Strategies for Supporting Mental Health at Work | Episode 37 | Reviving Vet Med

Research demonstrates that Canadian veterinarians are more likely to experience mental health problems compared to the general population. Likewise, studies show that veterinary teams in the USA are experiencing rising rates of psychological distress, especially among young veterinarians and veterinary support team members.   

In this episode and in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we discuss mental health and mental health problems among adults and veterinary teams, as well as the different forms of stigma and how that impacts seeking help for a mental illness. Practical tools and strategies that diminish stigma and foster mental health in the workplace are also shared. 

Resources

Dispelling five common myths about mental health (blog): https://revivingvetmed.com/dispelling-five-common-myths-about-mental-health/ 

Have you ever wondered which veterinarians have negative attitudes about mental health and why? (blog): https://revivingvetmed.com/ever-wondered-veterinarians-negative-attitudes-mental-health/ 

Veterinary Mental Health Initiative by the Shanti Project: https://www.shanti.org/programs-services/veterinary-mental-health-initiative/ 

Mental Health First Aid by the Mental Health Commission of Canada: https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/training/mhfa/ 

Johns Hopkins Psychological First Aid Training by Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/psychological-first-aid 

The Working Mind by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association: https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/the-working-mind 

Downloads

For clickable links that will support the mental health and wellbeing of your team members, please download “Wellness Resources for Veterinary Teams”:  https://revivingvetmed.kartra.com/page/wellnessresources

To learn about the benefits and ‘how to’ of debriefing a distressing event with your team, please download “Team Debriefing”: https://revivingvetmed.kartra.com/page/teamdebrief 

Online Programs

To learn more about our 4- and 8-week online programs approved for CE credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE, please visit:
https://revivingvetmed.com/programs/

Newsletter

For more practical pointers and tangible tips related to veterinary mental health and wellbeing, subscribe to our e-newsletter:
https://revivingvetmed.kartra.com/page/newsletter

Questions or Suggestions
Email podcast@revivingvetmed.com

Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome to another episode of Reviving Vet Med. We know based on research that veterinarians are more likely to experience symptoms of certain mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression when compared to the general population.

Did you also know that one in five adults experience a mental illness every year and that by the age of 40, half of adults will have or have had a mental illness diagnosis? Knowing all of this, chances are that you or someone you work with are currently living with a mental illness. Yet this is not something that we talk about openly. This is why May is mental health Awareness month and why I love the opportunity to increase recognition of mental health and mental illness.

In today's episode, we're going to cover many topics related to mental health, specifically mental health and mental illness in the context of all adults and veterinary professionals will also discuss mental health stigma in its different form.

We'll finish by discussing practical tools and strategies for reducing stigma. And I'll also mention resources along the way with regards to boosting mental health from an individual and a leadership perspective. This is a really important topic in honor of mental Health Awareness Month, so I'm excited to get into it and let's go ahead and get started.

This is the reviving Vet Med podcast, and I'm your host, Doctor Marie Holloway Chuck and my mission is to improve the mental health and well-being of veterinary professionals around the world.

So the information that we are going to cover today is so very important and I think one of the most important places to start is in demystifying the difference between mental illness and mental health. I think it is a common misconception that mental illness and mental health.

Are opposites of the same thing, so you're either mentally healthy or you're mentally ill but that's not true. Mental health refers to everyone's state of mental or emotional well-being. So in other words, everyone has mental health. On some days it might be good and and well, and on other days, perhaps less so.

In comparison, mental illnesses are diagnosed conditions that affect thoughts and behaviors, so not everyone has a mental illness. And along those lines, you can be a person like me who lives with a mental illness such as depression or anxiety, and you can still have good mental health.

I think it's also important because we are often, you know, caught in this loop of, you know, veterinary medicine is so challenging and as veterinary professionals, we have all these mental health and Wellness problems. But the reality is, is mental illnesses are very common. And we know that statistically, one in five adults experience a mental illness each year and that one in 10 adults will experience major depression at some point in their life.

So if you don't think mental illnesses are common or that they won't affect you, I think that you're wrong. I think that if you yourself are not impacted by a mental illness, then you will know someone who is, and that's a really important thing to keep in mind. And it's important that we. Talk about it.

Now one of the other things I wanted to mention as well is that we do know based on some research that veterinary professionals are disposed to have more experiences with certain mental illnesses and psychological distress. So there was a recent study that was published looking specifically at Canadian veterinarians. This was a survey study that obtained surveys from about 10% of all of the veterinarians working across Canada. And what they found is that those veterinarians had higher mean scores for anxiety and depression.

Compared to the general population, in fact, when they compared those scores to veterinarians in the United Kingdom, they were even higher than those veterinarian scores as well. Now research that has come out of the Merck veterinary well-being study part three also demonstrates that members of the veterinary team, including veterinarians, technicians and other support team members are experiencing higher levels of psychological distress than they have experienced.

In previous years and those levels of psychological distress appear to be highest among newer veterinarians and among support team members. So it is really important that of course we are mindful of our mental health in the context of being a person in this profession and also being a human being knowing how human beings are predisposed or at risk of developing mental illnesses that are in fact quite common. Now something else I wanted to mention in this episode is the concept of stigma.

So, I think we can all agree that veterinarians are firmly entrenched as helpers and as intellects. Of course, not just veterinarians, but all members of the veterinary teams see themselves as helpers and fixers and caregivers. And so it makes sense that seeking help may be seen as a weakness or that needing help can create feelings of fear, guilt or shame.

And I think it's important to recognize that mental health stigma is common among all individuals. But it's even more common among veterinary team members. And we've seen this in research that has looked at mental health stigma. In veterinarians as well as in veterinary students. So why is stigma important? Well, stigma being this negative attitude or belief towards a person with a mental illness or a mental health problem is going to influence a person's decision to access mental health services.

It is also going to determine whether a person discloses that they are struggling or in need of support. And this is very concerning because if a person needs support and they don't believe that help will be beneficial, or they are feeling guilty or shameful about telling someone. Then they are unlikely to get the treatment and support that they need. And we know based on research, looking at stigma among us veterinarians, that stigma is more common amongst those veterinarians who are experiencing serious psychological distress, depression or thoughts of suicide.

Now when we think about the different forms of stigma, I think it's important to recognize that stigma can come in many different forms. But the forms that we see most common are self-stigma and public stigma. So self-stigma is this perception that we shouldn't feel this way. You know that this isn't something that we need to talk about or share.

So there was a recent study that was published last year on stigma among veterinary medical students and some of the quotes that were pulled from that survey had words such as I would feel ashamed that I could not help myself feeling that talking about it isn't going to change anything.

Most of us just accept that it's going to be hard and think that we just have to feel miserable So these are all examples of how a stigma can sound, this idea that it's not OK to feel this way and that I should just be able to power through it public stigma is a little bit different, so public stigma is more in reference to the culture norms or what society would believe and so when they looked at the statements that were shared by veterinary medical students in that survey, some of the sentiments that reflected public stigma included how would I be viewed by my mentors and those I took look up to in the profession or students who need time off are stigmatized or I don't want people to ever know that maybe I'm not strong enough to deal with the anxiety or stress of that school.

So again, there's this outward facing view that you know, we don't want to tell others that this is what we're experiencing because we're concerned about how we would be viewed by them. So because of the importance of mitigating stigma in order to make sure that people get the help that they need, I want to share with you 5 strategies for reducing self-stigma and the first of those strategies is to seek help for a diagnosis and to get treatment.

So this is where I urge you to take advantage of all of the resources that you have available. If you're fortunate enough to work in a workplace that has employee or employee and family assistance, AP or EAP, please take advantage of it. Most of those programs have. Allow you to have access to at least one, if not three or more mental health professional sessions. So don't wait till you're in a crisis. Take advantage of those because they are available to you at no cost. If you have those programs, I also urge you to look into your provincial or state veterinary Medical Association and see what sort of benefits they offer with your membership fees. You might have access to resources. Such as free counseling or free advice with regards to substance use. So there may be some options there that could be a benefit and at low or no cost for you.

If you have a family physician, I also urge you to consider being in touch with them. Of course, if you have a licensed mental health professional, they would be someone to reach out to as well. And the good news about technology, especially in the time of the pandemic, is that we have many telehealth and telemedicine resources. Available to us so you can access those for mental health support. And of course, there are online therapy companies as well. Better help well in five talk therapy, lots of options available for you.

The second recommendation for reducing cell stigma is to learn more about mental illnesses. So I'm going to link up to a blog that I wrote this month on myths and misconceptions related to mental health. That is a great place to start. I think it's really important to reconfigure some of the false beliefs that we have about mental health and mental illness.

There are some other tools and. Resources that you can utilize as well, including mental health first aid training, which is put on by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, or Johns Hopkins Psychological First Aid training, which is available for free through Coursera, and I'll link to those in the show notes as well. The third tip for reducing cell stigma is to avoid shame or self-doubt, so it is so common to feel shame in the context of a mental health problem, you know, and it makes sense because we use our brains so much in the work that we do as veterinary professionals.

In the words of Brené Brown, she says that shame is the feeling that washes over us, makes us feel small, flawed and never good enough. So there's this sense that if we are experiencing a mental health problem as a veterinary provider, that somehow we are not a good veterinarian or that there is something wrong with us as a veterinary tech nurse or other team member.

And it's really important to mitigate this shame and self-doubt with self-compassion and the knowingness that you will get through this and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you just because you are experiencing a mental illness.

The third piece of advice to reduce self-stigma is to connect with other people who are having a similar experience. So, the good news is we have a lot of peer support available to us in the veterinary profession. You might have a group on Facebook that you feel very connected to and safe to share what you are experiencing. I also highly recommend checking out the veterinary Mental Health initiative by the Shanty project. This is another.

Very safe and inclusive space for you to connect with other veterinary professionals in very authentic and vulnerable way and I say vulnerable in the sense of you are able to share what is, you know, heavy on your heart and on your mind in the context of your mental health. And you can do so with the guidance of people who are trained to be able to support you. Through that, I will link up to those resources in the show notes and recommend that. You check those out and the 5th and final strategy for reducing self-stigma is to remember that you are not your illness. So, I think it's important for us to be mindful of the language that we use in the context of our mental health. Saying I am depressed takes on this experience of depression versus.

Separating it from that which it is, which is just an experience. So to instead I am feeling depressed. Similarly, instead of saying something like, I struggle with anxiety to say I live with anxiety, language matters and it's really important how we describe our mental health and our mental illness.

So, I also want to share with you ways to reduce public stigma and the first of those is to speak openly about mental health and mental illness. One of the ways that we can do this in the veterinary workplace is just by connecting with our team members to say, how's your mental health today? And when someone offers a response to listen without judgment, so no criticism, no expression of your feelings or frustrations or encouragements, I think very often we have the intuition to offer advice like cheer up. It'll be OK. Think positive And that can be incredibly diminishing for those who are experiencing a mental health problem. So instead offering to help. What can I do? How can I help, you know, would you like company on a walk? Can I drive you to a medical appointment? Helping someone the same way that you would help them if they had any other form of an illness.

The 2nd way to reduce public stigma is to correct myths and stereotypes. So again, I'll refer you to the blog post that I mentioned earlier, but it's important to be mindful of the language that we use to make sure that we're not using phrases like schizophrenic or psychotic disturbed.

You know, instead use phrases like a person living with schizophrenia or a person experiencing hallucination and not to refer to people as having substance abuse or being addicts, but instead those who live with a substance use disorder and again, I think it's really important to educate ourselves and to learn more. And one of the ways that you can do that is to again take one of these programs that I mentioned earlier on mental health, first aid or psychological first aid. You can also use programs such as the working. Mind, this is a program that is aimed at reducing stigma and increasing resiliency in the workplace, and it's based on scientific research and evidence-based practices.

And the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association is offering the working mind at a reduced price to members of the CMA and even non members. If you are not a member and you would like to attend that. So that's another great way to, you know, correct those myths and stereotypes and be able to educate yourself, and in doing so, of course, educate others.

Now I also want to share with you some strategies for fostering your mental health and in the context of individuals, I want you to 1st think about limiting your perfectionism. I think it's so easy for us to set these unrealistic standards for ourselves, which only result in negative thought patterns like catastrophizing or probability over estimation.

These often result in self-critical thoughts and we know based on research that veterinarians who exhibit trait perfection perfectionism are more prone to distress during triggering stressful events. Not only that, but individuals in general with perfectionism are more likely to experience depression. When things don't go well compared to those who do not. So if you can aim to set realistic standards for yourself to accept practice that is good enough rather than perfect. That's a great place to start.

The second thing that you can do to foster your mental health as an individual is to practice self-care. So when it comes to practicing self-care, if you think about the 8 dimensions of Wellness, there is something that you can do within each of those Wellness dimensions that will boost your mental health. So when it comes to self-care for the physical domain. Taking time off to recover from illness or injury is going to help your mental health for spiritual self-care, writing in a gratitude journal every day will help mental health.

For emotional self-care, having a regular appointment with a mental health provider will help your mental health and intellectual self-care. Listening to a podcast once a week, especially if that is an educational podcast or just an uplifting podcast, something that is going to boost your happiness and your mental health from a financial self-care perspective, meeting with a financial planner is going to help you improve your mental health.

From social self-care perspective, planning a weekly zoom or FaceTime or walk or coffee date with a close friend or family member will be incredibly beneficial for your mental health with regards to occupational self-care, that's the self-care that you do at work. Committing to taking at least one break per shift, even if it's just 10 minutes, will help your mental health.

And for your environmental self-care, tidying up clutter from your workplace or home every day is going to be beneficial. Now you might think, well, what does tidying up have to do with my mental health? Well, there's a lot of research to demonstrate that our environment has a big impact on our mental health. In fact, there's research that shows those who live in more cluttered environments are more likely to experience depression, so making time to clutter declutter your environment is a great way to. Ensure that your mental health is prioritized as well. 

Now the third strategy for fostering mental health among individuals is to exercise regularly. There is so much research that demonstrates that exercise reduces symptoms of stress, fatigue, low self-esteem, and social withdrawal. And there's a lot of research to demonstrate, too, that exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood so whatever exercise you enjoy is the one that you want to do for as little as 10 minutes during the day, or more than 30 minutes. Whatever it is that you can do every day is going to help your mental health and well-being.

The four strategies for fostering mental health among individuals is to prioritize sleep. So we know based on research, that sleep deprivation can induce or exacerbate mental illness. So to help improve your sleep hygiene, you want to make sure that you are getting outside, or at least exposing yourself to outdoor light.

For a minimum of 30 minutes every day exercising, ideally for 30 minutes every day, avoiding caffeine within about six to seven hours of bedtime so that you can fall asleep at night and avoiding alcohol within one or two hours of bed time so that you can get into those deep stages of sleep before bedtime, it's important that you have geared down enough with your bedtime ritual so that you do feel ready for bed and if you're someone who ends up watching repeated episodes on Netflix or your favorite streaming service over and over and over, you are also going to want to set an alarm for bedtime. And of course, there is important evidence to demonstrate that keeping technology out of the bedroom is really important for improving our ability to fall asleep and only using the bed for sleep or intimacy. So not texting, scrolling, chatting with your partner, playing with your pets, and doing other things in the bedroom is also going to help ensure that when you do get into bed.

That your body and mind will be ready for bed And the fifth tip that I want to share with you with regards to fostering mental health as an individual, is to practice mindfulness. So mindfulness is this ability to focus our awareness on our immediate or present experience. And there's a lot of research to demonstrate that mindfulness reduces anxiety and depression symptoms.

I know for me, speaking personally, mindfulness has been transformative in managing my anxious thoughts and helping me to recover from depressive episodes and I am a daily meditator, so I use the Insight Timer app. There are lots of different apps that you can download to guide you through meditations daily. You can also incorporate other formal mindfulness practices into your life, such as yoga, walking, running, and even mindful activities around the house.

So, I would be remiss not to also share in this episode strategies for fostering mental health from a leadership perspective and the two things that I want to mention are limiting workplace contributions to burnout and also nurturing psychological health in safety. So, there's a lot of research that demonstrates that our environment at work can play a big role in our mental health, and we know that Burnout and depression are very closely related to one another, and so for the leaders who are listening to this episode, I want you to pay careful attention to the different contributors to burnout in the workplace. These include our team members not feeling like they have control over the work that they do. Having an overly demanding workload.

Not feeling recognized for their work. Not having clear expectations for themselves and their work. Working in a toxic environment with unresolved conflict. Working in a workplace where their values are not aligned and working where they feel that there are insufficient resources such as technology, staffing or other equipment. So if there's anything that you can do to address these contributors to burnout, I urge you to do that knowing that they will also serve the mental health of your team members.

And when I mentioned nurturing psychological safety, again, this is the recognition that our employee psychological health is directly related to the psychological harm that might happen in the workplace. So psychological harm can happen because of an unhealthy workplace culture or not knowing what their expectations are, having high psychosocial demands on team members. For example, team members are being asked to do things that they're not trained to do and having an absence of work life balance.

So one of the very small ways that you can help as a leader to nurture psychological health and safety is to encourage conversations around distressing events. So you can do this by holding team debriefings. And I will link to a handout to help you with that in the show notes. But essentially, there's a lot of research.

To demonstrate that in healthcare settings, using a team debriefing can help to reduce the difficult or distressing emotions associated with challenging situations in the workplace. This helps to normalize emotional and allows team members to learn coping strategies from each other. So that is just one thing that you can do as a leader once again to help foster mental health in the workplace. So that's it for this episode of reviving that mad. I hope you found this information helpful. Whether you are a veterinarian, another veterinary team member or a leader.

In your veterinary practice, there are strategies here for you as an individual and for you as a team to support your mental health and also to help to reduce stigma in the workplace if you enjoyed this episode, If I could please ask you a favor to take a minute to send this link to a friend or a colleague who might also benefit. And if you could please subscribe to the episodes so that you get the new episodes as soon as they drop, that would be very helpful as.

For links to any of the resources that I share or for additional assessments, blog posts, handouts, or posters related to veterinary, mental health, and well-being, please visit our new website, revivingvetmed.com. If you have questions related to this episode or suggestions for future episodes, please e-mail us.

At info@revivingvetmed.com.

Before I go, I want to thank my amazing assistant Jamie for producing this episode and you, of course, for listening through to the end until next time. Take care of yourself and your mental health. Bye now.