How vet schools are trying to address the mental health challenges plaguing veterinarians

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• John Yang:

  Being a veterinarian can be satisfying and rewarding, caring for beloved pets that can't care for themselves or even speak up when they're sick. But it can also bring mental health challenges that some feel have not been adequately addressed. Now some veterinary schools are trying to do something about it for the next generation of vets. We should warn you that this story discusses suicide.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  For as long as she can remember, Chelsea Van Thof wanted to be a veterinarian.

• Chelsea Van Thof, Veterinarian:

  I loved animals. I was little and I wanted to be animal. You know, there's just connections that you can feel with animals that sometimes you can just never get with a person.

• John Yang:

  Like now.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  Like now, yeah.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  Her four year old Dalmatian, Hugo has sustained Van Thof for the past two and a half years, ever since her partner and vet school classmate Peter Tripping took his own life.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  Hugo kept me going. I don't know if I would be here if I hadn't had Hugo when Peter left.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  Van Thof and Tripp met in a vet school study group.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  I remember walking into the room and being taken with him immediately.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  She recalls how he always thought of others, donating blood and even bone marrow and helping her when she felt consumed by the self-doubt of imposter syndrome, that nagging sense that success and achievements aren't deserved. After graduating, they eventually settled in Washington, D.C. where Tripp worked at a veterinary hospital.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  I always felt calm with Peter. Everything looked like it rolled off of his back. It's kind of hard to think about now knowing what was going on in his head.

• Peter Van Sant (voice-over):

  She says it wasn't until April 2022 that he even hinted at his own struggles.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  I had actually asked him if he could see a therapist and he was very open to it, very open to seeing a therapist.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  But at about 9:30 that night, Van Thof woke to the sound of the front door. She assumed Tripp was taking out the trash and waited to hear him come back in a sound that never came.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  I got a text from him at 10:40 and he talked about imposter syndrome, which was a huge shock to me because he had never said anything. And so, you know, I realize what's happening and I jump up. I'm just panicking. And I immediately think, this isn't real. This is a cry for help.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  A frantic search ended when Tripp's body was found in Rock Creek Park at the base of a 136 foot high bridge.

  A 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that veterinarians are twice as likely than the general population to die by suicide. While three quarters of vets say it's a satisfying career, there are also distinct sources of stress.

  Kerry Karaffa, University of Missouri Vet School: Veterinarians oftentimes tend to be so empathetic and caring towards other people, they'll do anything to help others. That's in some ways part of their professional identity, but they have a very different set of rules sometimes for how they respond to themselves.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  Psychologist Kerry Karaffa is mental health and wellness coordinator at the University of Missouri Vet School. He says part of it is a drive for perfection.

• Kerry Karaffa:

  We know that some aspects of perfectionism, like attention to detail or, you know, high kind of personal standards, those can be positive, those can be incredibly motivating. But if perfectionism is maladaptive, you know, where it's characterized by excessive self-criticism or just deep fear of making mistakes or disappointing others, it starts to become detrimental not only to academic performance, but also to mental health or well-being in general.

• John Yang:

  How much of that is because their patients can't tell them what's going on? They can't say, I feel pain here.

• Kerry Karaffa:

  Yeah, quite a bit. I mean, they're essentially having to, you know, oftentimes read body language. The quality of the information is sort of dependent on, you know, the pet owner or the client and their ability to self-report. It's not the same as, you know, a human physician who's able to do a clinical interview with a patient who can speak back.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  Another study says a big reason for the disproportionate rate of veterinarian suicides is easy access to euthanasia drugs. The difference between suicide rates among veterinarians and the general population goes away when cases in which vets use those drugs are excluded.

• Kerry Karaffa:

  We know that in professions where folks have easier access to lethal means, there also tends to be higher rates of suicide. You have to have these things readily available enough to where the veterinarian is able to use it for medical purposes, while also being mindful about accessibility for other purposes.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  That study suggests that suicides could be prevented with stricter controls on those drugs, like requiring a key card to get them. While those practices haven't been widely adopted, vet schools are increasingly focusing on the underlying issue of psychological well-being.

• John Yang:

  Millions of Americans rely on veterinarians to care for the physical health of their beloved pets like Basil and Kit here. But at a growing number of veterinary schools, they're launching programs to care for their students mental health.

• Woman:

  And around Christmas time as an intern, I was on that shift and I euthanized 12 patients in a six hour period. When that last one came in, when that 13th came in, I looked at my supervisor and I said, there is no way in hell I can do this right now.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  At Ohio State University's vet school, candid classroom conversations about mental health are part of the primary curriculum.

  Janis Lapsley, College of Veterinary Medicine: We talk a lot about resiliency and wellness within the veterinary profession and part of that starts here.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  In this class of first year students, assistant professor Janis Lapsley offers strategies for becoming confident and successful veterinarians, including taking care of themselves.

• Janis Lapsley:

  Starting out now with talking about these topics and opening this conversation for them now is a good way to just build these skills for them, just like we're building the skills for them of how to talk to a client or how to perform a surgery.

  Rustin Moore, Dean Ohio State University College of Veterinarian Medicine: None of us are perfect. We've all had our struggles and I think sharing our struggles, even in the classroom, helps them.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  Rustin Moore is dean of the school and a former practicing veterinarian.

• Rustin Moore:

  About the 21st day of my deanship in September of 2015, we lost a student, a second year student, to suicide. What came as a complete shock to everybody, but losing that student really changed me, changed the college.

  We hope that you will focus as much attention on your physical and mental well-being as usual, your academic performance.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  The school launched a comprehensive wellness initiative called Be Well. They hired therapists, counselors and a psychiatrist for students, faculty and staff. Open discussions about mental health and inclusion were encouraged.

• Woman:

  And remember, you actually matter and you deserve to be here.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  At last year's new student orientation, the initiative's catchphrase was heard time and time again.

• Man:

  You belong.

• John Yang:

  You belong. What do you mean by that?

• Rustin Moore:

  Thinking back to imposter syndrome, I'm not good enough to be here. I shouldn't have been here. I'm taking up somebody else's seat that deserves it more. And my point is, no, we took you because you belong here. You deserve to be here. Don't ever question that.

  Spencer Varney, Student, Ohio State University College of Veterinarian Medicine: Sometimes those type of topics and mental health can kind of be like a side note or kind of put on the back burner.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  Spencer Varney is a first year student.

• Spencer Varney:

  But here at OSU, I really feel like they prioritize mental health and really make sure that the students are well attended to and well aware of themselves.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  In Washington, Van Thof says a program like that would have been helpful when she was a student.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  If were taught as intensively around our own well-being as we are around the well-being of animals, I think it would make a huge difference.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  Now she's made a difference by persuading the city to double the height of the barriers on the bridge where Tripp took his own life. Twelve other people died by suicide there between the beginning of 2010 and the middle of 2022 for Van Thof, it's a way of dealing with her grief.

• Chelsea Van Thof:

  As much as I never want people to feel the kind of pain that I and Peter's loved ones have now, and as much as I want to help people in crisis, it was also a way of taking control of something that was so unimaginable.

• John Yang (voice-over):

  At Ohio State. The hope of preventing more tragedies also drives the commitment to the Be Well initiative, even if its effect is hard to measure. Is there any way to tell if Be Well is making a difference?

• Rustin Moore:

  Sometimes when you're doing things preventatively, you don't know. And so I don't know, but I'm not going to take the chance to not do it because it's too important.