Tamara Abato-Earwood Vet Issues Word Count 557 I still believe suicide is a key issue that veterinarians are facing every day. The veterinary profession has the highest suicide rate of all the health care professions. My opinion has been reaffirmed since starting school at WesternU. I was aware that there was a high suicide rate in the veterinary profession before starting school but during this first block I saw many more articles on this topic and even learned about it in Vet Issues. When speaking to other students on various topics about the clinics they worked at, I started to recognize there is a common trend of how the public perceives the veterinary profession. Negative experiences in vet clinics are due to unrealistic expectations from clients, and cyberbullying from upset clients. Clients seem to think that clinics are overpriced, that services should be given out for free because if we don’t, that means we don’t actually care about the animals. This is devastating to me because I do want to help every animal I can, but I also know I will not be able to because I still have to be able to afford my own living costs, as well as continue to pay off my student debt when I enter the field. I do believe that providing resources for veterinarians to reach out when they are having suicidal thoughts is critical. But I don’t think providing resources is enough to stop these suicides because there are already resources out there. There are many 24/7 hotlines out there for people to reach out when they are having suicidal thoughts, but many people do not feel comfortable using them. This is because there is negative stigma related to mental health and that people struggling with it, are just seeking attention and should just ‘get over it.’ In order to stop this stigma and create an environment that makes people feel confident and comfortable to seek help the stigma must be broken. Similar to sexual harassment modules required by many schools and workplaces, I think mental health modules (such as the AVMA one-hour online training course) should be a mandatory training for everyone in vet school and vet offices to complete on a yearly Tamara Abato-Earwood Vet Issues Word Count 557 basis. Although these modules can be seen as cumbersome, I think they are vital in order to decrease the number of suicides happening. These training courses will break the stigma related to mental health allowing those struggling to no longer feel alone and feel confident enough to ask for help. While the cause of suicide is multifaceted, stress unfortunately plays a major role in these various factors only making people feel more stressed and alienated. Ultimately vet school doesn’t train you to take care of yourself, it trains you to take care of animals, and the stress as a result of this, can exacerbate suicidal thoughts. In the vet curriculum, I also think it would be very valuable to have a class or a requirement that forces students to learn how to handle daily stresses and maintain a healthy balance. This is a lifelong skill that is not only related to working in the veterinary field. To prevent these multi-factorial suicides the solutions must be multidimensional, starting with those in school and those that follow. I believe suicide rates will drastically decrease if these measures are incorporated into veterinary curriculums and clinics. Tamara Abato-Earwood Vet Issues Word Count 557 Work Cited “Here's Why Suicide Among Veterinarians Is A Growing Problem.” Time, Time, 12 Sept. 2019, time.com/5670965/veterinarian-suicide-help/. McGregor, Jennifer. “5 Ways to Break the Stigma Associated with Mental Health.” PsyTech, www.psytechsolutions.net/break-mental-health-stigma.
