11 Oct 2023
Although 1,350 individuals in UK have achieved the certificate, Reading branch is first to gain a practice-level accreditation outside the US following an assessment and inspection process.
James Westgate
Job Title
Members of the Reading Harrison Family Vets team, including founder Tim Harrison (front, centre). The branch is the first in the UK to be accredited by Fear Free.
Harrison Family Vets in Reading has become the first practice outside North America to achieve Fear Free Veterinary Practice Certification.
More than 1,350 UK veterinary professionals are already certified on an individual basis by Fear Free, but Harrison Family Vets is the first to gain practice-level accreditation outside the US following an assessment and inspection process.
Harrison Family Vets spent several months working with the team at Fear Free to enable inspection and certification to take place in the UK and now plans to secure official Fear Free status for every site in the expanding group.
Operations director Kristie Faulkner said: “We are delighted to have achieved this certification as we wholeheartedly believe that this is the best way to carry out veterinary practice for clients, the team, and most importantly the pets.
“We aim for all of our clinics to reach this standard in the immediate future.”
The Fear Free movement was developed to reduce the impacts of stress and anxiety for patients visiting veterinary practices and was founded by US vet Marty Becker in 2016.
Since then more than 320,000 veterinary professionals, pet professionals, animal welfare communities and pet owners have registered for its programmes and courses, which cover areas such as animal behaviour, medicine and handling.
Dr Becker said: “Fear Free uses clinically proven protocols to remove or reduce fear, anxiety and stress (FAS) triggers; it takes steps to mitigate FAS so that the pet feels safe and calm during a veterinary visit.
“The worst thing for a pet parent to feel is that they’re ‘hurting their pet by trying to help them’.
“In a Fear Free Certified Veterinary Practice, we ‘take the pet out of petrified and put the treat into treatment’. Expect tails to wag and cats to purr.”
The practice certification process was led by Harrison Family Vets group clinical director, James Harris. He said: “The message behind Fear Free in protecting the emotional well-being of pets under our care fitted easily with our own beliefs. Taking this to the next level required an open and honest team conversation, development of realistic protocols and a subtle change in behaviours to ensure we always put the pet first within a supportive work environment.
“Most of the changes have been doing things differently rather than actually doing more.”
Initially, Harrison Family Vets had committed to certifying all team members – clinical and non-clinical – but decided to take the next step despite there being no precedent for practice accreditation outside the US.
Ms Faulkner added: “When we first learned about Fear Free from a former American colleague, we were told that it is a superior way to practise. Having adopted it, we now believe this completely and hope that for the benefit of all pets, many other practices will follow our lead.”
Following the certification of Harrison Family Vets, Fear Free confirmed plans to expand in the UK with Dr Becker presenting on the benefits of the approach at London Vet Show on 16 to 17 November.
