A call to life: creating wellbeing and building resilience in the veterinary profession

Abstract

Dr Sonja Olson, author of A Call to Life, aims to take the reader on a comprehensive but somewhat confronting journey, embracing compassion and humour, to explore the challenges and concerns veterinary professionals face. The importance of wellbeing and why it matters is brought to the fore and Olson clearly explains the psychological impacts and physical consequences of poor mental health. She goes on to look at possible solutions to the problems and ends on an inspiring, positive note for the future of the profession. Olson is an experienced companion animal emergency clinician. She spent 25 years in practice working as clinician, teacher, mentor, and leader but recognised there was a paucity of wellbeing awareness and skills in the veterinary profession. This awareness drove her passion to support veterinarians to thrive by focusing on her new role as a health and wellbeing trainer of veterinary teams. In this book, Olson addresses the challenges facing the profession and looks for some answers. Her extensive clinical veterinary experience, alongside a deep knowledge of mental health and wellbeing, enable her to speak with authority on the topic of wellbeing and resilience in veterinary professionals. Throughout the book, Olson leverages her connections in the veterinary profession and brings their voices to life. The book is interwoven with evidence-based referenced literature and entertaining illustrations, together with her own compelling personal narrative which gives a broad overview of the past and current occupational hazards of being in a caregiving profession. The stage is set in Chapter 1 with a historical perspective of the complex culture in the veterinary profession and how the human-animal bond has evolved over time. Olson dips into the different fields of veterinary practice to highlight the issues they face. Many of the examples throughout the book focus on the views of companion animal veterinarians, however it would have been good to have a greater emphasis on equine and production animal practice. Chapter 2 provides useful clarification and definition of some commonly used terms such as stress, eustress, empathetic distress, compassion fatigue, moral stress, ethical conflict and burnout, which are referred to throughout the book and normalise the conversation around mental health, poor mental health, and mental illness. Chapter 3 provides an excellent overview of the issues that those in a compassionate caregiving profession face and covers a wide variety of potential stressors including the impact of technology and social media, after-hours duties, heavy workloads, work-life balance and the moral, ethical and emotional issues surrounding financial concerns. Different stages of a veterinarian’s career are examined, highlighting the importance of veterinary education, the impact of workplace culture on an individual’s ability to thrive in practice, and the evolution of a veterinarian’s professional identity. Olson identifies some of the more confronting ways veterinarians may seek relief from the inherent challenges of clinical work and touches on the difficult topic of suicidal ideation and suicide. This section is carefully concluded with a very practical list of resources and organisations that offer help and support to individual veterinary professionals in a crisis. Despite covering a wide range of negative impacts of a clinical veterinary career on psychological health in the first three chapters, the book takes a more positive turn in the last three chapters. Olson’s optimistic, solutionfocused approach in designing a personal toolbox aimed at developing self-care and resilience for veterinary professionals might be useful for some readers. The book concludes by shining a spotlight on some of the diverse ways the international veterinary community has taken to problem solving in the veterinary wellbeing space. This book is packed with evidence-based information, references, resources, self-help tips and real-life experiences. It is relevant to veterinarians, veterinary students and allied veterinary professionals who have an interest in the mental health and wellbeing of veterinary personnel as well as the future of the profession. Overall, readers will gain an increased level of awareness of the global nature of mental health concerns in the veterinary profession and what is needed to develop a framework to promote a thriving veterinary community.