To support Vetlife, BVNA Charity of the Year 2022-3, BVNA developed Have a Heart Week. Between Monday 13^th and Friday 17^th February, we released a series of webinars, blogs and other resources to both support the mental wellbeing of the veterinary profession, and to raise funds for Vetlife.

In this webinar, BVNA and Rosie Allister, Vetlife Helpline Manager, discussed strategies for sleep hygiene and the impact this can have on mental wellbeing.

Getting enough good quality sleep underpins every aspect of physical and mental health. We cannot function properly when sleep deprived. Sleep is a key wellbeing issue, as well as important in patient safety. Yet veterinary nursing often requires disrupted sleep through night shifts or on call as part of our work. Standard sleep hygiene advice might not always feel relevant to professionals who night work, but there are things which can help. This session looked at the evidence about sleep and night working, and what we can do.

Speaker:

Dr Rosie Allister BSc (Hons) BVSc MSc PhD MRCVS

Dr Rosie Allister has received the BVA Chiron Award and RCVS Impact Award for work on veterinary mental health. Rosie manages Vetlife Helpline, a 24 hour support service for everyone in the veterinary community. Her research, based at the University of Edinburgh, looks at veterinary mental health, wellbeing in transitions, and veterinary suicide prevention. She has written and spoken extensively about veterinary mental health in the UK and internationally. She has volunteered with Samaritans for 19 years and advises a number of national organisations on suicide prevention and self harm.