The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) has announced a new civility training collaboration with the RCVS VN Futures project to help tackle incivility in the workplace. The training will be delivered by VetLed.
Having worked with VetLed previously in the year to deliver six successful online civility training sessions, MMI and VN Futures are collaborating to extend the reach of these sessions by providing both online and in-person training in a range of locations across the UK.
The continued delivery of Civility Training sessions comes as part of MMI’s ongoing commitment to promoting the importance of civility and psychological safety in the workplace.
A joint survey into the mental health and well-being of students and newly qualified veterinary nurses, run by MMI and VN Futures back in August 2021, revealed that 96% of respondents believed that incivility and bullying were serious problems in the profession.
The survey was then proceeded by a Student Veterinary Nursing Discussion Forum, again run by MMI and VN Futures, to allow the student and newly qualified veterinary nurses, clinical coaches, and educators to discuss the key challenges highlighted in the survey.
Findings from the forum, published in the Student Veterinary Nursing Discussion Forum Report, show that ‘delegates felt that an overall improvement in workplace culture and professional respect was needed – including fostering better manners in the ways colleagues communicated to each other.’
Angharad Belcher, RCVS director of the Advancement of the Professions and the Mind Matters Initiative, said: ‘We’re delighted to be collaborating with VN Futures to continue the delivery of these hugely important civility training sessions. Workplace culture has an enormous impact on mental health, and it is vital that all members of the practice team are respected, listened to, and feel able to speak out.’
‘Our previous civility training sessions proved to be hugely popular and received excellent feedback, so we’re excited to be able to bring them to a wider audience. I thank VetLed and VN Futures for their ongoing dedication and support.’
Jill Macdonald RVN, VN Futures Lead, said: ‘It’s really exciting working with MMI and VetLed on this latest series of civility training. Having been involved with the survey and the forum last year, we, like MMI, are fiercely committed to creating psychologically safe workplaces for all.’
‘Mental health and workplace culture are inextricably linked, so hopefully, running these sessions throughout the UK will have a long-lasting ripple effect in improving practice culture up and down the country.’
There will be 12 in-person and online sessions running between October 2022 and April 2023 which will be open to the entire veterinary team. The civility training sessions are being subsidised by MMI, with in-person training costing £50 per person per session and online training costing £20 per session.
