Welcome dog lovers!  Today we have a very fascinating guest on the show.  Joining me is Josh Vaisman who is a positive psychology practitioner and co-founder of Flourish Veterinary Consulting.  He’s been serving the veterinary industry since 1998 in roles ranging from technician to practice manager to hospital owner.  Pulling from a variety of post-graduate certifications and a masters in applied positive psychology, Josh is now dedicated to helping cultivate environments in which veterinary professionals can thrive.  Josh is going to be sharing with us information about a topic that absolutely shocks me: The Mental Health Crisis in Veterinary Medicine.  The Struggle is Real, and Hidden. Josh, you shared with me a statistic that I found hard to believe, “Veterinarians are killing themselves in alarming numbers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found male vets are 2.1 times as likely and female vets 3.5 times as likely to die by suicide compared with the general population. What’s going on here? Is the answer having more vets be specialists instead of having to know everything about different species? You wrote an article about burnout among veterinarians.  What percentage of vets say that they are currently experiencing burnout? How do you define burnout? Is this happening all over the world or more here in the US?  Do these professionals realize their mental state?  Where can they turn for support and treatment? And you did a survey of vet techs.  What were the results? Josh, where can everyone find out more information about you and Flourish Veterinary Consulting? https://www.flourishveterinaryconsulting.com/ Social Media: FB @flourishveterinaryconsulting IG @joshvaisman Here are a few resources that Josh is sharing related to the wellbeing challenges veterinary professionals face: · An article that he recently appeared on NPR. · An article he wrote on his blog about burnout among veterinary technicians in which he shared the results of an extensive survey he held. · A study recently conducted by the CDC in partnership with AVMA about vet suicide rates. · A study recently conducted by Merck Animal Health looking at wellbeing among veterinarians around the country. Josh mentioned:  QPR Institute https://qprinstitute.com/ We appreciate our sponsor: Dawn Celapino and Young Living Click link to receive a welcome kit with some non-toxic cleaner Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for tuning in again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the Bark About it section. Or you can click on the social media buttons to share an episode. Special thanks to Josh for being on the show. Catch you next time! Also, don’t forget to Subscribe for FREE: Apple Podcasts | Android | Spotify I Stitcher The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a veterinarian, licensed nutritionist or other qualified professional. The host as well as guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and Wag Out Loud LLC neither endorses or opposes any particular views discussed here.