Mental AWAREness

 Growing up I can't say I was never really exposed to a lot about mental awareness or even people who had mental problems. I learned about my family history as I got older and knew that depression, anxiety and, adhd were in the family. No shame about that. I am in my 30's now and thankfully have yet to experience any of that enough, where medication is needed. As I ventured out into the world and met more people, some of them did have problems; social anxiety, anxiety, ocd, bipolar, depression , addiction etc. I learned more about certain issues and how it impacted their lives and how they tried to cope with it. 

Going into the veterinary field I knew, relatively, that it was not all fun and games but I did not realize how bad it really was. Not only is this field in the top dangerous fields to work in but it also has some of the highest suicide rates of any profession. I can say that is not something to be proud of. The toxicity, the burnout, the lack of pay/benefits, compassion fatigue, the horror stories etc. I follow a lot of vet related groups on Facebook and I have never read such horrible things in my life than I have on those forums. Topics include; atrocious clients, horrible management and coworkers, deeply saddening cases of neglect and stupidity on these poor animals. I find myself extremely lucky to have not had to deal with such toxic environments. I have a wonderful work family. Ive only worked a couple places and sure they aren't perfect, every place has its pros and cons but nothing like the things ive read. 

This field has slowly become more aware of how important mental health is but we still aren't even close and I don't know if it will ever get there, I would like to think it would. People are literally mentally breaking down and staring at a Euthasol bottle thinking how easy it could be, a coworker walking into the treatment room finding their fellow tech on the floor dead because they drank a bottle of iso or the veterinarian who goes home and overdoses on the controlled bottle of drugs they stole from the lock box at work because one more horrible client said you are killing my pet, you don't care, you are just in it for the money and it finally broke them completely. THIS IS NOT OKAY and yet it continues and covid has increased it ten fold and just made things worse. And not only mentally it effects us but physically takes a toll on us too, the amount of mental stress wrecks havoc on your body along with everything else we have to literally fight or be in the utmost worst positions for our body but we would do anything for your pet because WE DO CARE. We certainly aren't doing it for the money. Most techs work many jobs just to barely keep afloat, even with whatever discounts we have we still can barely afford our own pets so don't think its any easier for us. We still have to go to ER's and pay full price if we don't work at one. We don't get discounts everywhere we go. 

When i left the first place i worked at; i was feeling burnout and horrible anxiety. I thought i was actually going to have to go on medications. I was tired all the time, i didn't really want to do much, every time i heard louder than normal noises my body would just react in fight or flight like i was an unsocialized dog scared of every little noise. I would just get random panic attacks and i didn't have that drive to go to work like i had when i first started. I made the change to a different clinic  for a little bit which helped a lot and i have no regrets about that. I was able to get back on track and vet tech schooling.

I would do anything for my fellow work family right now. If they need a mental break i got your back. STOP FEELING BAD for taking the day off or calling out sick or leaving for another clinic. if the staff wants to make you feel like shit, that's on them and they are shit. NO ONE should ever make you feel bad for putting yourself first when thing's aren't okay or when you just need a break or a change. We put every ounce of ourselves into our job and we, a lot of times, lose ourselves and forget that its okay to step back and take care of ourselves. FUCK that management, those techs or doctors, or clients that make you feel less of a human being for doing that. We need to relearn this and need to advocate that its okay to take a lunch or when you go home you don't go on your computer and do work or call needy clients after hours about their doodle's allergy problem for the upteenth time. It can wait until tomorrow. Walk away, schedule in breaks so YOU DON'T break. Force yourself to get out of the office for lunch even if its to sit in your car or a quick walk or listen to a funny podcast, read a book, turn your brain off. I learned from a great doctor how important it is to set boundaries for yourself and remember to also have fun or else it will bring you down.

If you wonder why most of us end up with a sick/morbid sense of humor sometimes in this field its because we do it to try and keep ourselves from falling apart. If we let every single horrible sad case get to us it will not end well. Burnout is real and its getting worse. There aren't enough techs in this field right now and we are struggling hardcore and a lot of people don't understand that. Don't complain about wait times at the ER for your dogs ear infection that's been going on for 5 days because the pet inside being helped is in cardiac arrest. Where would you rather be now? SO many nasty people in this world and Covid certainly brought out the colorful side of a lot of people. We work 12+ days and still go home and “work”, either thinking about your pet, or thinking how can we make more money so I can feed myself or pay the electricity it’s just never ending. Can’t afford to take a break. 

We need to be listened to. We don't want one more. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.