Thank you for clicking my fundraising page!
it means a lot to me that you clicked to help prevent suicide in veterinary professionals.
If you know me, you know that I am very passionate about mental health awareness. Ever since I was a child, I was bullied. There were some days I felt absolutely hopeless and hated going to school. I kept thinking "it'll get better, right?" Well, over time, it did! Once I started college, I found that people weren't so mean anymore. It felt like I had entered an entire new world! Through the years, I tried to find what it was that I truly wanted to do with my life, and then I fell right into the lap of veterinary medicine, and all it had to offer. I fell head over heels with the profession. Helping animals? Educating people on how to take care of their fur babies? Sign me up!
This year I celebrated my thirteenth year in the profession, and I can tell you from personal experience, it has not been all sunshine and rainbows. I found out that people were still mean. I found out that people weren't like me and didn't dedicate their entire lives to their animals. I found out that convenience euthanasia's were an actual thing.
When people think veterinary medicine, they think, "playing with puppies and kittens all day long". Well, somedays are like that, yes. But there are so many other things that people do not see. There is depression, anxiety, compassion fatigue, burn out. Suffering from depression, and anxiety while working in veterinary medicine is a whirlwind. Throw in people yelling at you over things that are out of your control, animals that are trying to bite you, working without a break somedays, working more than 9-10 hours a day, assisting with sick animals that don't always make it, standing in the room while one of your beloved patients is being euthanized because they are just too sick, and it is time to let them go. Seeing their parents cry and crying with them...it is sometimes entirely too much. Personally, I have burned out so many times I can't even remember in the thirteen years I have been doing this. There have been so many times I have fallen, and I have wanted to not get up. Thankfully, I have a great support system, and after my last suicide attempt almost two years ago, I decided to make my entire life outside of veterinary medicine educating people on mental illness.
The world needs to know about this crisis. The mental health crisis within the veterinary field is growing exponentially. With COVID, there are so many more animals to take care of, and not enough staff. We are burning out. We are tired. We are trying.
We are calling for help.
NOMV aims to transform the status of mental wellness within our profession so that we can survive and thrive through education, resources, and support.
Please consider donating.
Thank you!
