7 Oct 2025
In the second instalment of the series to coincide with her presidency of SPVS, Ami Sawran encourages the sector not to underestimate to importance of face-to-face communication
Ami Sawran
Job Title
The news BSAVA Congress will no longer be held gave me pause for reflection. While we must always be mindful of focusing on members’ contributions and how best to serve them in this financial climate, I suspect that many felt a collective sense of mourning. For some, it was a social event, time away and a chance to see friendly faces and share a laugh with people who understand their professional pressures.
It isn’t always about the CPD per se, but the provision of a space to connect where, for a few days, you can drop the stoic façade, discover current happenings in your sphere, and explore where you might take yourself or your business in the future. I understand that putting on an event of that scale in the current economy is a serious risk, but the absence of an in-person event still leaves a void, which isn’t simply a gap in the social calendar, but a lifeline for connection.
You can learn a great deal on a webinar. I’ve done my fair share and have always appreciated the convenience of being able to learn from home, and with asynchronous courses, at my own pace. But you can’t have a whispered commiseration over a dodgy coffee (why are conference coffees so dismal?), and you certainly can’t feel the palpable sense of relief when you realise the issue you’ve been grappling with is a widespread one, not just a personal failure.
I’m reminded of a time, when I was a student, I used to help with interviews for the vet school. I was always amazed (and a bit baffled, to be honest) by the number of applicants who would earnestly declare that they were “not a people person”. It showed a remarkable naivety over what being a vet entails. Our days are a constant stream of human interactions, and I’d wager that many of our frustrations and issues arise when the communication between two or more people has broken down. That is the value of a face-to-face event – where we learn the unspoken curriculum. It’s where you can have a five-minute chat with a colleague that solves a problem you’ve been struggling with for months or find a mentor you didn’t even know you were looking for – you may even become one yourself. The simple act of listening to a roomful of people who get it, who share the same struggles and celebrate each other’s wins with a shared understanding of their meaning.
One of the most common reasons I hear for people not attending conferences is that they just can’t tear themselves away from the practice. The guilt of leaving the team to manage a challenging workload without you feels insurmountable.
But there is the notion that time with your community is not just a benefit to your business, it’s an act of self-care – a pragmatic investment. A tired, burnt-out colleague who is trying to solve all the same old problems within the same four walls is far less effective than one who has taken a couple of days to recharge, connect with others, and come back with new ideas and renewed energy.
The cost of a conference ticket or a few days of cover pales in comparison to the long-term impact of a team member who feels isolated and unsupported. This is particularly true of practices that may only have one person with a specific role, missing a peer group to debrief with. This is something I often hear during and after SPVS Congress – particularly from first time attendees who have a new appreciation of the value of mixing with people within the profession with different management structures, and different methods of approaching common problems. Even if a national event feels out of reach, multiple regional events are cropping up across the UK that could serve to create a local support network alongside collecting that important CPD.
We talk a lot about looking after our people. The simplest way to start is by encouraging them to find their community, to spend time with their peers and to feel connected. It reminds them, and you, that no one is an island, and that our shared burden is made lighter by shared experiences.
Community is built in the daily, often small, moments of shared understanding, mutual support and genuine human connection. This isn’t just a “nice-to-have” for a tough profession; it’s fundamental to our collective resilience. We need each other to navigate the demands of the job, to learn, to grow and to remind ourselves why we picked up that stethoscope in the first place.
I want to try to finish on a tangible or practical takeaway in these columns, so here is one relevant to this month: think of a non-urgent clinical puzzle, an odd case or even just a frustrating practice conundrum you’ve been mulling over.
Instead of just stewing on it alone, make a deliberate effort to reach out to one peer outside your immediate team – perhaps someone you know from a previous conference, a university friend, someone from the SPVS email discussion group or a colleague in a different practice. Spend five minutes having an informal chat about it. It’s a low-pressure way to brainstorm, gain perspective, and actively nurture those essential professional connections that make the job less isolating.
