Sustainable Veterinary Careers

An independent Not for Profit strategically addressing veterinary wellbeing and career satisfaction.

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There’s a lot of talk about what contributes to the high attrition rates, poor mental health and dissatisfaction in the veterinary profession. Meanwhile, social scientists know a great deal about what motivates and satisfies people in work and life contexts.

 

What if we could link the two?

 

Sustainable Veterinary Careers (SVC) is a new, independent Not For Profit organisation under development to do just that, bringing together the many pieces of the veterinary mental health and professional attrition puzzle in a strategic and evidence-based way.

A snapshot of why, what and who is SVC?

Founded in 2020  SVC  aims to to collate and disseminate the best resources to spark an industry-wide cultural shift, delivering stronger mental health and retention of veterinary professionals long into our future.

For many vets and vet nurses, the desire to care for animals often starts in childhood and can propel an individual through years of costly and demanding training to acquire the knowledge and practical skills needed to play a role in the veterinary industry.

Yet research has shown that increasing numbers of practitioners and vet nurses find the reality of their job unsustainable.  Many are left feeling stressed, undervalued and frustrated to the point of quitting the industry, becoming anxious or clinically depressed, or even suicidal.

SVC was established to reverse this trend by

Improving workplace systems and culture so each person feels valued, purposeful, developed and connected

Providing people with personal tools and knowledge to help accomplish that.

Rather than reinvent the many wheels already in motion, Sustainable Veterinary Careers aims to draw them together into a supercharged movement for change.

A more satisfying veterinary future

SVC offers a novel, wholesale levy funding model and trusted independence to improve uptake of non-clinical education  and resources across 3 key areas:

  • personal awareness and capabilities
  • leadership and management skills and knowledge
  • public education about the value, costs, and humanity behind veterinary services

We’ll also measure impacts over time, to ensure that these resources are making the preventative difference we all want and need.


Working synergistically  alongside professional peak bodies, regulators, educators, and service providers, SVC aims to provide a comprehensive hub for non-clinical education and resources that are easy to find, afford, trust and use, regardless of your career stage, location, role or experience in the veterinary industry.

Who benefits from SVC's work?

Veterinarians and Nurses

Managers

Practice Owners / Shareholders

Drug / Product Wholesalers
and Manufacturers

Public and Animals

Service Providers incl. Charities, AVA, CVE, Consultancies etc.

Professional Associations

Regulatory Bodies

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Primary & Secondary Interventions

Primary Interventions

Primary interventions are aimed at reducing or eliminating stressors in the workplace. This could include things like varying the physical conditions of the workplace, redesigning jobs, changing workplace structure, and implementing flexible work practices. Training in problem solving, cognitive reappraisal, increasing self-esteem and locus of control may also help. 

Secondary Interventions

Secondary interventions focus on peoples’ response to stressors and may include stress management training, nutrition advice, relaxation exercises, and exercise programs. Other programs suggested here are negotiation training, conflict resolution skills, and training in CBT. Supervisor support may also buffer the effects of stress.

Tertiary Interventions

Tertiary interventions are directed at symptoms, focusing on coping strategies. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)are now being seen with more frequency in Australian workplaces – either as an in-house service or an outsourced provider.

Occupational health research demonstrates that primary interventions, which focus more on prevention and take a systems approach across an entire organisation, tend to be most effective for stress management, followed by secondary interventions and then tertiary interventions. This finding supports the common-sense philosophy that it is better to prevent problems than to attempt to resolve them.