Radical Self-Care for Veterinary Professionals

A MettaPets Veterinarian Wellness Network wellness workshop with Dr. Erin Bannink. www.mettapetsvetwellness.com This is a free event strictly for Veterinarians. RSVP and your veterinary license number is required for the event link and password. 

Event link and password will be sent via email the day before the event. You will be required to enter your email to register for and view the Crowdcast event.

Check your email (or junk mail or promotion folders (in gmail) if you do not see it 1 day prior to the event).

How to not lose your marbles....

Stress and burnout are common afflictions for veterinarians. Developing, and prioritizing, practical tools that can be implemented into daily life and busy clinical practice are vital to the health of veterinarians. A Wellness Lifestyle calls for positive changes and effective creation of time for self-care and recovery. This can seem "Radical" in the sense that we have not been taught in veterinary school (or society in general) to value self-care and most veterinarians are goal driven, skilled at creating excuses about why we "can't" make time, and tend to prioritize work and other-care over self-care.

The only way for this necessary shift in attitude and values to happen is for the veterinary community and the individuals who comprise it to be taught to both value ***and how to prioritize*** self-care and wellness as a daily part of life...not just as a method to fix critical-level stress. And we need to value this kind of Radical Wellness Lifestyle as a profession.

A "radical wellness" lifestyle can start any time but these techniques are best utilized as prevention and proactive wellness-forming habits before we are in crisis mode, when we are more prone to emotional triggers and our inner resources have been severely depleted. When we are not yet completely at the end of our rope, at the peak of mental and emotional exhaustion, we yet have some capacity to follow-through on self-care and implement the daily habits and thought behaviors that are necessary to foster resilience.

When we are in crisis, these practices can be effective adjuncts to professional assistance when implemented with care, thoughtful and self-compassionate intention, and appropriate integration into a broader healing strategy based on the individual's level of trauma and decompensation. This most often requires skilled professional guidance and is beyond the scope of this workshop and my personal training.

In keeping with the MVWN focus of self-empowerment and solution seeking, here I will share self-care strategies that have been effective for me and many other professionals with the goal of helping you formulate your own Radical Self-Care strategies that fit your situation, interests and personality.