Deadline approaching for early bird MMI symposium tickets

Attendees to this year’s RCVS Mind Matters Research Symposium have until the end of August to secure their tickets at early bird prices.

The symposium will take place from 9am to 5pm at The Eastside Rooms in Birmingham on Friday 10 October, World Mental Health Day.

Early bird tickets for the biennial event, which cost £45, are available until 11:59pm on Sunday 31 August, after which they will increase to £75.

This year marks 10 years since the founding of the college’s Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) in 2015, which seeks to improve mental health and well-being across the veterinary sector, from surgeons and nurses to students and practice managers, as well as professionals in non-clinical roles.

The theme for the 2025 symposium, the fifth edition of the event, is “Advancing veterinary mental health research: learning from the past, considering the present, and looking to the future.”

Delegates will find a range of research talks and presentations from past recipients of the Mind Matters Mental Health Research Grant, on topics including alcohol use behaviours and barriers to seeking help within vet practice, and mental health in student VN education.

Further topics

Further topics that will be included are:

• Organisational contributors and intervention strategies to address burnout in veterinary nurses.

• Staff experiences of teaching neurodivergent veterinary students in clinical learning environments.

• Confronting taken-for-granted truths – a systematic review of risk and protective factors associated with suicide risk in veterinary professionals.

• “For three of my four miscarriages, I was at work”: Workplace management of UK veterinary professionals’ miscarriage, infertility and assisted fertility.

• How does attendance at Schwartz Rounds impact veterinary professionals experience in clinical practice?

• Nursing Matters: A mixed-methods study of workplace mental health in UK veterinary nurses and nursing students.

MMI Lead Rapinder Newton said “we still have a way to go” in understanding mental health in vet professionals despite the advancements made in the decade since the initiative’s inception.

‘Shared goal’

She continued: “Only through continued collaboration with mental health researchers, and learning from other allied professions, can we work towards our shared goal of enhancing mental health and support within the veterinary professions.

“This is why events such as our symposium are so important. Veterinary mental health is a small but growing field.

“Creating environments for open discussion and networking are key to advancing our understanding of where the challenges lie as well as understanding what drives positive mental health in the workplace.”

She added that the symposium “also plays an invaluable role” in discovering practical applications for the research.

Open to anyone interested in veterinary mental health, the event also counts toward CPD for both vets and nurses.

Tickets and more information on the symposium are available at Eventbrite.