What’s In a Name?

For the past year this organization has been called The Veterinary Compassion Fatigue Project. When I first began, it was important for me to identify this as a site for those suffering from compassion fatigue or burnout. But as I move through the creation of the project, I realize that my view was too narrow and too negative. This project has become so much more. Now appropriately named Veterinary Compassion Project, this is a space of healing, a community of love, and is where all veterinary professionals can seek refuge from burnout and compassion fatigue. By turning our compassion for animals onto ourselves we learn to love ourselves, forgive ourselves and hold compassion for those humans suffering around us. We move out of our ego and into our hearts and just like, our lives are transformed.

Veterinary Compassion Project has grown from there. In my exploration of why the culture is so poor in veterinary clinics and hospitals, I created five bolsters, or ideas, to profoundly boost culture: love, compassion, direction, training and delegation. I am determined to help veterinarians release the idea that they have to do it all and that they have to do it alone. Together we can put into place five techniques to change the culture dramatically and provide a healthy place to work, thereby decreasing stress and increasing the longevity of your staff.

We are unleashed into the world with no training on how to communicate with our hearts, no training on how to run a business or manage our finances. We are not properly warned on how closely we actually work with humans and how at some point in our lives we will face burnout or fatigue. We haven’t been prepared for those devastating negative google reviews. It feels like we are put in the middle of a battlefield with no armor. No wonder our profession is in crisis.

But now is the time for change. I know this because as I start to create this project, the floodgate has opened with an outpouring of love and support and the creation suddenly becomes effortless. I meet with people weekly who ask me how they can support the unbelievable humans in our profession. They want to know how they can offer their services because they are so passionate about their own animals. While it is difficult to think of animals suffering, it seems extraordinarily difficult for the general population to think of their veterinarians suffering. They have long thought that we must be so happy to play with puppies all day that we could not possibly be suffering. Our dear clients’ eyes are finally opening to the realities of our world.

Because of the outpouring of love, the Veterinary Compassion Project retreat has now blossomed into an event that is far exceeding my expectations. While we will have a few lectures on fatigue and burnout, we will spend the majority of time teaching you ways to transform your life, not just your work. Many brilliant minds will be offering advice and tools for healing. We will come together to build lasting friendships in a judgment free space. We will create a network of support for all those around us. We will take this knowledge home and profoundly impact our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

This is a movement, a rebirth, within the veterinary profession. This is an effort to change the face of our mental wellbeing, become models of health for our clients, and imbed early our self-healing ideas into veterinary education. We invite every single veterinary professional to join our community, regardless of burnout or fatigue. Your presence can help others, you can learn techniques to teach your staff and clients, and most importantly you will become a part of this awesome movement.