The more I network, the smaller the veterinary medical community seems to be. That is, until I networked within the International Veterinary Students’ Association (IVSA) and discovered just how expansive our support system is worldwide. As a member of IVSA, I am one of 38,529 veterinary students from 73 countries around the world, all united in our passion for veterinary medicine.
Within IVSA, I have found a supportive community through the IVSA Standing Committee on Wellness (SCoW), which is dedicated to improving the health of people in the veterinary medical profession. It has been a true privilege and great joy to serve as Project Manager of SCoW alongside Mehal Punjabi, a veterinary student at Mumbai Veterinary College.
Here are a few highlights of the projects our team of 11 dedicated students has completed over the past year:
Our wonderful Wellness Toolkit Editors helped to revamp SCoW’s website and launch a Student Column, which shares veterinary students’ and professionals’ stories in hopes of creating a space that encourages a sense of community and wellness. This all began by collecting wholesome stories of kindness in the veterinary profession for World Kindness Day.
In celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we advocated for people in the veterinary profession living with invisible disabilities and hosted a webinar featuring a student, psychologist, and veterinarian who talked about coping strategies for living with and supporting others with invisible disabilities.
Mehal had the brilliant idea to create Tails of Wellness, which features self-care suggestions, fun facts, and mental health tips we can learn from animals. It has been inspiring to see how much we can learn from creation! Here is one that features some of my very own doggy doodles.
For World Environment Day, we focused on the topic of climate change and mental health. Award-winning psychologist Dr. Thomas Doherty delivered an incredible presentation during which we discussed environmental identity, the parallels between eco-grief and pet loss grief, and how to cope with these challenges. We are continuing this conversation through an essay contest where IVSA students are invited to share their stories of how climate change personally impacts their daily life and studies.
One of my personal favorite projects, Love Letters to Vet Students, spreads Hannah Brencher’s idea that “The World Needs More Love Letters.” Hannah’s project began as a way to combat depression when she wrote encouraging notes — “love letters” — all over New York to strangers. Now, she runs a global organization mailing letters to strangers who need support. Based on this model, our committee wrote letters to students from 8 countries. Responding to these students all coming from diverse backgrounds yet experiencing similar challenges related to veterinary school and wellness helped me to feel less alone. As I offered advice and consolation, I found a bit of meaning to my suffering because I could use that experience to offer empathy and hopefully help provide some comfort to people reaching out through these letters. It was a gift to connect with my fellow IVSA students. If you are interested in helping to expand this project, please contact scow.projects@ivsa.org.
Solidarity Week, a project by Shimti Singh two years in the making, involved informative social media posts and presentations by veterinarians and counselors to create awareness on the increasing suicide rates and mental illnesses in the veterinary profession, to honor those whom we have lost to mental health related challenges, and to pledge to make an effort to take care of our own well-being. A different topic was addressed each day, from anxiety and depression, to burnout and compassion fatigue, to the imposter phenomenon.
Crushing the stigma surrounding mental health and working towards wellness requires persistent courage. For me, the source of this courage is faith. This brings me to SCoW’s newest project: SCoW wants to hear from our members worldwide about the role faith plays in wellness. Pope Francis once said,
“If we go in search of other people, other cultures, other ways of thinking, other religious, we come out of ourselves and begin that beautiful adventure that is called ‘dialogue’. Dialogue is very important for one’s maturity, because in relation with other people, relations with other culture, also in healthy relations with other religions, one grows; grows, matures.” 1
In our journey of spiritual wellness, we can learn and grow from one another. By entering into community with our neighbors from around the world, we learn from unique forms of wisdom and come to better understand others’ and our own identity. While our global faith traditions are diverse, we may perhaps find some commonalities in how we practice spiritual wellbeing. Or, through our differences, we may find inspiration and discover new wellbeing practices. SCoW invites all IVSA members to share their story of spiritual wellness, which will be featured on our Student Column. Below is a piece of my spiritual wellness journey as just one example…
Dorothy Day once said, “Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.” Earthly energy has its limitations, but the Lord gives strength that sustains. I have found that physical and mental health practices may become merely routines stale of meaning if they are not fed by spiritual strength.
During a time in my life where I relied on earthly energy, I sacrificed all I had to give – including my health—for productivity. I thought this was admirable, even virtuous; but strength fed by pride is stubbornness, not fortitude gifted by the Holy Spirit. Food for my body was not enough. Not only did I become physically and mentally drained, but I lost my joy. In a grasp at food for my soul, I contemplated what it truly means to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:40). In an incredible book chapter on self-love, Fr. Herbert McCabe explains that love of self is an expression of love of God:
“As fear is the root of sin, faith is the root of love. It is our faith that God loves us that makes us able to love ourselves and, through that, to be grateful for the gift of ourselves. And this gratitude for being is the first thing we mean by loving God… [God] is asking us to love our neighbour in the way we love ourselves – in gratitude to God.” 2
To love myself is to have faith in God’s love and to have gratitude for being. I often pray in thanksgiving to God for my friends, but rarely have I taken the time to thank God for simply being, for existing “as an expression of His love.” Fr. McCabe continues, “In our everyday routine acts of friendship, forbearance, forgiveness, we reveal the eternal love of God to the world. We bring the world to the presence of God. And we do this because we love ourselves as gift of God, as filled with the Holy Spirit, the eternal life of God.” 2 Like any gift from God, we must care for the gift of ourselves. Before we can share that gift to others, we need to cultivate love and care for ourselves. God has given us one mind and one body. Self-care gives God gratitude for this gift and demonstrates our respect for His creation. Intentional rest for your mind, body and soul can be a beautiful way to pause in praise of God.
Please share your journey of spiritual wellness in the veterinary medical profession with us by filling out this form! In dialogue with each other, we will grow as a global community.
Special thanks to Naveesha Kaur Shergill for her leadership and friendship as Chair, and a big shout out to the talented Swarangee Chavan for her impressive graphic design skills that make our projects come to life! <3
References:
1. USCCB. A compilation of quotes and texts of Pope Francis on dialogue, encounter, and interrelgious and ecumencial relations. Available at: https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/resources/upload/Quotes-of-Pope-Francis-on-dialogue-encounter-ecumenical-and-interreligious-affairs-12042013.pdf. Accessed May 27, 2021.
2. McCabe, Herbert. (2003). God, Christ and Us (Chapter 11, Self-Love). London, NY: Continuum.