Practicing Resilience in Veterinary Medicine
Superman Mark, RVT and I during a volunteer cat spay and neuter day at Central Veterinary Services with C.A.R.E
What is resilience? Resilience is the ability to adapt and recover when faced with challenges and adversity. These challenges may present in the form of daily, cumulative stressors, or they may be standout, life-changing moments. There are many threats to our resilience in the context of veterinary medicine, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a few key areas of your life that you can prioritize to help you actively practice resilience in your professional and personal life.
Training, Mentorship and Finding Your “Hype-Person”
In the beginning, we all need training. We need someone to show us how to perform a spay, and then we need them to watch us, and sometimes assist in performing the task correctly. As we move on to develop our skills, we need reliable mentorship to help refine our approach, and to develop our careers. It becomes less of a task-focused approach, and more of a professional development, steering-of-the-career-ship kind of thing.
It is very easy for a clinic to advertise mentorship in their classified ads. But it is another thing altogether to be able find a mentor who takes a true interest in your personal and professional wellbeing. For the new grads who may be reading this article, I would suggest that you ask for a reference from a veterinarian that your potential new workplace has mentored in the past. This may be a very insightful perspective of your future mentorship within a practice.
And finally, everyone needs a Hype-Person. Someone who sees and acknowledges how amazing you are, as a person and a professional! This can be a friend, a family member, or a niece or nephew. Let someone be your cheerleader.
Peer support
Nobody knows what you’re going through more than your peers. Remember how important your camaraderie was when you were working your way through veterinary school? Well wouldn’t you know it, you are all still in the same boat now and for the rest of your career. Reach out to coworkers or former classmates when you need to confide in someone, or simply to describe the crazy day that you have just had. Join an online veterinary community that is geared toward lifting each other up and celebrating their members’ successes.
Keep and make friends from outside of the veterinary industry
Don’t forget that it is important to have friends outside of your industry. They can help you to truly take a night off from wearing your veterinarian hat. Sure, you will always encounter the odd questions about your friend’s dog’s anal glands while in a social setting. However the majority of the time you can focus on being you “the person”, not you “the veterinarian”.
Take a lesson from your patients and live in “the now.”
Animals live in the present. They don’t fret over posts on social media accounts. They aren’t worried about their schedule. We are a naturally connected society, with forms of communication coming in from all angles whether it be text messages, phone calls, email social media accounts, you name it. We owe it to ourselves to disconnect from these things that make us accessible to the entire world. I recommend the following: take time off, develop hobbies, and try to be social in real life versus being social online.
One very specific habit to develop as a means of protecting your time away from work is to always make sure that your medical records are clear and complete. Include your concise thought process and your plan so that any veterinarian can pick up where you left off. This saves many unnecessary phone calls to you on your days off. And always make sure that your clients know how much you trust your team to advise them on their pet’s care while you are away. If they know that you trust your colleagues, then they know that they are an extension of you and your excellent care, even when you are away. And on that note, make sure that you align yourself with a clinic where this is truly the case.
Give back and make a difference
There are so many volunteer organizations that need your help. Rescue organizations, spay and neuter clinics, community outreach clinics, and beyond. Not only can you give back to your community and make a positive impact with your veterinary skills, you are able to expand your horizons to so many new opportunities. Some of my best veterinary experiences, most unique opportunities, and most influential people that I have met, have come into my life through veterinary volunteerism. So get out of that comfort zone and try something new!
