Working in the veterinary industry is incredibly rewarding and fulfilling, but can also come with difficulties that can negatively affect our mental health. In this blog for Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month, BVNA President Sarah Holliday discusses how she debriefs and decompresses following a difficult day.

Find out more about VNAM here, and how you can get involved this year.

As an oncology nurse working in a referral setting, it’s often fast paced, with a large caseload and complex cases. As you can imagine it also involves lots of difficult conversations with patients’ families and inevitably sad outcomes when treatment stops working or we say goodbye to a patient.

To help protect my own mental health, I will often discuss cases and debrief following a difficult day, both with my colleagues within the hospital and with my partner at home. I always make sure that I take my lunch break and listen to my favourite music driving home.

To really decompress, in my spare time I head out into nature with my camera to capture beautiful images of wildlife. My favourite places to go are the Royal Parks (Bushy, Windsor and Richmond), as they are beautiful landscapes of water and trees, gorgeous flowers and peaceful sounds. This is where you can find deer, waterfowl, squirrels and birds of prey.

My favourite species to photograph are birds because they are all so different and often such stunning colours!

We have recently incorporated wildlife photography into some trips in the UK and this year we plan to visit Wales to see the Puffins.

It is important to find something you enjoy and that makes you happy so that you can unwind and escape from the pressures and stresses that can come with working in healthcare.

Sarah Holliday, BVNA President