Veterinary professionals are more likely to suffer from anxiety and burnout than the general population.

Workshops will tackle psychological problems in the veterinary profession.

The Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) and VN Futures have announced new training workshops on self-compassion and anxiety. The sessions will be held in March and April of this year.

With veterinary professionals more likely to suffer from mental health problems such as anxiety and burnout than the general population, the training aims to help participants better understand their mental health and develop effective coping strategies.

The workshops are open to anyone in the profession and will each cost £15 per person.

The announced dates are:

• Tackling Anxiety. Wednesday 15 March, 10am-1pm (Guildford)
  
• Self-compassion. Wednesday 12 April, 10am-1pm (Wolverhampton)
  
• Tackling Anxiety. Wednesday 12 April, 2pm-5pm (Wolverhampton).
  

Lisa Quigley, initiative manager at MMI, said: “Using insights gathered from previous joint VN Futures and MMI ventures, we are proud to be expanding our training collaboration to provide targeted support which has the capacity to actively make a tangible difference to the professions.

“When it comes to mental health, wellbeing, and the curation of positive workplace cultures, there is no quick fix – it takes time and dedication from all involved. We are grateful for the support of VN Futures as we work together to help create this positive shift.”

MMI, run by the RCVS, has a long-standing working relationship with VN Futures. In recent years they have undertaken joint research into the mental health of veterinary nurses, run an online student wellbeing discussion forum, and collaborated on civility and psychological safety training sessions.

“Like our civility and psychological safety training, our new anxiety and self-compassion workshops are open to everyone in the veterinary team and are designed to provide people with the skills needed to create long lasting, sustainable positive change,” said Jill Macdonald, project lead at VN Futures.

She added: “We hope delegates will find the sessions useful and will apply the skills they have learned to support themselves and those around them both now and in the future.”