impact the pandemic may have on their own and their family’s health, their education, their finances, their housing and so on. We hope that this webinar will provide some effective coping strategies and an opportunity to share fears and worries and find constructive solutions to them.”

Those that wish to take part in the webinar should email avsvetkind@gmail.com. An automatic reply with the link to participate in the webinar will then be emailed back.

The winners of the 2019 Vet Wellbeing Awards have been announced today (Friday 24 January 2020) as part of the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) and Veterinary Management Group (VMG) Congress, at Celtic Manor, Newport.

Launched in 2016, with the first Awards made in 2017, and are run by the Society for Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) in partnership with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ Mind Matters Initiative (MMI).

They aim to highlight positivity within the veterinary professions, which are known to have relatively high levels of work-related stress and poor mental health, by celebrating and sharing initiatives from veterinary workplaces that are demonstrating their commitment to improving staff wellbeing. The Awards also aim to provide a structured approach to help practices to evaluate their own wellbeing support systems and processes.

The winner of the Large Practice category for the 2019 Vet Wellbeing Awards is Willows Veterinary Centre & Referral Service based in Solihull in the West Midlands.

Sophie Aylett was one of the judges for the Awards and works at Meadows Farm Vets, a previous Vet Wellbeing Award winner. She said of Willows’ entry: “Overall the standard of entries this year was very high, making it interesting to judge so many varied and innovative wellbeing ideas. In particular, the winning entry used an honest narrative style giving plenty of examples of free and investment-worthy ideas, from monitoring staff interaction with how information is disseminated and making adjustments accordingly, to ensuring personal contact is part of day-to-day culture despite cutting-edge IT systems.”

The winner of the Medium Practice category is Vets4Pets Northampton, for an entry that demonstrated that wellbeing was embedded into day-to-day life at the practice.

Paul Pollard, Head Vet at Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital, a previous Wellbeing Award winner and one of the judges for the Awards, said of their entry: “The practice put a lot of detail into their application and really sold what it does as a team. This makes me think that the team is very proud of what it does and has a good culture within the practice. Wellbeing seems to be embedded within the practice culture rather than an add-on. Having Mental Health First Aiders, a wellbeing magazine, wellbeing committee and participating in Mind’s Time to Talk Week is testimony to this.”

Finally, the winner of the Small Practice category is Blue Cross Animal Hospital Hammersmith, based in West London.

Cat Curtis, Award judge and SPVS President, said of its entry: “Once again this year the quality of the award entrants was stepped up and choosing between the practices in the small category was particularly hard. The winner though stood out because they went the extra mile for all the criteria. They showed that, even with relatively little budget, you can create an amazing place to work and that it’s collective leadership and collective responsibility which makes it happen.”

In addition to the winners, three practices were highly commended for their entries:

• Watkins & Tasker, Bristol (Medium Practice)
• Bath Veterinary Group (Large Practice)
• White Cross (Large Practice)

The winners of the Awards this year will also take part in a panel chaired by Caroline Pearson from Progressive Vet Consulting at 1.30pm on Saturday 25 January on ‘Being the leader you and your team need’. This is part of the MMI stream at the Congress chaired by Clare Balding, where other sessions will include ‘LGBT+ in Practice’, ‘Inclusion and Equality in the Workplace’ and ‘Civility in Practice’.

The full results, together with details of the winning practices and highly commended entries, will be published on the Vet Wellbeing Awards website.

MMI will be running its Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant for the second year in 2020.

The grant is part of a five-year commitment to award one £20,000 grant each year to fund research that focuses on mental health and wellbeing within the veterinary professions, including areas such as prevention, diagnosis, intervention and treatment.

Named for an elected RCVS Council member who tragically passed away in 2017, the Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant aims to help advance research and contribute to improving mental health within the veterinary professions – an area about which Sarah was passionate.  

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) was awarded the inaugural grant at RCVS Day in July 2019. Dr Kate Stephen, a Behavioural Scientist at SRUC’s Epidemiology Research Unit, is leading the project, which aims to identify how to better promote job satisfaction and to break the cycle of negative thoughts and poor mental wellbeing identified amongst farm vets.

Lizzie Lockett, RCVS CEO and MMI Director, says: “We were very impressed with the range and number of proposals last year, and SRUC’s in particular. We are looking forward to seeing what this year’s applicants will propose. We are encouraging anyone interested in applying for this grant to keep an eye out for the launch over the next few weeks and think about any potential topics that they might want to explore.”

Full guidelines and criteria for the grant applications will be released at launch, but interested parties may want to look at the information for last year’s process to get an idea of what the application process may involve.

This year we will also be offering a workshop, run in conjunction with RCVS Knowledge, on how to develop a research proposal, to support applicants through the process. More details will be released soon, so make sure to watch this space.

You can view more information on the Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant.

Students, academics and university support staff gathered in September for the first ever Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) event focused exclusively on identifying issues and finding solutions regarding the mental health of veterinary students.

In total, the faculties and student bodies of 10 universities were represented at the event, which took place on Monday, 23 September 2019 at Church House, Westminster, including representatives from the eight UK veterinary schools, as well as University College Dublin in the Republic of Ireland and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Opening the event, Lizzie Lockett, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) CEO and MMI Director, said that the objective for the day was to identify commonalities in terms of the challenges around student mental health, consider where gaps may exist and how they can be mitigated, and form a network that can be continued beyond the day’s events.

… it is clear that there is great will amongst universities to look after their staff and students and it was fantastic to hear about how many student- and-university-led initiatives are going on to raise awareness, tackle stigma, encourage seeking help and much more.

Lizzie Lockett, MMI Director

She commented: “Over my time as Director of the Mind Matters Initiative I have been to many events about student mental health in which I saw fantastic research being done and really proactive preventative initiatives by the universities, as well as support mechanisms for those with mental ill-health. However, there was often one voice missing in it all – that of the students themselves.

“This is why I was very glad that we could pool together the experience and knowledge of academics, researchers, university support staff and, most crucially of all, hear the voices and opinions of the student body at this event.”

The event started with presentations from each of the universities represented in which they had the opportunity to talk about university- and-student-led initiatives to encourage students to be mindful of their wellbeing, encourage those who may need help to seek it, and provide support for students who have diagnosed mental health conditions.

Examples of such initiatives included the University of Bristol’s mental wellbeing toolbox, the University of Nottingham’s Big Vet / Little Vet student buddying system, and the Royal Veterinary College’s (RVC) ‘Step Change’ framework which is looking at diversifying mental health support through online programmes and wellbeing mentors.

Following this, there were three talks from those involved in student welfare, wellbeing and mental health, providing a perspective from outside of the UK veterinary profession. The first speaker was Jen Brandt, Director of Wellness and Diversity at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), who spoke about wellbeing initiatives in the United States. This included the establishment of a network of mental health professionals working in American vet schools and a suicide prevention training programme that encourages peers to ask key questions that could save a life.

Alan Percy, Head of Counselling at the University of Oxford and Chair of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education Group, then spoke about the increase in demand for student mental health services, as well as increased expectations for support in Higher Education (HE), and the pressure this can place on student support services. He spoke about the importance of joined-up thinking throughout the HE sector and the different tiers of support, as well as setting more realistic expectations about student life, and building emotional resilience so that students develop their self-confidence and self-compassion to face life’s challenges.

The final talk was from Kate McAlister, Head of Student Welfare and Safeguarding at the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator for Higher Education in England, who spoke about how the OfS regulates duty of care for students amongst HE institutions, and how it provides guidance and encourages innovation within the sector. She also said that the OfS was investing £6m in student mental health in England, in three key areas: transitions, early intervention and support.

A panel question and answer session was then held, covering topics such as the efficacy of resilience training and how to change the learning culture around perfectionism. The session was chaired by Professor Stuart Reid, Principal of the RVC and outgoing Chair of the Mind Matters Initiative, and featured all three speakers.

After a series of activities in which delegates were split into groups and asked to tackle issues such as the stigma around accessing support, the ‘hidden curriculum’, and the culture of perfectionism and long hours, topics suggested by delegates ahead of the event and voted for on the day, it was left to Lizzie to close the session.

Speaking after the event she said: “It was a fascinating and insightful day that gave us a holistic overview of what is going on in the veterinary education sector and the challenges it faces. However, it wasn’t just a day of talking about problems – it is clear that there is great will amongst universities to look after their staff and students and it was fantastic to hear about how many student- and-university-led initiatives are going on to raise awareness, tackle stigma, encourage seeking help and much more. The event gave us a very strong basis for future collaborations and we will now be looking to set up focused work-streams to tackle some of the different issues we discussed.”

A similar session for veterinary nursing students is under consideration for 2020.

Delegates from across the international veterinary profession attended the Second Mind Matters Research Symposium at Church House in Westminster on Tuesday 24 September, where the focus was on the evidence-base for mental health problems in the veterinary profession, and how to best prevent and treat mental ill-health and poor wellbeing.

The event was opened by Lizzie Lockett, the Director of the Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) and RCVS CEO, who welcomed the almost 100 delegates who had come from across the UK and as far afield as Canada, the United States and the Netherlands.

She then handed over to Professor Stuart Reid CBE, Principal of the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and, until July, Chair of the Mind Matters Initiative. In his plenary speech Professor Reid gave an overview of the highlights of the first five years of MMI including the fact that it had:

• delivered around 60 mental health awareness training courses, many in conjunction with the British Small Animal Veterinary Association;
• financially supported the Vetlife charity, in particular its Health Support service and its helpline for veterinary professionals in distress;
• launched &me – a joint mental health destigmatisation campaign with the Doctors’ Support Network aimed at health professionals;
• run two series of online mindfulness courses with the Webinar Vet as well as a series of webinars about sleep which had nearly 500 delegates across 13 countries;
• hosted a ‘Medical Mind Matters’ conference with members of the veterinary, pharmacy, dental and medical professions, to talk about how the health professions can share best practice on mental health and wellbeing;
• launched the joint MMI and Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) Vet Wellbeing Awards which showcases veterinary practices that have staff wellbeing at the heart of all they do and are now in their fourth year;
• produced and published numerous marketing materials and publications including pens, badges, booklets and stickers; and
• supported a number of other projects including the student-led VetKind initiative and the Vet NI peer support network in Northern Ireland.

Professor Reid estimated that, taking into account all the various different strands of the initiative, MMI had come into direct contact with around 5-10% of veterinary profession but, through its destigmatisation, wellbeing and awareness-raising work, potentially many more members of the professions.

Professor Reid said: “One thing which I think we can all reflect on and appreciate is how different the conversation is around mental health from even five or six years ago. There is a greater openness from all parts of the profession around talking about their own mental health and thereby encouraging workplaces to put in place preventative wellbeing and mental health policies and persuading those who may be experiencing mental ill-health or distress to seek help.

Lizzie Lockett, giving an example of the Initiative’s impact, added: “There was a recent article about the fact that there was a 500% increase in calls to the Vetlife Helpline despite all that’s being done around mental health. But I think we should look at this in a positive way – there has been an increase in calls because of all we’re doing with Vetlife, Mind Matters and other projects and so people feel more confident and supported to seek help before they reach a crisis point.”

The event then split into two streams of research presentations – these were:

• Dr Rebeca Garcia Pinillos from the Association of Government Vets on the organisation’s research into government vet wellbeing;
• Dr Kate Stephen, a behavioural scientist at the SRUC Epidemiology Research Unit in Inverness, on the positive and negative mental health impacts of livestock vet practice;
• Dr Rosie Allister, one of the Symposium’s key organisers and manager of the Vetlife Helpline, presented her research on how aspects of work influence new graduate mental health and opportunities for intervention;
• Health psychologist Dr Nienke Endenburg from the University of Utrecht presented on the World Small Animal Veterinary Association’s (WSAVA) mental health survey and how the Vets in Mind app will support the issues identified;
• Dr Colleen Best, a researcher at Ontario Veterinary College in Canada, spoke about her research on improving resilience in veterinary students; and
• Carolyne Crowe, a vet and training consultant with VDS Training, gave a presentation on evaluating workplace wellbeing and culture in the veterinary profession through practice surveys.

After the research sessions the delegates assembled for the second plenary talk from Dr Alexandra Pitman (pictured), an Associate Professor in Psychiatry at University College London, who spoke about the sensitive topic of the impact of suicides within the veterinary profession on colleagues. After giving an overview of rates of suicide and their impact on colleagues, family and friends across the general UK population, she focused on some of the specific issues and challenges with veterinary suicides.

She hypothesised that factors relating to suicides amongst vets specifically might include work overload, unrealistic client expectations and complaints, practice/ business responsibilities in addition to clinical work, and co-occurring life events such as bereavement, and relationship problems.

She also gave advice to veterinary professionals on suggested approaches to suicide prevention, how best to intervene if a colleague is feeling suicidal, and how managers should approach staff wellbeing in cases where a colleague has sadly taken their own life. For the latter example she emphasised that support must be offered to all practice staff, as well as key clients that may have had long-standing friendships with the colleague, and arranging a reflective event in which all staff can talk about what has happened and to gauge how they wish to be supported.

At the event’s lunch two poster presentations were then available to view. The first was from Jo Kelly, a small animal veterinary surgeon based in the North East of England, which detailed her qualitative research into the reasons given by small animal veterinary surgeons for their intention to leave practice to pursue alternative careers.

The second was from Rachel Malkani, a PhD student at the University of Surrey’s School of Veterinary Medicine, and Professor Sarah Wolfensohn, Professor of Animal Welfare at the same school, on whether the Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG) tool could help veterinary surgeons make well-reasoned and ethically-justified decisions regarding end-of-life treatment for animals.

The third plenary speaker was Professor Neil Greenberg, a former psychologist in the Armed Forces and now Professor of Defence Mental Health at King’s College London, who spoke about the evidence-base for how to best sustain resilience at work. He said that research suggests that while work is probably a positive factor for wellbeing, work pressures and stressors can also be a significant source of poor mental health and wellbeing.

Professor Greenberg said that, while a range of mental health issues can impact everyday working life, there are significant barriers such as stigma and lack of available services and it is therefore important for workplaces to look seriously at prevention. Preventative measures that he recommended include having a clear policy that sets the culture, outlines responsibilities, and details support; training leaders so that they understand the issues and how to best support staff in these circumstances; and forging mutually supportive teams, as he said that resilience is often formed between individuals rather than within them.

He also weighed into current debates around ‘pre-screening’ of individuals for resilience before they join or train for certain professions and said that there is no evidence of correlation between certain personality types and incidence of mental ill-health and no evidence that any sort of screening is effective in this regard.

Following Professor Greenberg’s plenary speech, the delegates once again split into two separate research streams. The research presentations held in the afternoon were:

• Dr Randall Nett, from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United States, who presented his research on suicides and deaths of undetermined intent amongst US veterinary professionals from 2003 – 2014;
• Senior consultant John Volk, of Brakke Consulting in the US, who presented the key findings of a recent MSD Animal Health Veterinary Wellbeing Study;
• Dr Colleen Best on recent results of a mental health survey conducted with Canadian veterinarians;
• RCVS Council member and mental health researcher Dr Joanna Dyer with her research on burnout in veterinarians – a critical review of the prevalence, contributory factors and interventions;
• Mental health researcher Dr Linda Hoinville on the relationship between psychosocial work environment and mental health in veterinary practitioners; and,
• From the RVC, Dr Tierney Kinnison, Lecturer in Veterinary Education, and RCVS Council member Professor Stephen May, RVC Senior Vice-Principal, presented their research on how unease and stress can become confidence and harmony through engaging in CPD in non-technical competencies.

Following these final research presentations the delegates reassembled for a closing speech from Professor Susan Dawson, Head of the Institute of Veterinary Science at the University of Liverpool, and Professor Reid’s successor as Chair of the Mind Matters Initiative.

Speaking after the event, Professor Dawson said: “This event demonstrated that, both within the UK and internationally, we are starting to see the evidence being gathered about the causes of mental ill-health and poor wellbeing in the veterinary professions, but also around what works in terms of increasing wellbeing and preventing poor mental health outcomes as well as intervention and treatment.

“Although there is plenty more work to be done to build up the evidence base and to reach out to the profession to encourage further awareness and destigmatisation, we also shouldn’t be afraid to celebrate what we have achieved so far within a relatively short space of time.

“These achievements have largely been because of collaboration amongst organisations and educational establishments – there is no space for competition in such a critical area as we are all in this together. I have also been struck by the benefits we can get from bringing in people from other professions and looking at the issues internationally so that we can learn from some of the similarities and continuities, as well as some of the key differences.”

The full agenda from the day is available to view and videos of the proceedings, as well as a full written report of the day, will be made available on the website in due course.

MMI, in partnership with the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA), are launching new emotional resilience courses, with the first course taking place in November this year.

Titled ‘Emotional Resilience for the Veterinary Team’, the one-day courses are free to BSAVA members and are designed to equip participants with an understanding of the role emotional resilience plays in protecting our mental wellbeing.

“Emotional resilience is mainly a learned behaviour, however our level of resilience is not static, and we can take steps to increase our resilience and reduce our risk of developing mental health issues including clinical depression. This new programme is suitable for anyone who wishes to increase their own resilience and develop the ability to help others at work or at home,” says Mind Matters Initiative Manager Lisa Quigley.

“It is important to note that building resilience, particularly within the veterinary professions, is not about telling people that they should ‘put up’ with bad work environments – we are aware that so many veterinary practices take steps to ensure supportive and positive work environments for their teams. It is instead about giving individuals the tools to support and enable them to cope with the challenges that the veterinary professions bring – and this is what these new courses aim to do.”

BSAVA President Sue Paterson expands: “BSAVA has worked closely with RCVS and Mind Matters Initiative for several years and the new resilience courses are the next phase in this area of focus. It is essential to give all members of the veterinary practice the tools to develop resilience in themselves and to support each other and we are delighted BSAVA is able to provide these courses for our members and for the wider veterinary profession”.

Part one of the course focuses on emotional resilience, particularly within the veterinary professions. Part two of the course focuses on the life skills of highly resilient people including listening, using strategy to solve problems, managing emotions, building social capital and knowing how to access help.

Mary Bannon, Programme Manager, from PIPS Programmes CIC, who are delivering the training, says of the course: “This workshop is designed for the whole practice team and encourages participants to work in groups. No personal disclosures are necessary during the course – although participants are very welcome to discuss private issues after the workshop. PIPS Programmes CIC are delighted to be part of this MMI/BSAVA initiative”

The courses are free to BSAVA members and cost £40.00 (including VAT) for non-members. Find out more and purchase tickets here. 

To observe both Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Week, Mind Matters (MMI) and the Doctors’ Support Network (DSN) have published the first blog by a veterinary nurse as part of our joint mental health anti-stigma campaign, &me.

&me encourages people within healthcare professions to come forward with their personal mental health stories, to demonstrate that mental health issues do not preclude people from achieving leading roles in healthcare.

“By reducing stigma and showing that it is possible to continue to flourish in your career no matter where you are on the mental health continuum, our &Me role models help those who are not yet seeking help or who are struggling with their diagnosis to speak to appropriate people,” says Mind Matters Manager, Lisa Quigley.

“We often talk about veterinary surgeons’ mental health and the wider prevalence of mental health issues within the veterinary professions. We are incredibly pleased to have our first VN &me ambassador and this blog will hopefully open the way for other veterinary nurses at all stages of their careers to talk more openly about their mental health to trusted people and healthcare professionals. We thank its author, Meg Conroy, for her bravery in stepping forward to talk about her own experiences.”

In this new blog post, senior veterinary nurse Meg shares her personal experience with mental illness and how she has managed it whilst progressing her career in the nursing profession.

“In January 2018 I was promoted to Head Nurse for the Hub of practices and had volunteered for British Small Animal Veterinary Association Southern region and Congress committee. I felt on top of the world. I was married in July 2018, the best day of my life. But then suddenly, my black dog was upon me. Everything from the last eighteen months crashed down on me like a tsunami. Everything I had pushed to the back of my mind came flooding back. This is when I truly started to change how I viewed my mental health,” says Meg.

“Before it was a dark, damning secret that I was ashamed of. Now I had supportive colleagues who genuinely just wanted me to get better. After five weeks off work, medication and starting counselling, I was ready to give work another go. I remember taking my first blood sample, shaking and tears filling my eyes. I didn’t think I would ever be whole again. Eight months on from my last episode, I feel stronger than ever, I fought every day until one day it became easier.

“We talk often about what our mental health takes away from us, but what has my mental health given me? It’s given me a greater understanding and empathy towards others. My mental health is a part of me, but it does not define me. Certainly not as a nurse.”

Meg’s full blog can be found here.

We are continuing to seek &Me Ambassadors from across the veterinary team. Those considering joining the campaign should first contact Dr Louise Freeman, Vice-Chair of the Doctors’ Support Network, on vicechair@dsn.org.uk, for a discussion about the potential personal impact.

Our &me Ambassadors share their inspiring stories to provide general encouragement and to help breakdown stigma, but if you need support, please seek it from your healthcare provider or a specialist service, rather than contacting the Ambassadors in person.

The Second Mind Matters Initiative Research Symposium, ‘Understanding and supporting veterinary mental health’, is now open for applications for presentations on veterinary mental health and wellbeing research.

The symposium, which will be held on Tuesday 24 September 2019, at Church House, London, will bring together researchers interested in all aspects of veterinary professionals’ wellbeing and mental health. It will feature plenary speakers from mental health research, including:

Sustaining resilience at work – what does the evidence tell us works?: Professor Neil Greenberg, Professor of Defence Mental Health, Consultant Academic Psychiatrist at King’s College London, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ (RCP) Special Interest Group in Occupational Psychiatry.

The impact of veterinarian suicide on colleagues: Dr Alexandra Pitman, Associate Professor in Psychiatry in the UCL Division of Psychiatry and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.

The Mind Matters Initiative – what we’ve achieved so far: Professor Stuart Reid, Principal, Royal Veterinary College, Chair of the Mind Matters Initiative.

Applicants should note that presentations should be in the format of a 15-minute oral presentation or an A1 poster.

Those wishing to apply should submit an abstract clearly marked ‘poster’ or ‘oral presentation’. The title should be 15 words or fewer. The abstract should include author(s) first name(s), followed by surname(s), institution of affiliation and country. The body of the text should be no longer than 250 words and include: background; clear and explicit aims and objectives, hypotheses or research questions; methods; results; discussion; and conclusion.

All abstracts should be submitted as Word documents to Rosie Allister on rosie.allister@gmail.com no later than 23:59 (GMT) on Friday 17 May 2019.

Applicants will be notified if they have been successful within 14 days of this date. Speakers whose applications are successful will receive complimentary registration for the symposium, not including travel and accommodations costs.

A small number of travel bursaries are available for students, people with lived experience of mental health problems, and people who are unwaged, who would not otherwise be able to attend. For further details, please contact Lisa Quigley, Mind Matters Initiative Manager, on lisa@vetmindmatters.org.

N.B This article was edited on 29th April to extend the original submission deadline from Friday, 19th April 2019 to Friday, 17th May 2019.

Together with the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) and Veterinary Management Group (VMG), we are joining forces to hold a series of four events entitled ‘Vet Wellbeing in Practice’.

The dates and venues are as follows:

• Thursday 14 March, Kents Hill Park Training and Conference centre in Milton Keynes, 10:00am – 16:00pm
• Wednesday 27 March, Double Tree Hilton in Edinburgh, 10:00am – 16:00pm
• Wednesday 18 September, Willows Vets in Solihull, 10:00am – 16:00pm 
• Thursday 3 October, The Marriott hotel in Preston, 10:00am – 16:00pm 

This training will be led by Emma Mamo, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at the mental health charity Mind, Tracey Morley Jewkes from Willows Veterinary Care, and Sean Gilgallon from Citation Professional Solutions.

Emma Mamo, who has spoken at two Mind Matters streams within SPVS/VMG Congresses previously, will explain to delegates exactly what workplace wellbeing looks like, and will offer practical tips and advice about how to achieve this in your own workplace.  Emma will also help explain how mental ill-health can be recognised and acted upon successfully amongst team members. Emma will be attending all events apart from the session on Wednesday 27 March in Edinburgh, in which Mind Scotland will take the session in her place.

Tracey Morley Jewkes will talk to the delegates about her time at Blacks Vets, and how they recently managed to achieve a SPVS/MMI Vet Wellbeing Award. Tracey ran her own businesses before entering the veterinary profession as Managing Director for Blacks Vets. At the heart of her business plans for Blacks Vets, Tracey wished to invest in team wellbeing. She will explain how this was achieved, as well as sharing some of her best wellbeing initiatives in practice. Tracey is now Hospital Director for Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service.

Sean Gilgallon will also offer his expertise, having worked in health and safety for many years, both in the Royal Air Force and at the CVS Group. Sean now works for Citation Professional Solutions, a company that provides health and safety support and HR & Employment Law services for UK businesses and over 20,000 clients. Sean will discuss the legal requirements surrounding stress management and wellbeing within the workplace, and explain how to create a ‘stress management risk assessment’ which can then form the basis of a ‘stress management policy’.

Lizzie Lockett, RCVS CEO and Director of Mind Matters, said: “The response to the SPVS/MMI Wellbeing Awards has been great, and this roadshow of events now takes this a step further by providing the opportunity for practices to learn from the experts about practical changes they can make in their own businesses to raise standards of wellbeing and support. They are set to be worthwhile and enjoyable events and I look forward to seeing people there.”

All days will last from 10:00 until 16:00 and there will also be an optional ‘Introduction to Mindfulness’ session, conducted by Sean Gilgallon, from 16:00 until 17:00.

The events cost £85 person, and could count towards delegates’ continuing professional development (CPD). Refreshments will be provided throughout the course of the days.

If you are interested in attending any one of these events, please visit the SPVS / VMG events website for tickets.