An initiative to help veterinary professionals share their stories and draw strength from each other
Vicki Lim is a recently-qualified veterinarian working in Auckland, New Zealand. She is also a founder member of the PWG. Having become interested in the issue of mental health and wellbeing during vet school, she set up the Riptide Project to provide a safe environment in which veterinary professionals could share experiences and connect with one another.
Dr Vicki Lim
Founder of the Riptide Project & Member of the WSAVA PWG
I particularly enjoyed my placements during vet school,” she explains. “Getting involved in the clinics and chatting to the vets and nurses, I realized that, while many employers talk a great deal about mental health and what they are doing to protect it, many employed vets and nurses are still not really seeing a tangible difference in their day-to-day lives. I wanted to bridge that gap.
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[blockquote]I set up the Riptide Project in 2017 to enables veterinary professionals around the world to share stories and experience. It also offers a mentorship program – called Riptide Cuppa – through which I aim to connect individuals with one of my 200 mentors, to help them with whatever they might be seeking support in.[/blockquote]
Dr Lim says she is constantly surprised that she meets people from around the world who know her through the Riptide Project and they like to share their favourite story from the website with her and explain why it resonated with them. She receives requests ‘for a Cuppa from all over the world’ and recently had an individual contact her in search of a supervisor for a veterinary professional as they were returning to the profession after time off to recover from substance abuse. She says being able to find an appropriate supervisor after a few organisations had failed to do so was ‘pretty gratifying.’
The problems that we are facing in our profession are multi-faceted and there is not one cure-all and we have to tackle the problems at many levels,” she says. “I see Riptide as a vehicle to connect with veterinary professionals on an individual or small group basis while I’m happy to advise on a larger profession/workplace-centric basis through the WSAVA PWG.
I love being a vet and being in the profession so, in my small way, I want to make it better.
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Check out the Riptide Project
http://www.theriptideproject.com/
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