Cultivating Safe Teams program update

We are delighted to continue to roll out the THRIVE Cultivating Safe Teams (CST) psychological health and safety awareness training sessions to veterinary teams across Australia in 2024. Each training session aims to provide participants with an understanding of psychological health and safety in the workplace, inspire individuals to consider how they can help build a safe veterinary team, and encourage entire teams to define and commit to cultivating a workplace that is safe, equitable and well.  

Despite storms in far north Queensland and taxi drivers that defied speed limits in Esperance, facilitator Carly Webster has travelled some 9,500 km’s across Western Australia and Queensland in the last 8 weeks to present this invaluable training! 

There is still work ahead of us, with a further 22 veterinary workplaces to receive the training in 2024. Stakeholder events to share our stories have also been scheduled, including a CST Stakeholder discussion on Tuesday 9 April and the THRIVE Veterinary Wellness Symposium on Monday 27 May.    

We look forward to continuing to work on behalf of all veterinary professionals to make this training program a success well into the future.  

Monika Cole, Executive Officer - Wellness 

Participating clinic updates 

^{Image: Grantham Street Veterinary Clinic veterinary team}

Grantham Street Veterinary Clinic is an inner-suburbs small animal veterinary clinic in Perth, Western Australia and recently completed the Cultivating Safe Teams training.  

Veterinarian and co-partner of the clinic Dr Paul Davey said “As a practice we have been exploring third party expertise options to help us provide the best possible working environment for our staff. We truly want to help them to achieve all their personal and professional goals, and to be the best version of themselves when at work”.  

The practice has been engaged with the AVA’s Employer of Choice Program and the pilot program was a logical stepping stone to ensure they complied as a genuine employee-friendly veterinary practice in an era when this ideal is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.  

“As managers, you never actually know what might be worrying your staff, until you ask them. The AVA CST program gives you an insight into how to structure your approach, whilst allowing plenty of opportunity to tailor it to your circumstances and personnel,” Paul added.  

^{Image: Perth Cat Hospital veterinary team.}

Perth Cat Hospital has a team of 22 staff members who all share a passion for feline medicine. Client expectations are usually very high, with most seeking gold standard care for their fur babies.  

Practice Manager & Senior Registered Veterinary Nurse Amy Donovan shared that their team are also passionate about providing a safe workplace for staff, both physically and mentally.  

“Mental health is something we take very seriously, and we have put lots in place to support our staff in this area. Sometimes we feel not all the resources are utilised or staff feel embarrassed to ask for help when they need it. We felt the Thrive program would bring mental health to the forefront of everyone’s mind and reassure them that work is a safe place, and they have options to help them whenever they should need it,” said Amy. 

An important take home from the training was the discussion about mental health being a shared responsibility. Amy shared that “Management has a responsibility to provide a safe workplace and have resources/policies in place to ensure this for staff. They should maintain open communication on this issue and continue to update and improve as needed. Staff also have a responsibility to monitor and act on their own mental health and seek help when they need it. They also have a responsibility to abide by the workplace’s code of conduct and contribute towards making work a safe place”.  

^{Image: Swans Veterinary Services veterinary team.}

Situated in Esperance on the southeast coast of WA, is Swans Veterinary Services, a mixed practice clinic. The team of 32 see clients from all socio-economic groups in a local catchment area that spans up to 800km.  

The team provided highly positive feedback on the CST training. “Congratulations to the AVA for instigating this program. Our team got a lot out of the training session with Carly, reaffirming the importance of checking in on each other and that communication is key to a healthy team.” 

AVA is delighted to lead the THRIVE Cultivating Safe Teams Pilot Program. Thank you to all the participating workplaces, our training partner, Aspect Group, the Zoetis Foundation and our industry partners.  

Join us for our upcoming stakeholder discussion on Tuesday 9 April to learn more about creating a safe and great workplace!