On Demand CE Lectures

Honoring Ourselves As We Honor The Human-Animal-Bond

Total CE credits 1.5 hours

Program Description:

People come into the veterinary profession following and honoring the human animal bond in their unique way.  Through a variety of ways, they support this unspoken connection within the many aspects associated with veterinary care.  Along the way these individuals can lose themselves to the challenges and struggles of the space that is veterinary medicine. In this process they then lose their drive to stay within the profession.  The path to veterinary career sustainability is found when individuals are provided a space that allows each of them to find their unique path to honoring themselves while they honor the human-animal-bond. Veterinary professionals do not need to be told what to do, but instead be provided a framework that allows them to find longevity in their own way.  With this lecture, attendees will come away with an understanding of this framework and then how to utilize it as they begin to find the path to honor themselves.   Allowing each individual to once again start the journey to live connected to the passion they hold close to their heart and in doing so, find their sustainability within the veterinary industry.

Program Agenda:

• Provide a high-level explanation of the list of varies areas of struggle observed within veterinary medicine.
  • Compassion Fatigue
  • Primary Trauma
  • Anxiety
  • Imposter Syndrome
  • Moral/Ethical Fatigue
  • Decision Fatigue
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences
  • Burn Out
  • Engagement
  • General Stress
  • Secondary Trauma
• Define the ocean of shame framework and explain the sinkers and balloons related to it. Thereby allowing for a language which can be utilized within a challenging mental space.
• Define the 4 areas of wellbeing (the 4 balloons) Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual.
• Provide details related to the 4 principles to staying connected to a career in Vet Med
  • Mindful of our response
  • Creating Our Environment
  • Embracing Our Emotions
  • Finding Self-Forgiveness

Learning Objectives:

• To review and understand the current struggle that faces veterinary professionals in living a sustainable career within the vet med.
• Provide a framework in which to allow focus in developing a unique path to sustainability.
• Understand the 4 principles to follow in committing to stay connected within the veterinary industry. 
• Recognize that we are all normal and not alone in this struggle to find career contentment. 
• Become familiar with the individualized journey of the joined focus in honoring the human-animal-bond and ourselves. 

The Value of Taking a Bubble Break

Total CE credits 1 hour

Program Description:

Taking time to allow ourselves a moment of peace and to re-center during a hectic day is challenging.  Breaks are something we all recognize are valuable for us, yet we struggle to carve out time or even give ourselves permission to take one.  In learning more and more on the benefits of breaks during our work day, I thought to myself; What if we had a simple, fun, and easy way to incorporate breaks into the day?  Here enters the idea for the activity called Take A Bubble Break®.  Blowing bubbles was something I often enjoyed doing as a child, little did I understand the true value the simple act of blowing bubbles could have on our well-being. In the past during a large national conference, I created a space to allow others to join in on taking a moment to blow bubbles.  The feedback received from the event was powerful and I discovered 6 key areas in which support our well-being when we took part in the activity.  They included:

• Mindfulness
• Concentration
• Breathing
• Community
• Accomplishment
• Letting Go

The simple activity of blowing bubbles can provide individuals and teams with an easy way in which to connect to themselves and each other. Thereby helping to manage the challenges of the daily stress of working in a veterinary hospital.  In learning to share this resource we can all experience the value toward mental well-being in participating in a fun yet simple activity of Take a Bubble Break®. 

Program Agenda:

Review the 6 benefits of blowing bubbles as a way to take a break.

Mindfulness – small moments of mindfulness create space for our brain to reset and center within our surroundings and ourselves. Stopping to enjoy some bubbles allows for everything to stop. For that brief moment, there are just bubbles.

Concentration – going through the process of stopping to focus on the act of blowing bubbles just slows us down.  This allows our concentration to focus on the moment and supports the release of tension and anxiety.

Breathing – blowing a bubble with short shallow breaths is extremely difficult if not near impossible.  Going through the process of taking a deep breath and focusing our attention on the wand as we exhale and then focus on our breath.  Once again allow us to reconnect with ourselves and our bodies.

Community – blowing bubbles gets people attention and sparks others to join in.  Regardless of who we are, or where we come from, or the stress in our current state, we can connect over bubbles.

Accomplishment – as we each work to get the technique down for getting that perfect bubble, we become excited to see our own and other’s bubbles develop.  Such a small act and yet it feels so satisfying.  The act of creating a bubble allows our brains to have a feeling of completion, which our mind craves.

Letting Go – as we allow our air to transfer from our bodies to the soapy solution within the wand, we develop a bubble that begins to float away. You can almost feel the anxiety, frustration, anger, disconnection or whatever emotions that are bothering us go with the bubble.  Then just as quickly as the bubble appears, it pops and with that the energy is released from us.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the benefits of taking a break and what it does for our well-being.
• Provide visibility to the challenges of taking breaks.
• Define mindfulness and how this provides resilience to individuals and their careers.
• Provide direction on a simple mindfulness activity.
• Understand the 6 points in taking time to blow bubbles has towards our well-being.

How to Manage Personal Emotions in Tough Conversations

Total CE credits 1 hour

Program Description:

There are multiple factors that need to be determined and shared during a conversation with a client when their pet is suffering with a difficult or complex medical situation.  These conversations can elicit a number of emotions from the veterinarian and their staff when attempting to support the client through a decision.  This presentation covers the traps that a team can fall into due to the emotions within themselves not being recognized and addressed during these conversations.  Then provide direction on how to partner with the client while sharing ideas and tools to help manage the emotions related to these conversations.  While there is no right answer on how to have these conversations, this presentation helps to define the situation and allows the audience to recognize that we are all normal in our struggle.  And that true connection and acceptance of our own emotions, is in fact the answer in helping to move towards a successful outcome.

Program Agenda:

Understand the foundation to the struggle related to having difficult conversations within the veterinary profession. Described the traps individuals fall into in avoiding emotions which include; I’m new and learning, It is just my time, Breed prejudice, Lack/rush of time, Making a client for life, Assuming confrontation, Skipping recommendations, Draining ourselves for others, and The data dump.

Provide clarity to the beast of burden related to our profession and allow individuals time to see themselves in that burden. Provide structure on what the individual and team can do in working through these emotional conversations.  Providing awareness to helping vet professionals recognize and embrace that these conversations are a partnership with the client and the vet professional are not to own both sides.  In doing so, understand what the client and veterinary team each bring to these conversations.  Taking time to understand how the client’s attachment to pet can elicit many emotions and irrational actions.  Finishing with covering the idea of accepting all outcomes and providing tools and ideas on how veterinary professional can emotionally let go.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the dynamic that causes the emotions related to difficult conversations within veterinary medicine.
• Provide knowledge to the traps individuals fall into in avoiding the emotions of difficult conversations. 
• Recognize the framework related to embracing the partnership relationship in navigating these conversations.
• Embracing and connecting with the emotions related to the stress and frustration in having hard conversations with clients. 
• Realization that there is no one fix in this space, yet instead provide a path in which to start from as each conversation is unique.  

Finding Connection and Calm in Times of Challenge

Total CE credits 1 hour

Program Description:

There are moments in history where society as we know it changes forever.  Earthquakes and hurricanes have altered neighborhoods and building codes.  Man-made moments such as walking on the moon or the creation of the atomic bomb have created monumental cultural shifts throughout humanity.  In early 2020 the entire world started on the journey of living through a novel virus pandemic – COVID 19.  Disease pandemics are not new to the human race and examples include the black plague of the middle ages and the Spanish flu of 1918 where illness killed millions across the globe. Finding peace when living during an unprecedented time is challenging. Taking time to press pause and take a deep breath, allows us each permission to find our unique path to serenity in our world during these difficult times.  Taking the path to recognize where we are, embrace ourselves, and find connection also helps us in our resiliency during these times.  This will also help us get ahead of wondering what will our world look on the other side. This lecture will share actionable steps that we can each take to help us along in this journey of uncertainty. 

Program Agenda:

Define the idea of unplanned events (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) and the challenges these events have for veterinarians and their teams when they are already managing a difficult space. Provide clarity into the idea of the ocean of anxiety and the various sinkers dragging vet professional down which typically fall into one of 5 areas – Secondary Trauma, Ethical Fatigue, Generalized Stress, Lack of Security, and The Feeling of Powerlessness.  Define the well-being balloons (Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual) in which help lift them up and the importance of staying connected to these 4 areas during times of turmoil.

Finishing with describing the 4 key ways to help vet professionals in moving forward while navigating the chaos of these unplanned challenges. Which will help vet professionals move away from demand and fear and towards risk and choice.  These 4 areas to be covered include – controlling what you can control, and then embracing the power of hope, gratitude and presence.

Learning Objectives:

• Provide language for the challenge of living through an unplanned obstacle.
• Understand the many points of anxiety faced upon the veterinary professional during times of unplanned chaos.
• Provide actionable steps to help move forward during times of uncertainty.
• Understand the four aspects of controlling what we can control, the power of hope, the power of presence, and the power of gratitude.