MMI Research Symposium 2023

The fourth Mind Matters Initiative Research Symposium will bring together researchers from around the globe working on the wellbeing and mental health of veterinary professionals.

The plenary, Evidence-based care for people who have self-harmed: risk prediction, psychosocial assessments, and aftercare will be led by Dr Leah Quinlivan, a Research Fellow and Chartered Psychologist at the University of Manchester.

Dr Quinlivan leads the self-harm research component and the patient involvement and engagement work in self-harm and suicide prevention in the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration. She is also an expert content advisor for the NHS England & NHS Improvement funded programme to improve community-based services for self-harm.

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MMI Symposium programme

• Welcome and Plenary
• Sarah Brown Research Grant Talks (Once a year the Mind Matters Initiative awards funding to a research project exploring an aspect of mental health and wellbeing within the veterinary profession. In these talks, recipients of the grant will be sharing their projects)
• Research talks 
• Mind Matters Initiative Talk

Speakers and talk titles

Previous Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant awardees:

• Dr Kate Lamont, SRUC: “How Farm Vets Cope”: A summary of the project funded by the Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant (Year 1), including ‘take home’ messages and post-project activity
• Dr Victoria Williamson, King's College London; University of Oxford: Experiences and impact of moral injury on UK veterinary professional wellbeing
• Dr Navaratnam Partheeban, Regional Head for Farm IVC Evidensia; Co-founder British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society: The importance of Diversity and Inclusion has been highlighted increasingly over the last few years in the veterinary sector. Not only does this impact people wanting to enter but also stay and thrive within the profession. With the current retention crisis among the workforce, diversity and inclusion becomes even more crucial to explore and find solutions for.
• Dr Kirstie Pickles, University of Nottingham: Autistic Veterinary Surgeons in the United Kingdom: Workplace Stressors and Mental Wellbeing
• Dr Katherine Wakelin , University of Surrey and Berkshire NHS Healthcare Foundation Trust & Sarah Corthorne, University of Surrey and Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust: An online compassionate imagery intervention to improve psychological wellbeing for veterinarians: A randomised control trial 
   

Research talks:

• Helene Seljenes Dalum, Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession, Oslo, Norway: TBC
• Hannah Poulton: How veterinary professionals are affected by companion animal euthanasia
• Dr Vanessa Ashall, Wellcome Trust; Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU); University of York: Reducing moral stress through ethical discussion in charity veterinary hospitals
• Prof. Jason Spendelow & Rebecca Smith, Harper and Keele Vet School: TBC
• Kaitlin Murray, IVC Evidensia UK: Is the quality and provision of mental health support in higher education sufficient in preparing student veterinary nurses for the profession?
• Suzannah Harniman, Hartpury University: Final year student veterinary nurse’s future career plans: values, beliefs and anxieties
• Nancy De Briyne & Wiebke Jansen,Federation of Veterinarians of Europe: How the COVID-19 pandemic shaped the veterinary mental well-being in Europe

Cost to attend: 

• The early bird discounted ticket cost is £45 - these tickets will be available to purchase until 11 September
• After 12 September the general admission tickets will cost £60
• We are offering a limited number of free tickets.
  
  If you would like to attend but are unable to pay for a ticket, for example students, people with lived experience of mental health problems, and people who are unwaged, who would not otherwise be able to attend, please contact the MMI team on [email protected] with the details of your circumstances.
  
  Register to attend 

Symposium enquiries

Please contact the MMI team or RCVS Events team for further information.