24 May 2021
The session aims to raise awareness of mental health and well-being, including what makes it good or poor, as well as the symptoms of poor mental health.
Rachael Buzzel
Job Title
A Somerset-based vet nurse is taking the mental health awareness message to a virtual audience by hosting a free CPD session on the importance of well-being.
Helen Bye (pictured), head nurse at Cave Veterinary Specialists in West Buckland, will be drawing on her own experiences of mental and physical health issues, and looking at how people respond differently to each.
Mrs Bye will be using the session to raise awareness of mental health and well-being, including what makes it good or poor, as well as the symptoms of poor mental health. She hopes delivering the session as a line manager will cause a “ripple effect”, enabling people at all levels of a practice to feel comfortable talking about mental health if senior managers are leading the discussion.
She said: “As a line manager, it is really important to be available to discuss mental health openly and not be behind closed doors. If people feel able to talk about mental health, it might give them the confidence to come forward.”
Mrs Bye has taken part in the mental health first aid course provided by Cave’s parent company Linnaeus and said she uses what it has taught her every day in practice.
Mrs Bye said: “As individuals in the veterinary profession, we are quite emotive people and take on a lot of responsibility for our patients. But we are humans, not robots, and it can be a big fall if things go wrong. The consequences for the patient and the client can be huge, and you carry that on your shoulders – it’s a position not everyone will be able to appreciate.
“For me, it is about removing the stigma and creating the pathways for people to get help.”
The webinar – being held as part of Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month – will take place on 27 May at 8pm via Microsoft Teams.
To register for a link to the webinar, email [email protected]
