Wellness Committee
The purpose of this Committee is to improve Council’s role in supporting the members of the Veterinary and Para-veterinary professions as well as students and training institutions and we undertake that our registrees’ details will be kept confidential at all times.
The SAVC is currently in the process of exploring different avenues to provide wellness services to its registrees and staff members. As the process is still on-going, herewith find an interim link for the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG). SADAG offers free online confidential support. If you are experiencing anxiety or depression kindly access their website.
SAVA also has a stress management hotline. Details are below. The SAVC Wellness Committee encourages all veterinary and para-veterinary professionals to get in touch with SADAG and the SAVA hotline, if they experience any form of mental distress.
Feedback on wellness initiatives will be communicated in due course.
For any queries please send an email to Chester Magardie at hr@savc.org.za
WELLNESS WEBINAR: 30 SEPTEMBER 2024, 12:00 – 13:00
Building your Resilience: Master the art of bouncing forward
Discover practical tools and strategies to thrive beyond adversity
Speaker: Dr Monica van Niekerk, Psychologist
Chairperson
Sr Erika Bornman
Members
Dr Princess Moswa-Kato
Prof Nenene Qekwana
Dr Alfred Kgasi
Are you despondent/ do you suffer from stress or do you have colleagues who do? – Do not disregard it:
TALK to someone: sorrow shared is sorrow halved.
Get HELP sooner rather than later.
Get to know the RAIN technique (see article by Julie Squires below) to:
- Recognise what you are feeling: sometimes we just need to stop and say to ourselves “What am I feeling in this moment?” – just naming it can bring a sense of freeing.
- Allow, accept & acknowledge: the feeling won’t let up until you actually feel it so why not just do it now? You can handle it.
- Investigate: “What am I making this mean?”. When we can be curious without judging we can see that our thinking is often misconstrued.
- Non-identification: realise the thoughts and feelings are not YOU. You can literally step back and watch them from afar. Don’t believe everything you think.
INDULGE yourself: read the Anonymous Client letter posted by Dr Andy Roark:
“At any given moment, some pet is frolicking around because of you. Because you gave them their early vaccination. Because you saved them after an accident. Because you caught their kidney failure in time..…maybe being a vet is a little bit like being a mom, in that your work is so crucial it becomes taken for granted that you’ll just give and give of yourself, always. That’s not fair.”
