Mental health help for vets 'hugely important,' Sask. social worker says

SASKATOON -

Five years ago the Western College for Veterinary Medicine created the position of veterinarian social worker to help those in the industry cope with stress.

“It’s hugely important because what we don’t want is the vets, or the students, or the interns to take it home with them and have it disturb their sleep, or to stress them out, or to impair relationships, or cause them to isolate,” said one of the workers, Kim Tucker.

Tucker has been at the college or nearly a year, helping out as best she can.

“The idea of having someone that’s there, that you can pick up a phone or walk in a door and say ‘listen, I need to talk’ or ‘I need to cry’ or ‘I need to scream or vent’, that’s hugely important,” Tucker said.

“To be able to access it now, not two weeks from now when you can make an appointment and go in and see someone else, but right now, because you probably have another client waiting.”

According to a Centers for Disease Control study, 1.6 times as many male veterinarians die from suicide than the general population. For female veterinarians the number 2.4.

Tucker is also there for families going through a hard time with their furry friends.

“If they’ve come in and they have to make a tough decision, they might need to debrief that with someone outside of the situation,” Tucker said.

“Maybe they’ve had one of their fur-family die and they need to just talk to someone who gets it, who isn’t going to say ‘well it’s just a pet, what’s the problem?’”

Tucker also works with farmers on herd health problems.

Tucker said her job is one that we may see more of around the country as different veterinarian clinics catch on.

“There’s vet clinics that have called up and said 'can we access your services for our staff, primarily?' because they are struggling, especially during COVID, people were struggling and couldn’t access their normal resources,” Tucker said.

“The interest is there and the drive is there, it's just about finding a way to make it happen.”

HIGHS AND LOWS

Darlene Bos, executive director of Not One More Vet, a non-profit advocacy group for veterinarians, said the topic of mental health has been discussed more lately, but it is something the industry has known about for years.

“We’ve known for many years now, decades even, that the veterinary field has a high level of mental stress, mental health issues, and a high suicide rate,” Bos told CTV News.

“I’m not just talking about veterinarians, I’m also talking about other people in the field. So veterinary techs, vet nurses, people who are at the front desk. Basically everyone in the field.”

Bos said many aspects of the job weigh on a person. From the sorrows of euthanasia to lost patients, Bos said vets are often caring people that can take losses hard.

“They are compassionate, they are passionate about what they are doing, and they feel really strongly about it, so they are already pre-disposed to stresses,” Bos said.

“If something goes wrong in their day with a patient they can feel like a failure, is what we hear a lot. ‘I wasn’t good enough to save this animal’s life, I wasn’t good enough to make this happen.’”

Bos said often times clients can become upset with their visit and voice their displeasure online, and a lot of the time it gets brought back to the same misconception.

“Cyber-bullying is another issue on the pet-parent side. When someone goes in and it costs them a lot of money they will go online and complain about how expensive their vet is, and ‘why are they in it, are they in it for the money?’ which is never the case, people don’t go into this career for money,” Bos said.

When dealing with animal health care the good often comes with the bad according to Bos, and the emotional rollercoaster of a day many vets face can be emotionally taxing.

“There’s a lot of heightened emotion with each visit. They may be in a room with a new puppy giving a new puppy consult, and it’s a happy, joyous day. Then they have to scoot into a room where they have to discuss euthanasia at the end of a pet’s life.

“Maybe they are holding the hand of someone while their pet is put to sleep, and then they’re late because of that to the next room where someone is yelling at them because they are late. They have to take off every emotion they just had and put on a new emotion. This is going on every 15-20 minutes of their day.”

Bos said many veterinarians start out with lots of debt and it is passion that drives people to the industry, not money.

“School can be very expensive and long-winded. Veterinarians spend just as much time in school as human doctors do and often also have residencies and specialties,” Bos said.

“However the pay is not the same, and people will expect it to be less expensive to treat an animal than a human, even though the MRI machine and X-Ray machine and the medications all cost the same.”

Bos said the issue has been known for years but until recently there weren’t a lot of options to openly discuss it like there is now, leading to more awareness.

“I think part of the reason that there’s more discussion now is social media. I think that what’s happening is being able to be discussed more openly, and I think that is a big factor in bringing it forward now.”

Despite the mental health issues within the industry, Bos said people should not be scared to become a vet, but they should be prepared. Bos said bringing these issues to the public is a big part of helping the industry.

“Almost daily we hear people say that they love their field. There are people who are leaving it because of these stressors, and there are people that are going into it eyes wide open, and I think that’s the thing that needs to be done.”