Wellbeing Comes First
It's as critical to care for your mental health now as it was during vet school. Here are some resources to help you thrive as a veterinarian in your first year post-graduation.
Helping Your Peers
Wellness gatekeeper training can be a critical tool to save lives.
Free Training: Identify and Refer At-Risk Colleagues
Learn how you can recognize signs that someone may be considering suicide and guide them to seek professional help. This free training provided by the AVMA saves lives and is free to all veterinary students and veterinary professionals.
Wellbeing 101
Self-care is as important as knowing the differential diagnoses for polyuria/polydipsia.
Start your journey to improved professional wellbeing with the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) Assessment.
Use this step-by-step guide to assess your wellbeing and understand how the nine dimensions of wellbeing (yes, nine!) add up to self-care.
Support Your Wellbeing by Understanding Your Mind and Cultivating Mindsight
Listen to Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, keynote speaker at the 2016 AVMA Convention, to learn the connections between your mind and body as well as a simple breathing exercise proven to increase both physical and mental wellbeing. Requires AVMA login
Learn how your peer, Dr. Dani McVety, takes an honest look at how’s she feeling and discovers her issue is NOT running out of compassion—but something else that’s just as important.
Stress Management
Taking action to relieve stress is vital. How you do that is up to you.
Handling ethical dilemmas is a common cause of poor wellbeing in veterinary medicine. Learn what moral stress is and how to tell if you may be suffering from it. Plus, there’s a list of helpful resources to go to for help.
From humor to mindfulness, there are many different ways to relieve stress. Check out a comprehensive list of stress reducing strategies, including playing with your pet!
Practical Tips for Stress
This webinar offers techniques you can use immediately to improve your wellbeing, plus long-term planning tips like how to craft a personal stress management plan. Requires AVMA login.
If you say, "I'm stressed out!" as often as "Let me check my phone," it's time to grab some coping tips from this useful list.
Work-Life Integration
Life, in many ways, is a balancing act—walking a tightrope while juggling work and your personal life. Learn how to maintain work-life integration so you can succeed in your first year post-graduation.
Many early career veterinarians question whether they’re prepared to do the work they’re hired to do. This helpful guide shows you how to overcome the “impostor” feeling and recognize your strengths. (Though the guide is written for graduate students, the issue is the same for relatively new veterinarians.)
This is about you—not your furry patient who needs a baby gate. Read why setting boundaries is essential if you want to be both physically and emotionally healthy.
Create a workplace that supports wellbeing development— where everyone can thrive! In this 12-page handout, get 100 tips that you can apply at the individual and organizational level to support a culture of wellbeing.