Vetjoy: a joint initiative from FVE, FECAVA and IVSA

Thu, 10 Oct 2024

Press Release

Brussels, 10 October 2024. To celebrate the World Mental Health Day, FVE, FECAVA and IVSA present the debut of outcomes and experiences of our mental wellbeing platform www.vetjoy.org, featuring a jointly developed comprehensive toolkit, to champion mental well-being across the veterinary profession. VetJoy.org addresses these challenges head-on, with resources tailored to support mental well-being, DEI, and resilience-building for veterinary professionals. Thanks to the generous funding from Zoetis and its Foundation, the toolkit offers a broad range of career-enhancing resources, including workplace coaching vouchers, mentoring programmes, podcasts, videos, and much more. This year’s initiatives included:

The Great Veterinary Workplaces Award, celebrating veterinary workplaces excelling in well-being, leadership, and work-life balance. The 2024 inaugural winners were Pennard Vets Maidstone (UK) for large clinical workplaces, Evidensia Djurkliniken Staffanstorp (Sweden) for small clinical workplaces and the Food Standards Agency (UK) for large non-clinical workplaces.
Workplace Coaching Vouchers, provided in 2024 support to 15 clinical and non-clinical workplaces across seven European countries. The VetJoy vouchers scheme was extremely popular, all vouchers were already allocated by September.
Photography Contest, “A Day in Your Life: The Diversity of Veterinary Work”, under the umbrella of the European Diversity Month, which showcased the diversity of veterinary roles. The first prize went to Lena Nilsson (Sweden) for her heartwarming image of feeding an orphan kitten, celebrating the compassion of the veterinary profession.

This year’s winner is Lena Nilsson, a Swedish veterinarian feeding an orphan kitten.

The second prize went to Portugal for Francisca Ferreira’s picture entitled ‘In the eye of the Bull: A reflection of respect and care’. This picture was taken while performing an animal welfare assessment on a commercial beef cattle farm in Portugal. The photograph captures the bond between the animal’s curiosity and the veterinarian’s respect for its space. The human-animal relationship is one of the most evaluated measures in animal welfare programs, as it significantly contributes to reducing stress and improving overall animal health.

Ann Criel, FECAVA Vice-President said: “We are delighted to celebrate the winners of the inaugural Great Veterinary Workplace Award as workplaces that promote professional engagement, fostering a positive work environment, providing excellent conditions, and demonstrating outstanding leadership!”

Speaking on behalf of IVSA, Zuzanna Czekaj added: “As submission for the photography contest, we saw pictures which illustrate, both from an artistic and a descriptive point of view, diversity in the veterinary profession! Congratulations to the winners!

FVE President, Siegfried Moder, concluded: “Veterinary workplaces across Europe can access invaluable resources for free through www.vetjoy.org, including workplace coaching vouchers, podcasts, videos, courses, and much more! Join us in creating a brighter future where every member thrives and let’s build a profession that prioritises well-being for all!

Learn more about this year’s winners, stay tuned for the reopening of all initiatives in 2025 and discover all resources on www.vetjoy.org!

VISTIT VETJOY WEBSITE

FVE - Federation of Veterinarians of Europe

Press Release