VetLed HALT Campaign: championing everyday wellbeing in practice | Veterinary Videos & Podcasts

Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to one of our lunch and learn meetings. We're very fortunate today to be talking about the vet led Halt campaign, which is all about championing everyday wellbeing in practise.

Obviously, as you know, something that's very close to webinar vets' hearts as well with all of the mindfulness training and positive mental attitude training that we've done. Very fortunate today to have Dan Tiffy on the line who's gonna be speaking to us. Dan works at EE and he's really Coming to that led with a huge amount of experience as an international athlete, he was a rower with Team GB for a couple of years, 2002 to 2004.

He's also now a sports coach in rowing, . A pilot for for one of the airlines, and then very much involved in, in training people, particularly in the, in the airline industry, you know, that the airline industry is very, very good at checklists, very good at when there are mistakes made, learning from those, which is really probably quite different from the way we are in veterinary and medi medical practise, so. Dan brings all of that experience into into this webinar this this afternoon.

He's also done courses in mindfulness based cognitive therapy, positive psychology, which we talk about a lot. And has worked closely with a team of coaches and psychologists in developing this vet led Hulk campaign, which is really all about how do we improve just that general wellbeing, how do we improve the mood in practise, how do we make practises just a really happy, friendly places to work in. And Dan is actually the head of evidence and insights at Vet LED, so it's very much evidence based.

The webinar is part of this wider VetTE Hulk campaign which is designed to support and engage veterinary team members. You know, who are really interested in improving that everyday wellbeing in their practise. Dan's gonna cover the whole principles during the webinar and the associated human factors.

How some simple steps and strategies can really improve key elements to well-being, and there'll be obviously benefits to yourself, but also to the people in your practise and also your clients, maybe even some of the patients as well, who knows, . The whole campaign is very much part of VETE's ongoing mission to support safe and effective veterinary care, because if we are not happy, if we're tired, of course, that's when mistakes can be made. They're really passionate about this, this is very much a purpose-led campaign to try and make things better, helping everyone in, in the veterinary community to feel good about themselves.

We have this fantastic job and yet sometimes we feel a bit disengaged from it. And so I'm really looking forward to the webinar with Dan. Over to you, Dan.

I'm looking forward to it. I know we've got a lot of people on the line today, so really looking forward to the webinar. Thanks, thank you very much, Anthony, and thank you also everyone for taking the time to share this webinar with us.

As he says, we are really passionate about this topic, and it's really important that as many people, get involved with promoting wellbeing in practise. So we're really, really delighted that you can all get involved with us today. Just a little bit about why wellbeing is so important to me.

As Anthony said, my background from sport and from aviation, and for me, I, I really do see well-being as a foundation. I don't see it as a nice to have or, or something that happens as a result of being good at what you do or doing, doing something well. I see it as the starting point, and that's something of Vele that we're really, really passionate about, using it as a foundation.

As a, as a springboard to, to then go and achieve. If you feel and function well, then you'll do well as a result. And so I've applied that since I've been working with vet I applied that to veterinary science.

I'm fascinated with, with how that works, in this context. So I said, I'm really, really pleased to be able to share that with you, today. So just a little bit about what we can expect, from this, from this.

So I'm just having a slight technical glitch because, the, there we go. What to expect, I hope you can now see the page I expect you'll be able to see. What we can expect.

So, primarily it's about wellbeing. So I want to introduce the importance and the implications of wellbeing, be a little bit more generally. But also, I'm gonna talk about Holt.

Now I know that some of you may have already signed up to our campaign and so we'll know a little bit already about what it is and you know, what it stands for. But also I understand there will be some of you here that maybe don't haven't seen it. Before, I haven't signed up to that.

So what I want to do is go into a bit more detail for those of you that have seen it, but also explain it in a way for those of you that aren't aware. So for those of you thinking, what the hell is hope? No idea, it just sounds like an abrupt word to stop.

That's, you know, I totally understand and we will go into it, the what, the why, the how and the background. And more importantly, what we can then do, what we can do to help ourselves feel better, to function better as a foundation for, performing at our best in practise. And then looking at a little bit of feedback from the campaign so far, we have had people communicating things that have worked, things that haven't worked so well for them, but also some questions at the end from anyone that's been involved, or any, any questions at all about wellbeing or about the whole campaign.

So that's what we can expect a little bit from this. I'd just like to start by talking about everyday wellbeing, because that's what this is about. So just by looking at this here, 2/3 of veterinary sick days in the UK are a direct result of work-related pressure or stress.

This is some research from the BNG, in March last year, and the interesting thing here is that research for the general population was that it's 1/3 of sick days are from work-related stress. So with veterinary and actually healthcare professionals as well. It was 2/3, so what does that say to us, and I'm sure it won't be a surprise.

It sounds, it's things that you, that a lot of people know that there is, there is pressure, there is stress, there are things that can affect how we feel and function, but. Actually, it's what we're trying to do today is talk about the everyday things that how all this, all these seemingly small things can add together to make a big difference. 2 in 5 employees are working, sorry, only 2 in 5 are working at peak performance.

So again, this isn't necessarily people that are in sort of in crisis, this is people who are functioning, but they're not thriving, and thriving is a word, certainly from a positive psychology perspective we really like, because it suggests that you're, you're not just getting by, you're not just, not just doing things, you're not just, just, just ticking along, you're really, really thriving and you're, you're giving the best to for yourself, for, for the patients you treat, and for the people you're working with. So that's really, really important to us. Another one here, workload is a major cause of stress, depression and anxiety.

Again, it probably doesn't sound that surprising, but, Health and Safety England found, that, 44% of cases, for people who, in the working people in the UK suffering from stress, depression, anxiety is because of workload. And in fact, it's the single biggest cause from the research that they did. So what does that mean, again, sometimes we, we'll discuss workload a bit a bit later on, sometimes.

It might seem like there's nothing you can do about work though, but actually sometimes by considering it a little bit more carefully, there is. And certainly when it comes to the teamwork, the communication, and how we can support each other, what can seem like, something which is out of our control suddenly becomes a little bit more controllable. And that big source of, of, of, of, of stress, can actually be managed in a way that can make a really big difference.

So as I said, it's everyday stuff, all these things that can add together, and we're really passionate about that. So, what I'd like to talk about, this well-being win win. So our campaign encourages you to focus on your physical and mental wellbeing.

So it's both. Often we talk about the mental wellbeing, but it's the physiology actually underpins everything. So physical is really important too.

But the win-win is this, it's not only better for your health, and that's, it's, it's. Paramount that it is because your long-term health is more important than anything. But actually, by feeling better and functioning better, you offer more to your colleagues and patients.

I think sometimes self-care can, can seem almost selfish, can seem almost like I can't justify prioritising myself because I work in a job where I should be helping people. But actually, Putting yourself first enables you to help people more effectively, so it's not at all selfish. It's actually absolutely fundamental, it's, and it's absolutely essential.

But of course it's also better for you. So it's this win-win, we like that as a sort of a positive foundation for what we're doing. There's a quote here that I like, and it's a bit long, so I won't read it to you, but just have a little read of this and then I'll, I'll just go through some of the key points.

So this quote's actually from Sean Aker. I don't know if any of you have read any of his, his books. He's done some really interesting research at Harvard.

And it's mostly some around wellbeing generally, but most of it is around happiness. And so what they found is that this decade of research in Harvard actually found that people perform better when they're happy. Again, are we surprised to hear that?

Probably not. But the reason I put it in bold there, the accuracy on tasks by 19%, is because that actually refers to doctors and their likelihood of achieving correct diagnosis. So the reason that I like that is because although it's a slightly different context, I think it's a way in which we can relate it to what you're doing in, in the veterinary working environment, but.

Happiness is, whilst it's not, it's not an exhaustive description for well-being, you know, happiness is known as subjective wellbeing in, in that field. And so it is very, it's a very, very integral part. But the thing that I really like about what Sean Acer, how he describes happiness, is he describes it as the starting point.

Because I think it's easy to imagine that I will be happy. If I'm successful, if I'm good at my job, if, if, if, what he, what he suggests and what his research suggests is actually happiness is the starting point. So if you're happy, you will then achieve more and it's that way around, not expecting it to happen as a result.

And I really like that approach and so what I, what I like to do is use that as a sort of a foundation for, for our approach to wellbeing in general. So as I said, some of, some of his works really, really interesting, and he's done a really interesting book called The Happiness Advantage, which I highly recommend for anyone that's not seen it before. So now specifically on to Holt.

So Holt, for those you, some of you said will have seen it, some of you, may not have heard about it before, but it's a simple self-care tool, as well as being, a word that sort of suggests that you stop abruptly, actually, in this sense we're not, we don't, we don't mean it in that sense. It's actually an acronym, first and foremost. And it stands for hungry, thirsty, angry, anxious, late, lonely and tired.

Now Holt in this context has been used in many contexts for decades as a reminder of key aspects that could leave us vulnerable. And in our environment, this applies to how we physically and mentally feel and function. So this has a subsequent impact on what we can offer the patients, colleagues, and of course the customers as well.

So, the fundamental bit here is that it's a reminder. It's a reminder to keep these elements at a raised level of consciousness, and this will give us a better chance of pausing to notice what's going on. And I think that's the first step.

It's got to be the first step, noticing. It's not necessarily a solution, just because you notice that you're hungry or or rushing or tired, that isn't itself in a solution, but it has to be the first step. So this acronym, although these are aspects that I'm sure most of you or all of you are absolutely aware of that actually being well nourished, managing emotional states such as anger.

And being well rested is better. Sometimes it's actually not that easy. And that's the thing is that actually, although you can know things and sometimes be aware of them, sometimes we need a bit of help.

And actually having a tool like this just to raise that awareness and to help pause to notice these things is, is really, really helpful. So it's an acronym, it's a, it places the spotlight on the physical, mental elements, commonly affecting wellbeing and of course your performance. So it's a reminder to pause and I like this expression to check in with ourselves.

How am I doing? Where am I? So that's what we mean by halt, and as I said a second ago, it's all about awareness.

The campaign has a lot of information about Holt and specific strategies for sort of improving our physical and mental wellbeing, but the starting point, the most important aspect is that of awareness. So we talk about awareness in the sense of noticing your own signs. We talk about it in the sense of taking breaks, and we'll talk about that in a bit more detail later, because it might sometimes seem like it's not possible to take breaks.

But actually, with an awareness of, of what we can do to maybe plan and manage things, and an awareness of, of, of how much better you will function and what, how much more you can offer to your, to your patients. And your colleagues, actually, that can make a difference. So an awareness of that, an awareness of the impact of communication and support from, from everyone around you, an awareness of the part you play, and this again is something I'll talk about later.

But really, the, the, the, the, the key to, to, sustaining well-being in practise is to create a culture that supports it. And the most important thing there is all of you seeing the significance of the part you play. In creating and sustaining that culture.

And the simple steps together, individually some of this stuff might not seem groundbreaking, some of it might seem quite simple, quite obvious, but actually it's quite easy for that reason sometimes to overlook the significance that when you add them all together, make a big difference. So it all starts with awareness. Little bit about the background to Holt.

So Holt, er, in terms of an acronym that's used for, for wellbeing, there is a Halt campaign running in healthcare, the guys in Saint Thomas, NHS Foundation Trust. Now one of the doctors at, guys in Saint Thomas is, is called, is a guy called Doctor Mike Farquhar, and he's one of the, leading sleep, consultants and researchers, . And he was concerned, with some of the states of well well-being, some of the of the colleagues, guys in Saint Thomas.

Particularly, it started when I think he noticed that people were having problems on the way home. There were, you know, there's a few accidents of, of some of the, colleagues on their way home after a night shift. And as a sleep researcher, this, this sort of led him to, to look into it a little bit.

And he started a campaign which was really, had a really, really simple message, which was literally halt, take a break. And he wanted to just encourage people to just consider that in part of their, as part of their working lives. So and, and along with some of the benefits.

And we really liked this message, and although it was very simple, it's something that might sound really obvious, what they actually found is it does make a difference, because just because something's obvious doesn't necessarily mean. That we can, that we always, sort of follow that, all the time. So, in his words, he, he, you know, he, he said, that breaks are not a luxury, especially when doing busy or intense night work.

So regular rest is essential to ensure safe, effective patient care to the best of our ability. As I said, we really like that, and we've been in contact with them. He's offered some really, really, interesting insights into their campaign and how it's worked, and they're running it for a second year now.

So we launched ours, last month on National Sleep Day. In sort of, you know, in, in, alignment with theirs. And Holt has also been used in, in other, walks of life.

It's, been used by psychologists and, and healthcare professionals as a, as just a tool to raise awareness for what can leave us vulnerable. So it's also been used, as I said by psychologists when they've been helping people recover from certain conditions. Because whilst hunger, thirst, anger, anxiety, rushing, being late and lonely and tired, aren't exhaustive.

They're very, very, they've they've been found and they've stood the test of time to be very, very good indicators as a starting point to address what might be causing a problem. And in fact, then they, . And Medical Protection Society have used it quite regularly as a recommendation when they've been investigating doctors that have made mistakes.

So that's a little bit about the background to Holt. And just to sort of summarise that, I'll quote another quote from Doctor Farquhar, unless critically ill patients require your immediate attention. Patients were always better served by clinicians who have had appropriate periods of rest.

And I think that applies to well-being in general. So being better served by, in, in our, in our case, by veterinary professionals who have looked after themselves, who put themselves first and can then offer the best, the best, care. I think the first bit's really important as well, unless critically ill patients require your immediate attention.

You know, one of the things he's been very clear about is there are some times when, actually, although, someone might be tired or need a break, actually, especially in an emergency cases, that sometimes that's not possible and it should never be at the detriment to patient safety or, or, anything like that. But that's his sort of, overriding message there. So Big question really, why is this so important for our veterinary community?

And when I say this, I suppose I'm talking about the whole campaign itself, but I'm also talking about, about everyday wellbeing in general. So just to go into it a little bit, we talked about it, briefly already, but for you, and, you know, to be healthier, to be calmer, to be more alert and to be more energised. And that involves all the things we've talked about and within hope, in terms of rest, in terms of nutrition, hydration, your emotional consideration, and they're vital for your health.

But primarily, that's good for you. But also, as we talked about this win-win, it's also good for your patients because we'll talk a bit about the research, improves your performance, reduces your likelihood of error, by prioritising your physical and mental state. And for your team.

When you're at your best, you're also more supportive, you're more cooperative, we work better with the people around us, which means that it's a, it's a win for everyone, and this is why it's so important. So I'm gonna go into a few of those in a little bit more detail now. So in terms of the benefits for you.

Start off by talking about the impacts of health on, you know, of chronic stress and cumulative fatigue. Now, one of, our, our colleagues at Bettle, Doctor Annie Cambes our psychologist, and she's written some really interesting pieces which we posted on social media in the build up to our whole campaign, and we're also going to post them, subsequently in the next few days on our website as blogs. And in terms of chronic stress, what she, what she talks about is how, anger and anxiety, some of the content of Holt, they're emotional, sorry, they are, their emotional states.

And they can be very intense, they can be quite intrusive and at times they can be quite confusing, but they actually serve a purpose, they all serve a purpose, and chief amongst that was originally survival. But the, the problem with, stress hormones is that they can actually temporarily hijack our brain and our brains keep sending that same signal until we notice and respond to what our brain perceives as this really important survival message, even if it's actually got nothing to do with survival, which in this day and age it really does. But if it's ignored, the signal keeps being sent, and like a fire alarm, it just rings continually, and it gets louder and louder.

And the implications of this signal saying stuck on. Can be really significant, and they can affect many aspects of physical and mental well-being. And as I'm sure, if you're aware, the research into the effect of this chronic ongoing stress, in terms of, it can impair your immune system, increased blood pressure, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and, and etc.

And cumulative fatigue, some, some advice from the NHS recently has suggested very similar things, similar findings that actually, when, you know, when we're very tired over a long period of time, it has a similar impact on our long term health that it does when you're. When you've got long term stress. So this is really really important for you.

And the diet, nutrition and hydration is really important too. I, I, there's some interesting research from, the British Journal of Health Psychology. It talks about how healthy food can actually, and this is based on research that shows it, it boosts our concentration, but also our energy levels.

It can reduce levels of stress, and in fact, evidence that suggests, that fruit and vegetables, actually, have made people, or evidence that they feel happier and the The oxidants in them can minimise bodily inflammation and enhance mood. So, you know, again, stuff that you're, that that probably doesn't, isn't that surprising, but sometimes just hearing it again, talking about it in a bit more detail can just deepen that, that awareness of how important this stuff is. And I like this one too, effective communication on health and wellbeing.

There's some interesting research from the University of Arizona about people with, when, when people communicate well and they feel a a part of a community, in, in their social life. They, they actually benefits their physical and mental health. So, again, for you, if we just looking at some of these aspects of, of, of health and wellbeing, this is, this is really, really important stuff for your patients, .

So what we're talking about here is, and this is a phrase that we really like and we use a lot, ensure your own oxygen mask is fitted first. So from an aviation perspective, this er er this makes a lot of sense to me. And as I'm sure you know, when you go on an aircraft, the beginning of every flight, the safety demonstration.

You're told that if there's a depressurization, that you, you must make sure your own oxygen mask is fitted before helping anybody else. And that's for a really good reason, because, of course, they want you to be able to help people around you if they're struggling, but they know that you're going to be absolutely no good if you're, unconscious yourself because you didn't get your own mask on. And that again, it sounds quite obvious that, of course, if you're not conscious, you can't help other people.

But metaphorically, the same thing applies, and sometimes it can be hard to, to actually justify prioritising our own self-care and our own wellbeing. But actually, it's, it's almost, I think there's some really interesting, some nice quotes. There's one from Gandhi I saw once that .

That actually, you know, sort of prioritising our own well-being and happiness is actually the most selfless thing that we can, that we can do, because it means that we're then in a position to help others. So, just a bit of other information about this, I quite like these, bits of research. Effective break provides psychological detachment and experience pleasant emotions.

And what that means is that, one study showed that, positive emotions reverse the effects of work tasks, and what they do is they increase blood flow to the areas of our brain which we use to focus. So by actually having a break, even just by spending less than one minute looking at nature, for example, can improve employee performance after their return to work. So I, I find those kind of little bits of snippets of information really quite, really quite nice, because it, it, it confirms that, yeah, this is good, you know, it's doing something which is good for you is also good for the people you're treating too.

And again, diet and hydration, we're back to, to actually, you know, if you give your body what it needs, you're able to provide more. And again, the same study that I was talking about before, showed that people are more creative, and, and have better focus and better, improved memory when they've been eating more healthily. Of course, hydration is a really big one, and it's been shown that 2% dehydration can impair your, your attention.

Your memory skills and your ability to focus. So, again, stuff that we already know, but it's sometimes really important to highlight how important this stuff really is. And for your team, .

One of the things we really try to encourage is that it is, it is about taking breaks. Now our our whole campaign isn't all about taking breaks, as I said, sometimes it's not possible, but what we're trying to do is promote. Communication amongst the team, which means that actually, if possible, breaks are taken.

But the, the main thing is that it's done in a way which is fair and which is safe. We talked about it being, it should never be at the detriment to to patient safety. This provides an opportunity to work together, it opens up communication channels between the whole team and, and helps you really feel like you're supporting each other.

You know, so that you're, you're, you know, sort of demonstrating your commitment from everyone, to, to, to, towards the well-being. So I think that's, that's really important to feel like you're all, you're all in it together. And again, we're back to diet and hydration.

It affects not only, it affects how your, your health, it affects your ability to perform in terms of what you can offer your, your patients, but it also Affect how we interact with others. So, you know, what they found was that the more healthy food people consumed in the same study, the happier, the more engaged they tend to be. And that vegetables also contain vital nutrients, fostering, the production of dopamine, which is, plays a key role in the experience of motivation engagement.

So, again, it, it will improve how you interact with other people. So, big benefits for yourself, for your patients, for the people you're working with. And this is the thing is that I, I certainly when I hear a lot of this, I see a lot of this, I think, well that sounds like common sense to me.

You know, I know that if I look after myself better, I feel better, and therefore I, I, I function better. But the problem with this, and this is this thing with being, with being human is that we don't always necessarily. Act in a way which is consistent with our intention or our skills or our knowledge, we might know something, but we don't necessarily always do.

And that, that is a nature of being human. So to go into that in a little bit more detail. We asked the question, why is Holt so easy to ignore?

Why is looking after ourselves and putting ourselves first? Actually, not always, although we, we might deep down know it's, it's a really good idea. But, so we might know the importance of addressing how, however, this goes back to our brain's evolution, and it hasn't really caught up with our working environment.

And if you can see the two pictures on the screen on the left, we've got the world that our, our body and our brain has evolved to live in. So our brains and bodies, and depending on the research you look at, hasn't really changed much in the last 100 to 200,000 years. But the world we, we, we operate in, what we, the, the tasks we're asking, that exact same equipment that, that, that brain and that body to do have changed incomparably.

And what we used to do is we used to very much focus on what we call immediate returns, so hunting, gathering, and surviving. So if you needed to eat, you would, you would hunt and you would kill and you would eat. So the, the return you got from that process was immediate.

If you had to survive because there was something that was threatening your life or your family's life, you would do something, whether it was run, whether it was fights, it would be an immediate return. And that was generally how our lives worked, and our brains are actually are wired to work in that way. So when you're now working in the environment on the right, the same body, the same brain, it means that actually we are more inclined towards.

achieving the things that give us an immediate return. So when we've got a list of tasks to do, when we've got a busy day, when we're very, when we're very engaged in the things that we're doing, it can be quite hard to stop and actually ask ourselves, well, actually, could I take a, you know, 5 minute break in between clients here? Because that isn't the way our brains work.

We want to do the thing that we're, that that that we've got on our to do list. We want to, we want to achieve the, the tasks that we've set out to achieve. And actually, pausing to look after ourselves isn't necessarily how our brains are wired.

So actually what we need to do is . We need to intervene with our brain's natural tendency to want to get stuff done, which can be quite hard, because in this life in 2018, everything is instantly available, the push of a button, or the swipe of a touchscreen, and it kind of exacerbates the tendency for our behaviour to seek this immediate return. And you combine this with social pressure, such as, an instance where other team members, especially leaders or managers, aren't seen to be taking breaks.

And this is when just pushing on regardless becomes the cultural norm. So we're now combining this idea of actually how our brains are, are sort of designed, why it's not necessarily always easy to, to, to follow through with these ideas that we, that we, that we sort of deep down we know about, and how that combines with the, the sort of social norms and the culture that that creates. So that's the sort of background about, about the Holt.

So what, what's this campaign going to help with? Well, in terms of our, our, what we're trying to promote with, with this Holt campaign, what's it gonna do? Well, first of all, I, we believe it's gonna deepen understanding, and I'll talk about that in a bit more detail later, but by knowing more, it increases the likelihood of our behaviour matching our origin and intention, which as I said before, isn't necessarily always the go to instinct.

Creates a common language, again this is something I'll talk about a bit more in a second, but that kind of promotes this discussion and reinforces those ideas. Simple triggers. So part of our campaign, as well as sending out some background information for practises to, to get familiar with, like the stuff we're discussing now, we also send out some posters.

And once you've, once you've discussed it in this way and, and, have a slightly raised awareness of some of these issues, having a poster is enough sometimes to act as a reminder to, to take care of ourselves. Creating new habits, all these things actually can help create habits which make it part of your daily routine, rather than Something that takes a conscious effort to look after yourselves. And over time, this helps us to overcome that instinctive desire or that, that, that that instinctive response for those immediate returns.

And cultivating a culture. Again, I'll talk about this in a minute, but going back to the guys in Saint Thomas, campaign, they wanted people to feel safe, and I like that word, safe, take a break, safe to look after yourself, self safe, if I can say it myself, safe to raise a concern. So, talking about a few of those a little bit more, deepening understanding.

There's a quote here from Doctor Joe De Spender, who does some interesting work on neuroscience and knowledge is the precursor to experience, it's something that resonated with me and I really liked it because. Understanding is something that you already have. You already have that understanding that looking after yourself, being well nourished, not being dehydrated, dealing with emotional, anxiety, being well rested.

You know all that stuff, but actually, sometimes by deepening that understanding, we, we attach a greater meaning to the importance. And research has actually shown that if we assign more meaning to something, we get better results. So, .

You know, by, by being here, joining in this discussion, by discussing these issues at work a little bit further, and by exploring it personally in your own time. You go from something being, something which is lodged in the back of your mind somewhere that you think, yeah, yeah, I know that stuff, to something which actually is, is prevalent, it's, it's, it's in your, the conscious part of your mind. It's something that is likely to actually trigger the behaviour, which means that you're more likely to look after yourself.

So the more knowledge we gain, the more inspired we are, to, to make that sort of possibility become a reality. And that's what we mean by deepening understanding, and that's why quite a lot of these points during this presentation, I'm repeating, because I think repetition is a really, really important way of actually, making these points, I said, at a raised level of, of awareness, so that, we're more likely to act accordingly or act in accordance with those intentions. Power of a common language is something I really, really believe in.

There's a paper that I found which I really enjoyed, which I've referenced there, shared language towards more effective communication. So this quote, it's incredible how creative and innovative people are when they take the time to build their relationship by developing a shared language. So if you think about it, language really shapes the world as we see it.

Language is the lens through which we see the world, but it's also the lens through which the world sees you. And so you, collectively as a community, can create a shared language for for tomorrow and for, for, for the future. And when leaders and team members speak the same language, there's a feeling of camaraderie, and relationships between them are stronger.

It also creates a sense of culture for those working within an organisation. And that's a major factor in the success of, of something, and if we think specifically about this, well-being initiative, that, that is a big factor. Team members gain a sense of identity in terms of belonging to a community, and, and this, this common language provides a sort of shorthand among the organization's community.

The way, the, the way I remember it is when I was actually at Scouts. And there were loads of common languages that united us as, as scouts, and one of the things that was repeated at every gathering is that a good scout should do a good deed every day. Now by doing this, and by going through that mantra every single time we got together, we all shared this simple phrase, so it went from just being a few words to being something which we could really identify with, and it acted as a, and it really did act as a trigger, I think.

And it must have been quite powerful because I can remember it, and it was a good 25 years ago. And so I think you, you, by creating this common language, you kind of make it, and I, I'd say inverted commas, make it a thing, make it your thing in your practise, so that when someone says something, it has an instant application or applicable meaning to your team. And it's quite individual when you, having, having been through some of this, this, this material, having watched this or having gone through the, the whole campaign material yourself and your practise, you might be thinking.

Well, actually, yeah, halt, let's just use the word halt itself. I think that could be something we could all come, come to know so that we can all help remind each other. And instead of just being a word, it now actually has a meaning, and we can share that.

Maybe, maybe the word safe, maybe make it safe to, to to share concerns, to to plan breaks. Whatever your common language is, it's really, really important that you do that, and I think it's a, it's a really big part of all this. Cultivating culture, this is a quote from William Wang, he was a founder of Vizio, they're, they're a tech company, but I just really, it really resonated with me that everyone on the team plays an equal role.

So as, as the founder and the leader, my role is to create the way. And everyone on our team keeps the wave going. And so when we talk about culture, I think it's quite easy to imagine that culture comes from the top down and finishes there.

But that is absolutely not true. Culture is equally, comes from within and comes from the bottom up. So, yes, yes, you know, when it comes to wellbeing, if we wanted to promote a, a, a whole campaign.

Absolutely requires the support and the demonstration from leaders in that, in that team. But it's equally important for everybody, absolutely everybody, to see the value in every little thing they do. There's a phrase we quite like and it's that behaviour breeds behaviour.

So what you do has an impact on what people around you do and what and therefore what people around them will do. And that's quite powerful. So even if it's just as simple as, you know, you being prepared to.

Plan some breaks or communicate, how maybe you can, initiate a conversation about how that might work during a working day. Those small things all add together towards creating and sustaining this culture whereby wellbeing and self-care isn't, it becomes part of just a normal day to day routine rather than something which is an effort or which, you know, a few people feel like they're speaking out of turn if they dare say the word. So that's what we mean by culture and that's what we mean by your role and how you can cultivate it.

So what can we do? Well, you know, we talked a lot about the background and, and, and, and the sort of surrounding issues, but what do we actually, what are we actually suggesting here? Well, first and foremost, we're coming back to this idea of checking in with yourself.

Awareness is the first step. So we've, we've, we've said Holt is a way of identifying as a way of, as a way of pausing and noticing what could be going on. And it's absolutely essential, it's the first step, but it's not in itself a solution.

But as I said, it is absolutely the first, starting point. In terms of what we can do. So that's why we, we think Holt is a really, really good, tool for that purpose.

But then what can we do? Communicate. So what the thing with communicating is that it brings you together, and it makes, it makes things normal as a team rather than it doing, as we said earlier, it creates that culture.

One thing we would really suggest when it comes to communicating is a morning huddle. Whether the word huddle is something that, that resonates with everyone or not. But the point is, if you work in a practise that, depending on the sort of shifts that that are, that are, that are are are normal, if it's a daytime practise at the beginning of each day in the morning.

Get together and discuss workload, share concerns, plan your breaks. It might be something you already do. It might be that, you know, as a, as a practise at the moment, you already get together at the beginning of your each day, and absolutely everyone in the team gets together and, has a bit of a briefing about the day ahead.

From, from my sort of aviation perspective, I am a massive advocate for briefings. I think they're really important for lots of reasons, but if that's something you do, then make wellbeing part of that. Make it normal to talk about how maybe we can plan managing workload and and how people can have breaks.

So that's something I really, really advocate. And speaking up, again, the more people do it, the more it will be normal and the less it will, it will seem like anyone is speaking out of turn, if they say that they're concerned about your own or someone else's wellbeing, and you're concerned about the the amount you've got to do within a working day or. Or the, the, the, the shifts that you're being asked to do, and, and the, the effect of fatigue.

You're not just saying it because you're being lazy or, or don't want to do it, you're saying it because you don't think it's the best, in terms of, what you can provide for the patients and the people around you. So speaking up, it's really, really important, and, making, making that a part of the culture. But as we said, make it normal.

So rather than it being something which is out of the ordinary, make these kind of ideas. He's asking for help or offering support to other people, make it the norm rather than something which which is, which is out of turn. And listening, again, it sounds really, really simple, really obvious, but actually, especially when we're really busy, it can be really hard to actually listen.

A to yourself, and B, to your, your team members. We, we're quite, especially in a, in a sort of a profession where you're, you're, you maybe feel like you're the ones that should be providing help, it can be quite hard to sit back and actually just listen to, to, to what people's concerns are. But it's a, it's an equally important element of communication that if we had a bit more time, we'd love to talk about a bit more.

But that communication, and, bring making things a part of the team is really, really important. What else can we do? Well, empathise, and this is a word that's used a lot, and for good reason, because there's a lot of really, really good research about the positive effects it can have on our wellbeing.

But I think that sometimes the problem with it is that it's all about empathising with other people, and that is really important, but the very first thing I would say is empathise with yourself. Think about your inner dialogue because it greatly impacts your emotions and your resultant physiology. A little bit more from, some of the blogs from, from our psychologist Annie Campbell.

She says that when anxiety is keeping us awake at night, or if anger is distracting us, these are key aspects of our Holt acronym. The problem isn't that the emotion was triggered, but that most of us will not talk, acknowledge, accept and understand our emotions. So our brain keeps sending that signal until we respond.

And we talked about that alarm earlier and how that's affects chronic stress. But if we take a few seconds to ask ourselves exactly which emotions are present. And perhaps what our biggest concern is at the moment, we have a choice about how to respond.

And judgmental thoughts actually pour more stress hormones into the system. But if we attend with interest, we have the option to learn and move forward. So when it comes to your inner dialogue, we've all got it, it's inside all of us.

Do you tend to respond to, with blame or, you know, to yourself? Do you say to yourself, I shouldn't have done that, I'm really stupid, or do you maybe say to yourself, I wonder what might have led me to doing that, and that must have been quite challenging for me. So you're actually able to, in your dialogue, you can actually empathise with yourself, and I think that should be the, the, the sort of more more important sometimes in empathising with other people.

This desire to understand and move forward is constructive and it actually calms that stress response down. But others, as I said, others is really important too, and I like this expression, to step into somebody else's shoes but leave the laces undone. You're not trying to solve their problems for them.

You're not trying to come up with a solution. You're not even trying to take on, and imagine what it must be like, you're literally just associating with how they might be feeling. So you're simply offering a space for someone and saying that maybe it was frustrating, or maybe that was, maybe that was you must have felt quite isolated there.

And sometimes that's all people need and it can be a really quick way of offering support during a busy day. So empathise with yourself and with others. What else can we do?

We can plan ahead. And again, sometimes the, the, the most seemingly obvious and simple solutions really do work because the question is how many of us do? I, I, I quite often go to work and, because the food, certainly in my work environment isn't, isn't the best.

And I, and I, I know the importance, but it's really hard to remember sometimes. What works for you? How will it fit in today, you know, whilst it's, you know, getting the balance between a snack, you know, a bit of what you fancy does you good.

I really like roast chicken crisps, but actually, I know that my, my, my concentration and how I feel is going to be much better if I have maybe some nuts or a banana. And when is that gonna fit that in? Have I got, have I, have I got it in advance, or am I gonna have to go, are you gonna have to sort of find enough time to go to the shops, in which case it might not happen?

Sounds obvious, but again, sometimes a little bit of thought about it can make a big difference. And hydration. We talk about the effect of caffeine, if we have more time, we can go into that.

But actually, you know, how much are we having? And, again, balancing that, that, it's, it's really important to have something that you, that you really enjoy, but actually, it can affect how we feel, it can affect our physiology. A lot of people do have water bottles, but, you know, it's a really good way of, of a simple way of staying hydrated.

Maybe hydration can fit in with other routine tasks when you go to a certain part of the building, maybe there's a water machine or a water fountain. And again, just by thinking about it and bringing it into your conscious awareness, awareness, you, you can sometimes, it can affect how you therefore behave. Breaks, committing to breaks.

And this is a really really important one because, by planning a break, it, it can have the following benefits. So it can actually make what might initially seem like a really unrealistic workload more realistic. And some of the work can be redistributed and team members might have the chance to offer support and actually if they're having a quieter day and you're having a busier day, having that, that, that communication, that huddle at the beginning of the day.

Gives you a chance to maybe make it a bit more manageable, and then you can plan your breaks. But also once a break or a lunch is planned, I think subconsciously you're far less likely to work through because you've sort of made yourself accountable and maybe you've told other people you're gonna have that break. So by sort of creating that accountability, I think, it, it, it gives you less likelihood of of sort of just, just pushing on through regardless.

And I think subconsciously, if you know a break is coming, it can make what a difficult moment, or, or a sort of very demanding, period at work. It can just, it can just seem a little bit less difficult. It's like, you know, subconsciously, you've got light at the end of the tunnel.

So planning breaks where you can, it's, it's sometimes not easy. Sometimes the workload might make that challenging, but actually, Without that commitment, that intention. it can be very difficult.

And so we talked about workload just then, but again, is it achievable? If it's not, what can you do? Sometimes it feels like there is nothing we can do, but if we, if we, try to be a part of a culture where it's normal to raise concerns, it doesn't necessarily mean that overnight those issues are going to be solved.

But you've got a much better chance of solving them if we can actually be prepared. To, raise those concerns. And certainly, I feel very strongly about, fatigue management, because it might seem like you're getting more done by working so hard, not having breaks, but actually, it's counterproductive.

And so, trying to communicate to the people who are in a, in a place to do something about that is really important, and it might take time, but I really, really do advocate trying to, create an environment where that, where that becomes the norm. And the best use of breaks, how, how, what works for you? Some people like to be busy, some people like to be quiet, some people like to be with other people, but it's really important that you actually communicate that, because there might be an expectation that you have to be social, but, but actually if you say to people, no, I really just need some time alone.

And again, make that the norm so that people don't think you're being antisocial, they just know, oh actually I know what they're doing, they just, yeah, they're just, they're just looking after themselves, and that's OK. So planning ahead, really, really important. And what we can do in terms of planning, we just come up with this little strategy, and I think this is really important to have a little think about it.

If you've got 10 seconds, if you've got 1 minute, you've got 10 minutes, if you've got 1 hour. Now these are sort of arbitrary numbers, it could vary, it could be 20 seconds, it could be 3 minutes, it could be 15 minutes, it could be half an hour. But the point is.

If you've got some spare time, have a plan beforehand what you might do because subconsciously, knowing you have a plan for things can help when things start to feel challenging. It reduces that sort of decision fatigue, so that you've already narrowed it down to a few different things you might do, rather than having to think, oh I have no idea what I might do during this one minute, so I'm not gonna do anything. On that same topic, it makes it less black and white, because I think sometimes if we feel like, well, I haven't got a full lunch break, therefore I'm not, not gonna bother.

We're actually seeing the value in what could I do with the, the, the 20 seconds or the one minute that I have got. And when you pre-plan those things, it makes you more likely to remember to give yourself a moment and prioritise what you might do. .

And I think it's, it's important to see these as options and possibilities, not as expectations. So you can basically say to yourself, well, yeah, if I have 10 seconds, the things I could do are, and as an example, for me, a few rhythmic breaths is really important. So, there's a lot of interesting science behind actually, the effect that has on our physiology.

So maybe that's it, just a, it's just a trigger to help you remember to take just 20 seconds, 10 seconds, just a few rhythmic breaths, or have a drink of water, or actually, maybe you've got something to smile about. But these things are all individual. If you've got 1 minute, maybe you can send a gratitude text or an email.

There's a lot of interesting research there. Have a healthy snack, 10 minutes. I'm, I'm a big advocate for meditation, and, or, but maybe reading or listening to audiobooks, more your more your kind of thing.

Either way, it's very individual, but if you actually spend time at home doing that, then the chances of you making the most of those opportunities, even if it is only 10 seconds or 1 minute, are much, much more likely. So that's something that I think is really important. So just in summary then, just to sort of bring it all together.

We talked about hunger and thirst, anger and anxiety, late and lonely and tired, where you talked about Holt as a trigger, as a, as something to help you pause and recognise what might be going on. What we then need to do is actually take action sometimes. Sometimes.

Recognising, although it's the essential first step in itself might not be enough. So what we've created is another acronym. So what we're saying is halt and take a step.

And the S is to stop. So, you know, that, that slight pause, it might just be 10 seconds, but it might give you that opportunity just to recognise what's going on. It doesn't necessarily mean taking a full on lunch break, it just means checking in and going, how am I doing?

How am I feeling? Do I need to address anything? If possible, what that might mean is you decide to take a break.

You might not be able to at that moment, but you might be able to go, oh actually, well, maybe, maybe I'm gonna prioritise taking a break later in the day. Overdoing something else. And sometimes just that trigger to help you do that is, is, is really important.

We talked about empathy, stepping into somebody else's shoes, leave the lace undone. But equally important, empathise with yourself. Think about your own dialogue.

How can you be kind to yourself, that in a dialogue or, or, or monologue, depending on how many people are in your head? And plan. As we said, planning your, your, your, your morning huddle, your, as a team, planning your nutrition, thinking about your 101, 101, thinking ahead actually gives you that, that, I think subconsciously that idea that you've got a plan that, and it makes you much more likely to follow through with these ideas if you've actually considered it and considered it together.

So that's what we would say, halt, take a step, those are the things we think, although individually there's lots of small ideas, we think together they can really make a big difference. So what, how are you gonna make it happen, and this is something that only, only you as individuals and as as a team can, can, can really answer. You know, is it a morning huddle?

I, I, how are you gonna arrange planning breaks? Are you gonna have a way of checking in? What, what might your common language be?

Does Holt resonate? Does, does the word safe or making it safe to take a break? Does, does, does one of the other words, or one of the other, factors, sorry, one of the other topics that we've discussed today resonate in a way which you think, well, that could become something that we, you know, common language in our practise, or something else, you know, it's all individual, but it's important to think how you're gonna make it happen as an individual and as a team.

So that's it, we've sort of come to the end of our time. I really do thank you so much for, for taking the time to, to, to watch this and be here with us. If you want to be involved in the, the whole campaign, you're, we, we can send you a free support pack for your practise.

There's more information on our website at vetled.co.uk.

I, I welcome in the, in the time we've got left, any questions, I'd be really interested to know what resonated with you, now or at any point in the future if you want to get in touch. So, that's our, our sort of details. And I'll hand back over to Anthony now.

Dan, thank you so much, that was so interesting, . Fascinating, it seems to resonate more with er women than men. We've got a lot of women on the line today.

I mean, interesting, you know, from your perspective, do you see kind of maybe there's a bit of macho attitude to this that we can't take a break and we're tough. I think so. I think the match, I think, I think it's pushing on regardless and and, and I, I certainly, I haven't seen any sort of research suggesting it, but I, I think you're, I think you're right.

I think any, anything, and, and I think that applies to professionals in general. I think sometimes we feel like, you know, I I should be, you know, I, I'm good at what I. I'm a professional, I should be able to get on, just get on.

And that, that's, that's one of the sort of ways of defining me being, me being committed and being, being good at what I do. And it's, but seeing well-being, and I, and I think maybe that's true. I'd be interested to know if there is any, anything to suggest that women find it easier to see self-care as a strength and not a weakness.

But I couldn't answer it, but yeah, absolutely, and I think, I think it's a really good point. 22 men discussing it, obviously lots of women here, so do, do feel free to sort of pop something into the chat box or the question box. I'll look out for those, but I, I do think women are more sensitive.

Don't shout at me for generalising, but, you know, I, I think there is that ability to look inwards probably more easily in, in women than men, isn't it? Yeah, I, I honestly, to be honest, I, I think it's a really important, a really important point, but, I honestly, because I, I haven't seen anything that suggests either way, so I think it's, I, I think from my experience, it, it's, it's, it's the pro it's often the professional element which, which makes people more. Less more or less likely to, to be prepared to seek help.

And in professions, you're maybe seen as the helper and and certainly the statistics, there are more female vets than there are male vets, but certainly professions that see themselves as helpers are maybe less likely to seek help themselves. Be a part of the culture, that, that, . That, that, that seeking help, they're asking for help, that that taking breaks, prioritising your wellbeing is, is the number one.

So sorry to skirt around, honestly, I honestly don't have an answer for these sort of men or women, but I think the, the point is it's got to be sort of regardless and and evidence based as well. I mean it's interesting. Within the, the airline industries, presumably, you know, it's very much looked at sort of people's mental resilience and stability because you can obviously be put in difficult situations and, and you know, tiredness and things is it's important, so I presume.

I like taking breaks, and of course the thing with the thing you're sort of a victim to the to the environment you're working in, a little bit with with taking breaks, but fatigue is certainly something which is taken very, very seriously, but if we go back 40 years, . The pilot the pilot profession were the ones that were sort of identified as being particularly unlikely to, to admit to any form of stress or, or any, any external influence affecting their ability to do their job. And it was, that was one of the pieces of, of research which led to a lot of a lot of the human factors, .

A lot of the human factor research that occurred in the, in the 70s. And I, and I think that's, that's true of anyone that, that is, that, that deems themselves, sort of regards themselves as, as highly trained professionals. It means that we, that we maybe see it, it, it can be inclined to see it as a, as a weakness, not a strength, to admit.

That being fatigued is, is difficult, but absolutely, and it, and it is a major factor. And so as a result, the laws on, on the number of hours we can fly now are, are, are much, much more regulated. And as a culture, I don't know any pilot that wouldn't, that, that wouldn't be prepared to, to put their hands up and say, I'm fatigued, I can't fly.

The difference with flying, and I, and I think it's very important to say this though, is that, although there are some interesting comparisons between veterinary and aviation. They are very different, you know, if I, if I, I call in and say I'm fatigued and I'm not flying, the worst thing that happens is people don't go on holiday. If, if, if a, if a veterinary professional does the same thing, then that could actually mean that an animal gets no care.

So there are the implications are higher, but there still are, obviously there are contrasts and comparisons. And the people are starting to put some questions in, do, you know, put any comments or questions, how you feel about some of the stuff that we've talked about. Perhaps also interesting just to hear where you're listening in from.

So if you can just pop in the, probably use the chat box where you're actually listening in from, and that would also be good. Zoe's saying, hi there, have the team er at Guy's Hospital seen any improvement through their Halt campaign? Yeah, it's a good question actually.

So they're, they're it's quite early days because it's only the 2nd year for them. But certainly, I, I, I'm, I'm really hoping we're going to get some more sort of concrete research, but it was, there was a positive, there was a positive enough response and what they deemed to be some improvements through the first year that they've continued it again for a second year, and certainly the, the sort of subjective, . Opinions following that first year are generally very positive, and I I'm hoping we're now in a position, you know, with a combination of that, that campaign, and, and I really hope with this campaign in the future that we can actually start to put some, some sort of more evidence on that.

But it's quite early days, but certainly subjectively, it did go well, and, you know, as a, as a sort of, this, sleeping consultant, the sleep consultant and researcher, in conjunction with everyone else in the trust, they have decided to do it again for a second year. So, certainly that, from that perspective, it, it seems very positive, but. And that's, as I said, it's early days, so hopefully that'll, that'll.

Yeah, and so, one other thing that I did, I did forget to mention is that other, some of the other trusts, the, other NHS trusts have since, sort of, followed suit, and again, so it's subjective at the time being, but other, other NHS trusts have seen the value in it enough to, to sort of follow on and themselves, which is really good, . Roxy is saying listening in from Newport, in Pembrokeshire and saying, can we get individual Holt packs or only practise ones? Absolutely, yeah, anyone that's interested in it, should, should definitely contact us.

We're, we're happy to send it to anyone. In fact, we've sent it to, we've sent it all over the world. We've, there are there's people in America who we've sent it to individuals and practises, and we're really happy to do that.

But what we would encourage is that once they've got that, is to go and approach the, the, the, the, the practise because support from the management of wherever they're working, it gives a much, much better opportunity to, to, to actually make a positive change to the culture, but absolutely, we're really, really happy to send it to anyone at all. And obviously just to get that Roxy and everybody else who's listening, it's just go to Vettled, I've just gone myself and you can register for that. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, it's quite easy you can register and we'll send you all the, we'll send it via email, and it consists of a support pack, so it gives you some of the information we've discussed today, a little bit more detail on some of it, the guidance sort of steps, steps to to how you would, implement the campaign within your practise.

It's got the posters. And it also has a, a shorter version of the same PowerPoint that I've just used there that that can be used to try and sort of spread the message within the practise. There's various pictures er Roxy that go across, but one of them is, is about the, the pack, so just look out and.

Have your 30 seconds of breathing while you're waiting for the whole one to come up. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, there's a few pictures there. If you doubt, just, just email us at [email protected] if there's any, if you're not sure about anything, and we can just, we can just help you and anyone that's got any further inquiries or isn't sure.

So how to start with that, we're more than happy to offer any support we can. Great, we've got Laura saying thank you, the one minute look at nature and a few seconds breathing were great tips I will use. And this decision fatigue is a huge issue for me other than planning ahead as far as possible, any other tips.

Yeah, well, I think, honestly, I, I can't emphasise enough this, this, this idea of spending time in, you know, yourself, because, . That, that sort of back, having that knowledge in the back of your head somewhere is, is, is just isn't enough. And so, the more time you can do, spending time thinking about what you do, you know, what if I'm in that situation, what if I'm in that situation, how could I best look after myself.

I, I really, really do advocate that. Decision fatigue is a really, going back to that one, I think that's a really important one because I think it's something we all suffer from. And, or we can have that kind of pre you know, pre-considered list, those, those options, it, it really, really does make a difference.

Certainly I, if I, if I can't decide, if I've got 20 things that oh I literally in my head I've got all these, this list of things I could do, I, I won't make a decision, but if, if I've got a choice of one or two, and I've already considered it in advance, I know I'll, I know I've got a better chance of doing that. I think the other thing is that, . It's really important to bear in mind that when it comes to the, the sort of the physiological aspects, again, we, we, it might seem obvious, but the problem is when we're hungry, we're actually, or when we've got, we've got some of those, those sort of physiological, aspects going on, particularly hunger, we're much more vulnerable, and so, we're much less likely to make the best decisions.

If we're tired or if we're hungry, so again, it sounds obvious, but we're in a much better place to make a good decision for our wellbeing if we're able to, you know, if we're in that sort of good physiological state. But I, I, I, I'm glad that the stuff about the decision fatigue resonated and honestly that, that's the thing I would advocate the most. And practise in a dialogue, it's so important because, you know, it might sound silly to some people that, you know, actually just saying to yourself, actually, I wonder why I felt, I wonder why I feel like I do.

And I wonder. You know, I said, let me just explore that. And just saying that to yourself, without even trying to find a solution, immediately, can, can reduce stress and can actually just help you feel like you're, you know, sort of, that you're in your own corner almost.

And I think it's, as I said, practising that, and that's the thing with a lot of these things, a bit like mindfulness practise, which if I had more time I'd go into, it, it is a practise, it's not just something that happens straight away, the more we practise it, the better we get. Claire has just said thank you so much, so interesting and so right. We've then got Kiera listening in from Devon, Laura from West Yorkshire, Alan from Swatham.

Susan from Connecticut. Claire from Saint Albans, Theodora from Swindon. We've got Ian and Sheila in Scotland.

Lisa from Leicester, Shan from Newport, Michelle from Canada, Hailey in New York, Sheila in Edinburgh. So people listening in from all over, which is great, Amy saying, would you come and speak to any young vet networks as a guest speaker, so probably Amy email or info at vetled.co.uk and.

They're all the sort of things that I'm sure Dan knew. Yeah, please do, and that's, that's absolutely, I mean, we, we love coming, you know, coming to talk, talk about this stuff in more detail. We really, yeah, really love those kind of opportunities, so we're more than happy, to, to come and do those.

So yeah, please do get in touch if, if you want to talk about this or want any anyone, any of us to come and speak about it in a little bit more detail. Something I just, so it's sort of, it's some research that's just come to mind. We were talking about the effects of men and women.

One of the, one of the interesting things we, we, we talk about when we, talk about what we, a just culture, which is an alternative to, a blame culture. And this is, to do with something called second victim syndrome, which is when something, something, an adverse event occurs and the harm occurs to a patient. And actually, what research has shown is that the, the person involved in that harm, the, the, the person who, who was delivering the care actually is, is, is, is also a victim, and so that's, that's what we mean by second victim.

Mhm. Research has suggested is that women do feel the effects stronger and longer, sorry, stronger and longer than men, and that, that, that is the only research that I can recall, in terms of the, the impact there. So, I think the thing with that is it's just a matter of kind of going, well, you know, actually, yeah, so, that's what research suggests, and, and sometimes just giving ourselves that, that, that patience, that, you know, OK, I find that difficult, and acknowledging what you find difficult.

And and actually just being compassionate with yourself is a really big step. And a final one we're just over but obviously people can leave if they want to. Zoe said, Jeannette's listening in from South Africa, so we've got people listening in from all over the world, which is lovely.

Zoe said, would mindfulness techniques be of use in short breaks? Oh, absolutely, and I, as I said, the, the mindfulness course, I just completed this, 10 week course, in mindfulness, and I, I absolutely, it's the thing, it's what I use the most, and it's not actually for me all about meditation. I do, I do meditate, but it's not all about meditation, and the thing for mindfulness is, is one.

I talk about 10, the reason I did the 101, 101 is because 10 seconds is, is, well, maybe 15 seconds is all you need. 33 mindful breaths or or 10 seconds, just literally asking to yourself, is there something, 2 questions, is there something I could smile about? If the answer is yes, then ask yourself another question.

If I were to smile, would it be genuine? Because I think sometimes forcing a fake smile isn't necessarily helpful. But if the answer to those questions is yes, a mindful smile, it's not a form, it's not meditation, but it's, it's all these different forms of mindfulness, and they, and they make such a big impact when you add them all together.

We, Dan did a a great course in conjunction with Mind Masters initiative from the Royal College, an 8 week mindfulness course. Oh yeah, and very much, you know, obviously people take it at different levels, but just that ability, as you say, to live in the present moment, you know, to smell the coffee, to, to look outside the window at the birds on the, on the bird table and just to enjoy that moment and not feel you have to accomplish anything is incredibly powerful, isn't it? It is, and I, and the, the, the, the, the expression I like is kind of being, just the thing I really like about, about mindfulness is it encourages you just to be, because we're so inclined to do and do and do and do and we're always trying to accomplish and achieve because that's, again, it's, it's a human tendency.

It's the reason that things have evolved and developed the way we have certainly developed the way we have. But actually training ourselves to be. Rather than to do, is actually so, and it, and it really is, and, and I think again the cumulative effect of that is, is one of the biggest things that you can do on a daily basis because you don't need 20 minutes to meditate to do it.

As you say, smelling the coffee, acknowledging to yourself that you're enjoying anything at all that you're doing, is, is absolutely huge. And of course we're human beings, not human doers, but of course, often we end up doing and not being, don't we? We do, and it's, and again, but it's understanding that tendency, not beating ourselves up about it, you know, because actually it's easy to go, oh, this is, this is crazy.

I know how important it is to be, and I know how important it is to be mindful and, and look, I've not been mindful at all today, and actually, but that, that's exactly one of the things we're talking about is actually being compassionate and kind of going, well, you know, I understand, I understand why it's actually not necessarily very easy to be, because our tendency is to do. But actually. By, by kind of saying that to yourself, and I understand why I'm, I'm not, I don't necessarily find it easy, but by acknowledging that, you actually give yourself a better chance of being more often than doing.

So it's, it's a funny I said I'd love to talk about it more, but it's, it's a big topic, you know, it's really interesting that you went on that course as well. It's, it's interesting just notice some questions in the question, well, comments and the question rather than the chat box. So, and I think they're really important, so if I can just borrow a couple of minutes of your time.

I'm, yeah, we're fine for time. Because they're really good questions, obviously people please do leave if you've got to get off for afternoon surgery, . A comment really from somebody who's remaining anonymous, they're saying, I find it difficult to say I'm struggling as it seems everybody else is fine, and I felt different and isolated, so it was interesting to hear that so many are affected by work stress.

Maybe I'm not alone and, you know, clearly you're not. And then I think it's from the same person. But it may not be so apologies if I've got that wrong, but they're then saying, what can you do when the management is actively hostile to these ideas, e.g., breaks, improving communication, and deliberately sabotages or bullies staff who try to introduce them.

My simple answer would be, probably it's time to move practise, but, that's a bit blase, but I don't know what you think of that, Dan. Yeah, and again, that's a really, really difficult. First of all, I would say anyone that's in that situation, that, that must be really, really hard.

You must feel very, very lonely, if you felt finding it difficult. The reality is you're almost certainly not, but the, the problem is no one's prepared to say because they're this fear. The one thing, and, and the, the hardest, it, it sometimes, especially when you're in a sort of a junior position and senior people are creating difficulty, but, the only way in that situation that I have ever found.

Of, of sort of making any kind of impact with, with those kind of characters is actually to try and understand why they, why they, they are the, you know, behaving the way they are. So, actually that that form of empathy with the, the more senior characters is not to do it in a patronising way, it's to just, you know, when they actually have interactions with them, it's to actually identify with, you know, why they, why maybe they're, why maybe they're so reluctant to, to offer to, to, to promote the well-being or to, to encourage people to pick up, you know. And that, that to me is, is, and, and, and, but the reality is sometimes that, that is also really hard and, and, and.

That process can feel hard to do, but also it, it still might not make a difference. So all I would say is, I, I can certainly, I can see why that might feel so lonely. Yeah, as you, sometimes you've got to maybe the only way of prioritising your own wellbeing is to, is to actually say, you know, I, I can't be around this environment anymore.

But, but sometimes the, in a dialogue and speaking to somebody else about it externally, gives you the chance to, to understand why it's bother. Cos it might be that it's, that it's, that it's actually resonating with a previous, you know, that it's creating an emotional reaction based on a previous experience, and it might not actually be necessarily to do with that practise. So sometimes exploring that feeling a little bit more with somebody else can be really helpful.

It's great if people can be open because it's lovely if, if those sort of situations can change. But I think we're also, you know, quite rightly, people now looking and saying, They spend a lot of time in work, you know, you, I, I, in my business think that the people who work with me have a right to have a good time, to enjoy work, you know, to do what you love. So I would always encourage people to, to take that big step of, you know, do what you love.

And, and don't allow yourself to be bullied because it's just not right and it's not fair. No, it's not, and I, and I guess it because there's the reason, any reluctance I've got, because there's gonna be so many different peoples working in different environments, but I don't want to sort of offer any specific advice that would, that would be appropriate to one and maybe unhelpful to somebody else. But all I would say is that if, if anyone is, if they are struggling, it, it.

Yeah, then please do get in touch, because once we are able to sort of consider the specific situation in a little bit more detail, we've got, different, you know, might see myself in my experience, we've also got coaches and psychologists who, who are, once you actually consider the individual situation, there's always a way, there's always, and I think that belief that there's always something you can do, and, and being compassionate with yourself, understanding that it actually it's OK to feel that it's OK that this is difficult. Yeah it's difficult and, and, but please do get in touch because I said I'm a bit reluctant to say yeah, no, of course, but I think it's also, as you've said to, you know. To, to invest in yourself and believe in yourself and to, to take mentoring, sometimes having that triangulation of another person looking at your situation will bring a lot more sense to it, because when we're in the middle of something, when we're maybe a bit depressed about things, it's hard, it is hard to think straight, isn't it?

Yes, it is, yeah, and, and as I said, these emotional states we get in, they're very, they can be very, very hard to get out of. We talked about, you know, this kind of emotional hijacking, you know, it literally takes over the rational, the, you know, the, the, the, the logical part of our brain. And that's the bit of our brain that we need to actually figure out, OK, well, what's the best thing I can do here?

But the problem is, when we're in that state, it's very, very hard to get ourselves out. So sometimes, the first thing we've got to do is just what's going on right now. And, you know, let me be open to that.

Why might I be feeling that? And that's OK, you know, and, and just, and literally just some breaths. And once we're in a position where we just calm down that emotional response, then we can start to figure out what we might be able to do.

But that's, that's really hard sometimes, because they, these, these emotional reactions are There to get our attention. They're there to save our life. But the reality is we don't live in that world anymore.

We don't have, there's no saber-toothed tiger. We're not even having to hunt for our food anymore. We're, we're, we're working, we're, we're trying to fit this, this body, this brain, which is designed for an entirely different function into this, this new world that we're living in.

And it's not to say that it can't do it, but it needs, we, we need to consciously help it out. And that applies to, to all sorts of different settings, but, certainly with this one, in terms of emotions. Yeah, there's just one final one that's come through from Louise, asking what mindfulness course is it that you did?

Are there any you would recommend and, so Louise, I mean, if you look at webinarett.com and go to the site and look at mindfulness, that's obviously a series of webinars. I'd be more than happy, again, just from a, from I guess from a commercial perspective, I'd be more than happy to talk that, to talk that through, if people want.

To get in touch, because again, different courses would suit different people, depending on what, because the one I did was mindfulness based cognitive therapy. There are some which are mindful based stress reduction, there are some, and, and, you know, they're, they're all slightly different, and I would just say that, I would, yeah, we're very, very happy to talk those things through. If anyone wants to get in touch, either Dan at vetled.co.uk or our info at ettled.

And Dan, your course was a physical course, so obviously there's the option to take. You know, more time and, and do the course that way, or obviously you can do it online, or was yours an online course. No, mine was, mine was a physical course.

I, I went, I went to 10, I went to, 10, sorry, I, I did mine in in because, because of my roster. I did mine actually in 5 full days, so I did 51 day courses over a 10 week period. And, I physically went there, and I, I found that, that, that just that sharing, because you're doing things that you might have done before, if you, because, you know, I'd followed a, I'd followed an audio sort of version of the same course before.

But when I was there sharing those experiences with people, it was very, very, I found that very powerful. . But as I said, more than happy to talk it through, and I, you know, I, I, with people if they feel more specifically, I think, is, is that, is it a remote course, Anthony, that, that you guys, that you do.

We, we organised the course with the Royal College, which was a, an 8 week webinar course with Mike Scanlon, and we've had probably about 40 or 5 1000 people go through that course because I think it's just so important that people have that opportunity to. You know, enjoy the silence and not feel that it's something that they need to, hide away from. We know that the profession, you know, I'm a vet as well, that there is a problem with stress.

So if we can all do a little bit, you know, vet led ourselves, the Royal College, the BSAVA VPMA VM VMG as they are now, SIs, you know, and it's all, and it's also about us in practise also. You know, encouraging people in our practise that, you know, it's OK to take some time to have a break. We can all make a difference, you know, at, Different levels, can't we, Dan?

Absolutely, and it's seeing it as a strength and a weakness, and it's seeing it as an opportunity to give more when, you know, I, I don't, I don't believe for a second there are vets out there, or, or, or any veterinary professionals out there, trying to have a break because they're lazy or trying to have a break because they want to do less. It's seeing it as an opportunity to give, not less. It's seeing it as a strength to say, actually, you know what, I'm really, really struggling, or I, or I'm, I'm not struggling, but I'm looking at this, this week ahead.

And I, I just think that's gonna be really hard, and I think if we can try and just, you know, it may or may not be easy to, it may be that there's a really easy fix, actually just by saying that, someone's gone, I'm really glad you said that because yeah, there's actually, we can move things around or, or, but, but until we're being safe, and I like that word safe, safe to take a break, safe to speak up, until, you know, seeing that as a strength, not as a sign of laziness or as a sign of someone trying to be disruptive, but actually it is purely focused on functioning at our best. Giving our best and, and giving more. And that's, that's, that's the culture that we, that we, as you say, it's seeing the value in what you're doing, and what, as you said, the VMG and SIs and, and what we're doing, and everyone else out there is seeing the value in all those things.

And everyone that's involved, every single person that's in every practise seeing the, the, the value in every, as, as we said earlier, behaviour breeds behaviour, to seeing the value and all those little things combined. And I think it's, and I think we, you know, we, we can, we can make a real difference. Dan fantastic, thank you so much.

It's been a fascinating webinar. I, I, I've really enjoyed it. I know a lot of other people have who've been on the call, we've still got a lot of people who've who've stuck around till the end.

Great. Hope everybody has enjoyed it. Do take Dan up on that offer of .

You know, taking the pack, and of course if you want to speak to anybody at the VETE team, it's info at vetE.co.uk, I think, isn't it?

That's correct, yes, and sorry just to interrupt just before we go with with regards our our actual whole campaign, we've actually been really lucky. Been supported by quite a few organisations. So, just before I go, I'd like to just, you know, just make reference to, to all the people that have supported us, because they, they, they've made it, they've made a big difference.

So, I said, without going to all of them, they know, they know who they are, but they've been really, really important as part of this. So, and also thanks to, thanks to very much to you for your, for your support and, and for everyone for being involved. It's been, you know, really does mean a lot to us.

That's no problem. And obviously we'll have this up on the site. It is Friday afternoon now, so it may be Monday, we'll try and get it up as quick as we can.

Do feel free to tell your friends about it, it will be up. Colleagues in practise, the more people that listen to this, type of material, I think the better, so. Thanks again, Dan, thanks everyone for listening.

And I'm going out for a mindful walk with one of my friends now who's downstairs listening to the webinar. We're gonna go and look at the birds and trudge on the beach. So there you go, John.

I'm, I'm, I'm trying to cheek the dog out and and we'll be, we'll be outside in a few minutes, so enjoy. OK, great. Take care, thanks everyone, bye bye.

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