Counseling Support
Counseling options for staff and students at Ryan Hospital and New Bolton Center.
STUDENTS:
Student Counseling @ PennVet
Location: Rosenthal Room 122 (both virtual and in-person appts available) Hours: Tuesday/Wednesday 3p-7p
- Call Student Counseling at 215-898-7021 and select option 2 to schedule an appointment (request appt with Heather Frost)
- Email counselor to schedule appointment: hfrost@upenn.edu
Heather is a licensed clinical social worker who works with students around issues related to anxiety, depression, life transitions, relationships, identity, trauma, and family dynamics. She has particular training in issues related to sexual health/well-being and working with the LGBTQ community.
Student Counseling @ Penn
Phone: 215-898-7021 Website: https://wellness.upenn.edu/student-health-and-counseling
STAFF AND STUDENTS AT RYAN:
Location: Rosenthal 122
Counselor On-Site: Alea Cummings, MSW, LCSW 
Services Available: Provides direct social work services and counseling to the faculty, interns, residents, staff, nurses and clients of Ryan Hospital. Provides therapy, individual or group debrief sessions following difficult cases (e.g., animal abuse), consultation about work or personal life, and referrals to and collaboration with other supports. You have the right to privacy and confidentiality as guaranteed by PA law Statute 42 Pa. C.S.A.§ 5945.1. See Wellbeing and Social Work Confidentiality Agreement for details.
To set up an appointment:
- Email: aleacu@upenn.edu
STAFF AND STUDENTS AT NBC: Wellness Counselor - NBC
Location: New Bolton Center
Counselor: Page Buck, PhD, LSW
Services Available
- All NBC community members for consultation, assessment and referrals – whether you are worried about yourself or a colleague.
- 4th year LA students, house officers, nurses and other staff for short-term/supportive counseling, typically over Zoom and at times that work for your schedule.
To set up an appointment:
- Leave a voice or text message : 484-880-4931
- Email: : pagebuck@vet.upenn.edu
- Employee Assistance Program at PennThe EAP program at Penn offers free, confidential, 24/7 counseling for staff and faculty. Phone contact: 866-799-2329, email eapinfo@healthadvocate.com or visit www.healthadvocate.com/upenn
Welcome to Veterinary Wellness Resources
The University of Pennsylvania and the School of Veterinary Medicine have a commitment to the wellness of our students, faculty and staff. Here are some resources available to help you feel supported and sustained by our community. Please let us know of resources that you've found helpful.
Page Buck, Dee Crandall, Heather Frost, Margy Lindem, Carrie O’Shaughnessy
Wellness Events and Programs At Penn
- Wellness Worklife for Penn EmployeesPograms and policies that help cultivate a culture of wellness and total wellbeing across campus.
- Employee wellness eventsWorkshops and training in wellness skills for employees
- Penn Wellness CalendarHours for CAPS main office, Meditation sessions and other campus wellness events
- Penn Wellness Facebook pageMore events and news
- Campus Health Wellness programsSleep Well, Breathe Well (smoking cessation),Eat Well, Move Well, Sex Well, stress reduction and disease prevention etc programs
- Wellness Partners Directory of Referral ServicesDirectory of campus-wide programs that identifies faculty and staff who are knowledgeable about Penn wellness resources. [not updated]
- NatureRx at PennLaunched by the Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives, NatureRx is a new program to engage Penn students, faculty, and staff to spend time in nature to reduce stress and anxiety, increase energy, and have protective, restorative time. One way to get out in nature is by attending one of their Weekly Themed Wellness Walks around campus.
Relaxation Spaces!
- Green Spaces - Nature RxResearch has shown that time spent in nature can positively impact our health and well-being. This is an interactive map of parks, gardens, and other green spaces around Penn's campus!
- Kaskey ParkGet your 20 minutes in nature at the Biopond, south of the Goddard and Richards Laboratories. Enjoy benches, picnic tables, and a turtle pond in a landscaped woods.
- Wellness Room at the Holman Biotech CommonsRelaxation facility includes yoga mats, games, quiet activities to unwind. Site includes a relaxation playlist.
- Jigsaw puzzles in Penn Vet librariesPenn Vet libraries offer community jigsaw puzzles. Cast your vote for the puzzles you'd like to work on next.
- Rosenthal Basement LoungeSpace for vet students to unwind features games, gaming consoles, and foosball table.
- PennImmersive Library VR Headsets and VR RoomsBorrow Oculus Go or Smartphone VR headsets preloaded with VR experiences, relaxation programs, games and educational programs from Van Pelt Library or the Education Commons. For access to the Oculus or Vive VR rooms, please contact David Toccafondi, Vitale Digital Media Lab Manager.
- Amazon Prime Members loungeLounge for Amazon Prime members with TVs, video game consoles in the 1920 Commons, Locust Walk
Recommended websites and videos
- Learn how to meditateAction for Happiness Meditation instruction
- Lynda.com videos on wellnessPlaylist of short videos and video courses on managing stress, avoiding burnout, mindfullness and meditation. Send us your own recommendations.
- Self-compassionMindful Self-Compassion combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion, providing a powerful tool for emotional resilience. Self-assessment and exercises.
TED Talks recommended by Heather Frost
- The power of vulnerability by Brene Brown
- Listening to shame by Brene Brown
- What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it? by Elizabeth Cox
- How students of color confront imposter syndrome by Dena Simmons
- All it takes is 10 mindful minutes by Andy Puddicombe
- How to make stress your friend by Kelly McGonigal
- There’s no shame in taking care of your mental health by Sangu Delle
- Don’t suffer from your depression in silence by Nikki Webber Allen
- How to connect with depressed friends by Bill Bernat
- Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness by Michele L. Sullivan
- How to ask for help—and get a ‘yes’ by Heidi Grant
- What I learned from 100 days of rejection by Jia Jiang
New Events Calendar!
Check the Events Calendar to join in workshops, webinars, and other wellness-enhancing events.
Please let us know of resources that you've found helpful!
Books, Articles and Apps
Coping with Stress and Burnout As a Veterinarian by
Being a veterinarian can be a rewarding career requiring a passion for animals, excellent interpersonal skills and a strong work ethic. It can also be stressful. So stressful, that the suicide rate for veterinarians is almost four times higher than the general population across the UK, Australia, US, New Zealand and Canada. The effects of working long hours, performing euthanasia on animals, emotional pressure, financial issues, unrealistic expectations, and dealing with distressed clients place considerable stress on both the vet themselves and their families at home. Failure to cope with such stress upsets mental wellbeing and can lead to serious emotional, physical, and behavioural issues, including self-harm.Nadine Hamilton, veterinary-friendly psychologist and founder of the charity Love Your Pet Love Your Vet, has spent over 15 years in her specialty psychology practice working with thousands of stressed vets as well as consulting to industry associations, practice managers and owners to increase wellbeing, productivity, and retention in the workplace. Her postgraduate research at the University of Southern Queensland focussed on how key evidence-based psychological strategies could be used to decrease the risk of psychological ill-health and suicide by vets due to their day-to-day stress levels. What she found was that the best way to tackle the unique nature of veterinary stress was to combine certain psychoeducational elements. That meant specific education on the principles of positive psychology, mindfulness, and ACT along with a 'toolkit' of practical tasks from these fields. Combining these elements with supportive strategies such as stress management and communication tips results in a holistic intervention able to have a scientifically measurable positive impact on wellbeing. Coping with Stress and Burnout as a Veterinarian is a cost-effective highly accessible way to empower vets in their everyday work lives to use psychological knowledge and skills to combat stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and suicide. It is an easy read for individual vets both experienced and freshly minted and sits well with existing veterinary HR approaches as well as supporting face-to-face counselling and industry association mental health programs. It also provides a clear call-to-arms for veterinary industry leaders. The book is structured in four sections. The first two provide vets with both an understanding and an acknowledgement of the uniqueness of their work and the mental health issues that come with that. A section on psychology provides a comprehensive overview of several psychological fields that assist wellbeing. The final section includes specially selected strategies for everyday use. Together, these elements result in a unique resource able to provide self-help as well as support for existing vet wellbeing programs. Research has shown the importance of reinforcing the immediate-term effects of mental health interventions with take-home resources -- something that reminds people of the information they have learnt and is able to be referred back to in difficult times. That's why this book is so well received by vet hospitals and clinics worldwide -- for some who take it off a practice shelf the book will simply be a confirmation that they or a colleague are not alone in experiencing stress and that their issues are understood, for others they will find practical tools helpful in their working day, for leaders it might help guide their interactions with staff, or it might help someone to seek professional help.
Call Number: Veterinary Library. SF756.28 .H36 2019ISBN: 9781925644197Publication Date: 2019-02-25
The Unspoken Life by
As veterinarians and caregivers, we sometimes feel dark and lonely-trapped by our obligations and the expectations of the world. We care for so many lives. Yet our own lives can feel unspoken for. In The Unspoken Life, veteran veterinarian and speaker Dr. Kimberly Pope-Robinson rebuilds the bridge from darkness to connection and shares how to: - Find balance between the negative and the positive - Harness the seven core principles of connection - Overcome challenges with empathy and humor - Recognize, embrace, and connect to life again We don't have to blame and judge ourselves for being in a dark place. We don't need to be fixed. We are normal, loved, and wanted. More, we are in control, and we can move forward with our lives. We are one life connected. And we can cross that bridge back to connection, starting with just one step.
Call Number: Veterinary Library. SF613.P67 A3 2017ISBN: 9780998672601Publication Date: 2017-04-26
Vet cookbook : how to feed and care for the domestic human by
"This book you're holding is the result of an unprecedented collaboration with over 100 veterinarians, nurses, techs, kennel hands, groomers, students, doctors and animal health professionals, mostly from Australia but also from around the world. ... The shocking truth is that this book isn't about food. It's a humble attempt to approach the epidemic of mental health issues in our profession by promoting collegiality. It's about self-care and team-care, oft-undervalued soft skills, resilience and compassion" -- From the introduction.
Call Number: New Bolton Library. TX 714 .V48 2017ISBN: 9780994607256Publication Date: 2017
Braving the Wilderness by
A timely and important book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations, and culture, from the #1 bestselling author of Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection. "True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are." Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives--experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging. Brown argues that we're experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other. She writes, "True belonging requires us to believe in and belong to ourselves so fully that we can find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary. But in a culture that's rife with perfectionism and pleasing, and with the erosion of civility, it's easy to stay quiet, hide in our ideological bunkers, or fit in rather than show up as our true selves and brave the wilderness of uncertainty and criticism. But true belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others; it's a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity. It's a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts." Brown offers us the clarity and courage we need to find our way back to ourselves and to each other. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. Brown writes, "The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand."
Call Number: Veterinary Library. HM753 .B765 2017ISBN: 9780812995848Publication Date: 2017-09-12
Daring Greatly by
From thought leader Brené Brown, a transformative new vision for the way we lead, love, work, parent, and educate that teaches us the power of vulnerability. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."--Theodore Roosevelt. Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, LMSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage. Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: "When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives." Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It's about courage. In a world where "never enough" dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It's even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there's a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena--whether it's a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.
Call Number: Veterinary Library. BF575.A85 B76 2015ISBN: 9781592408412Publication Date: 2015-04-07
Available as an Ebook!
Dare to Lead by
Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she's showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don't pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don't see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don't avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it's necessary to do good work. But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we're choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we're scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can't do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start. Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love. Brown writes, "One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It's learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It's why we're here." Whether you've read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you're new to Brené Brown's work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.
ISBN: 9780399592522Publication Date: 2018-10-09
Recommended articles
- 8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Mood in 5 Minutes or LessResearch-based article from the Chopra Center
- The Rx for Imposter SyndromeChopra Center article on what it is, how to recognize if you struggle with it, and great, concrete suggestions for how to address it.
Apps
- Apps to handle Anxiety Stress & RelaxationRecommended apps from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Counseling Center
Vet-specific Online Resources
- AVMA Wellness and Peer Assistance siteModules on Self-Assessment, Work & Compassion Fatigue, Stress Management , Financial Wellbeing and Work-Life Balance, Physical Health, Self-Care, Wellbeing Programs, and Sources of Help
- MightyVetMightyVet offers free, on-demand continuing education, mentorship programs, and resources to help veterinary professionals in their career and wellbeing.
- Banfield ExchangeThe Banfield Exchange offers resources and guides for overcoming compassion fatigue, fostering stress resiliency, and more.
- Mind Matters InitiativeThe Mind Matters Initiative is an initiative based out of the UK that aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of all members of a veterinary team, including students, veterinary nurses, veterinary surgeons and practice managers.
- I MatterThe Ontario Veterinary Medical Association has compiled resources and strategies for understanding mental health and wellness, including podcasts and infosheets.
Peer Support
- Not One More VetOnline international veterinary support group, founded by a vet. Hotlines to call, support resources and mental health and wellness postings by members.
- Vets4VetsVets4Vets is a confidential peer support group for veterinarians.
Video Series
- VetMedTeamFree video series on wellness and career satisfaction topics from VetMedTeam. Requires free membership registration.