Recognition for neurodiversity campaign

A veterinary charity has been shortlisted for a national award in recognition of its work to raise awareness of neurodiversity in the sector.

Earlier this month, Vetlife officials urged practice teams to use their new resources to help all colleagues to feel “empowered” in their work.

Now, the scheme is one of three programmes in the running for the Campaign of the Year prize at the Association of Charitable Organisations’ (ACO) awards next month.

Project lead and Vetlife trustee Kirstie Pickles said she was “thrilled and delighted” by the recognition for the campaign, which received grant funding from the Zoetis Foundation.

‘Barrier and inequalities’

She added: “We knew from previous research that neurodivergent individuals can face many barriers and inequalities in veterinary practice and that lack of neurodiversity awareness was one of their biggest workplace stressors.

“We created the Vetlife neurodiversity campaign to help address this issue, which has had an overwhelmingly positive response from the veterinary community.

“To also achieve recognition from the ACO is fantastic and is a testament to the care and dedication that the working group and Vetlife team put into the campaign.”

The award winners are due to be announced during a ceremony at the ACO’s annual conference in London on 12 September.