More support available for vets facing mounting mental health pressures
His time as a vet began humbly, living in a caravan with his family, taking consultations at the park's entrance and operating on clients' kitchen tables.
But while his dedication to the animals of Broome and the West Kimberley has not faded, the demanding pace and long hours can take a heavy toll.
"The other night, I started work at one in the morning and I finished a cattle boat at 7am," he said.
"Then I had to drive 400 kilometres and prick test cattle all day.
"I was very weary at the end of the day."
Dr Morrell said the frustration of not being able to heal every animal had affected him deeply when he was a younger vet.
"I broke down in tears a few times, feeling I was inadequate and I couldn't fix everything that was presented to me," he said.
Dr Morrell said it was the shattering of romantic "James Herriot notions" upon entering the field, as well as low compensation and general under-appreciation, that vet professionals struggled with most.
James Herriot was a British veterinary surgeon best known for writing books about his practice in the Yorkshire Dales, which were adapted for the All Creatures Great and Small television series and film.
Research shows veterinarians are four times more likely to die by suicide than the general population, and two times more likely than other healthcare professionals.
Additional funding is now being allocated to a program aimed at easing the emotional toll of the role.
Research commissioned by the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) in 2021 found that challenging client interactions, workplace bullying, long hours, and high workloads were among the most common factors contributing to the condition of vet workers' mental health.
More than 66 per cent of respondents said they had experienced a mental health condition, compared with 43 per cent of the general population.
On the back of the study, the AVA launched a veterinary wellness initiative delivering psychological health and safety awareness training sessions.
It was made available to 50 workplaces between September 2023 and December 2024.
Kelley Johnson, a former veterinary nurse and now manager of a vet hospital in Melbourne, jumped at the opportunity to participate.
She said the program facilitator had asked her colleagues and staff members questions, and their answers were submitted anonymously before being displayed for all to see.
"I suppose I thought there were a lot of areas where I felt we were doing really well as employers and managers, and we found that we weren't.
"We discovered that there was conflict that we weren't aware of. There were people that were feeling less than psychologically safe."
AVA vice-president Diana Barker said the pilot version of the program had received "a massive amount" of positive feedback.
The AVA has now been awarded a grant of nearly $190,000 from the non-profit Zoetis Foundation to expand its program.
"This will allow us to expand our Cultivating Safe Teams program, so we intend to make this program available to every single individual veterinary team member in Australia, either online or face-to-face," Dr Barker said.
The grant funds will also be used to develop a program called CST ACTION, intended to help workplaces implement strategies to ensure working as a veterinary professional does not negatively affect mental health.
Dr Morrell said he was happy to hear that help was being provided.
"It's good to see that they're aware of the issue and addressing it, and I hope the people who are in a bad way take advantage of it," he said.
The AVA is planning a second veterinary wellness study for later this year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
11 hours ago
- ABC News
Suicide prevention leader and senior researcher outline why lived experience is vital for national strategy
When it comes to suicide prevention, Samantha McIntosh knows more than most. With a lived experience of suicidality, a long career in suicide prevention and a recent foray into academia on the subject, the Darwin woman has seen multiple facets of what she described as a still highly stigmatised issue. As opposed to coming from a purely clinical perspective, she says having both personal and professional experience of suicidality — defined as the risk of suicide, indicated by suicidal ideation — can be crucial to engaging with patients and devising solutions. Ms McIntosh has long advocated for people with lived experience to be central when it comes to drafting strategies and other prevention efforts. And governments and independent commissions are starting to agree. According to a June 2025 report from the Productivity Commission, the federal government's National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement is failing to meet the mark. While the expenditures of governments on mental health has grown by around 30 per cent over the past 10 years, suicide rates over that period of time remain unchanged. The Productivity Commission recommended greater inclusion of people with lived and living experience of suicidality in drafting and implementing policy. For Ms McIntosh, the recommendations present a rare opportunity for change. At the other end of Australia — in the regional Victorian town of Warragul — Anton Isaacs, a senior lecturer at Monash University's School of Rural Health, has been helping bring Ms McIntosh's ideas to life. "It's rare for somebody to have the kind of expertise that Sam has," he said. "She has the lived experience of suicidality, she has supported people who have attempted to take their lives, she has been a suicide prevention worker and she worked in leadership positions in programs." The pair recently co-authored a peer-reviewed perspective paper on challenges to suicide prevention, merging Dr Isaacs's experience of drafting strategies with Ms McIntosh's experience of navigating them. It focuses on broadly on stigma surrounding suicide, diving specifically into the careless reporting of suicide in news media, access points of care, and a general lack of understanding in the community when it comes to helping at-risk individuals access services. Dr Isaacs said the work being done is just the beginning, but he noted that integrating lived experience into suicide prevention would require the sector to confront some "basic truths". "Suicide has traditionally fallen under the remit of mental health services, which are clinical services. In clinical medicine, the focus is to arrive at a diagnosis and treat it," he said. "In suicide prevention, the focus is not on arriving at a diagnosis and treating, the focus is care and compassion — that is not clinical. Ms McIntosh agreed, and said the key to effective suicide prevention was a matter of striking the right balance. "That combination of clinical and lived experience doesn't exist in a lot of places," she said. Last month, the Mental Health Commission published its National Suicide Prevention Strategy for the next 10 years, which emphasised the inclusion of people with lived experience in prevention efforts. "People with lived and living experience have the greatest insights into what works, what does not work, and what is missing in suicide prevention," it reads. But Dr Isaacs and Ms McIntosh explained that such inclusion must be considered and meaningful, rather than a "tick-box exercise". "If people don't consider lived experience to be central or core to their work, then they don't give it the importance that they need," Dr Isaacs said. "If that happens, the people with lived experience at the table will feel disillusioned or could be re-traumatised." Ms McIntosh also said any plan to centralise lived experience in prevention efforts would have to be tailored to the needs of various communities, especially in a unique landscape like the NT. "The geographical layout of the territory itself poses problems," she said "We know that there's workforce challenges across the [NT] in all sectors and being able to support the diversity of the territory and communities is also something that we face." While the obstacles to change are numerous, she said there was plenty of support across the sector to make lived experiences central to new prevention strategies. "I think that they would be more successful, I think that they would be more achievable, and I think you would have higher client rates," Ms McIntosh said.
9 News
2 days ago
- 9 News
Dad barred from interfering with son's cancer treatment speaks out
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here A WA father barred from interfering with his teenage son's cancer treatment says he now supports the boy receiving chemotherapy . The family claims they wanted time to consider their options, but the boy was taken away before they could. His son is fighting a rare blood cancer, which was only recently diagnosed, but this father says he feels like the teenager was kidnapped after doctors said he needed chemotherapy. A WA father barred from interfering with his teenage son's cancer treatment says he now supports him receiving chemotherapy. (9News) "They said, 'We're taking the boy to Perth, we're flying him right now to hospital', and we felt very pressurised," the father claimed in an interview with 9News. "I said, 'we need 24 hours just to review our options, there's a few key people to speak to'." The father claimed they did not get that time and police eventually arrived at their home. "The boy went back in the house because the house was surrounded, and it seemed that they were absolutely going to kidnap him," the father claimed. "Every time there's a a shape move behind us or a red and blue light, we're all filled with terror." The father (left) was handcuffed and his teenager taken to Perth Children's Hospital for treatment for acute myleoid leukemia. (9News) The father was handcuffed and his teenager taken to Perth Children's Hospital for treatment for acute myleoid leukemia. The Family Court was told it was an emergency and without it, the boy could die within weeks. But on the weekend, his father cut his chemotherapy line. "I asked for them to pause until we could then look at alternatives," the father claimed. He said he had now changed his mind and "we fully support the hospital". "We're happy to go along with them. Honestly I just need the time to do my own research. A WA father barred from interfering with his teenage son's cancer treatment says he now supports him receiving chemotherapy. (9News) "I do believe that each of us should be able to choose our own healthcare, that should be a human right." The boy's chemo continues here at Perth Children's Hospital where it's expected he'll have to attend for at least the next four to six weeks. "He's a real talent and he's an amazing boy," the father said. "If anyone's going to beat it, he will." Western Australia Perth courts cancer health CONTACT US Auto news: Why Australians are still driving around without insurance.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
High cost of living affects specialty cheese sales but sheep dairy industry still hopeful
Did you know sheep's milk is considered to have more nutrients than cow's milk? The sheep dairy industry in Australia is small, particularly when compared to regions like the Mediterranean where sheep's milk and cheese are an integral part of people's diets. But that is not stopping Australian producers and dietitians from wanting to raise awareness about the alternative milk's health benefits and unique taste. Eat Sustainably nutritionist Amelia Harray said sheep's milk had a higher percentage of protein than milk produced by cows or goats. "With that comes a higher amount of calcium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, and all these other really essential nutrients that our bodies need to stay well each day," Dr Harray said. Dr Harray, who is also a researcher with the University of Western Australia's medical school, said despite the health benefits of sheep's milk, it would likely not be a viable option for people with a dairy allergy. "Many people who have a cow's milk protein allergy will also react to milk from other mammals, including sheep and goats," she said. Cambray Cheese, located about 240 kilometres south of Perth, is Western Australia's only commercial sheep milk and cheese producer. Owner Tom Wilde said he was "spreading the word" as much as possible about the benefits of sheep dairy products. "When we do the farmers' market in Margaret River every weekend, people have a try [of our products] and we can tell them about how it's a lot better for your gut and easier to digest," he said. "Traditionally, people are looking for goat's milk and cheese. A lot of people don't even know that there's sheep's milk or sheep's cheeses around, so it's just about educating people." Mr Wilde said Cambray Cheese sold its first batch of sheep's milk in 2024 for $12 a litre, about three times the price of a litre of cow's milk. "We were worried that people wouldn't be able to afford the price that it needed to be because it's expensive milk, but there were no issues. People absolutely loved it," he said. "The milk is very sweet compared to cow's milk, and it's really nice and thick. It's lovely milk. Meredith Dairy, a family farm located 120 kilometres west of Melbourne, is Australia's largest sheep and goat milk and cheese producer. Director Julie Cameron said sheep and goat dairy products were generally more expensive due to the extensive labour requirements. "We can get a litre of milk a day from a sheep, we can get 3 litres from a goat, but if you're a cow dairy farmer, you can get between 15 and 40 litres a day," she said. Due to improvements in animal production and automation, Ms Cameron said she had only raised her prices once in the past three decades. She said the demand for specialty cheeses had fallen recently as a result of the current "economic crisis". Despite this, Ms Cameron said she remained hopeful the situation would turn around. "We talk to the dairy buyers in the supermarkets and they say sales are slow for specialty cheeses, which is sad, but maybe people don't have that spare money for discretionary purchases of luxury items like mould-ripened cheeses or blue cheeses or imported cheeses," she said. "But I have faith that the economy will pick up, and I'm sure the sales of these specialty cheeses will pick up again." Mr Wilde said he would like to see more farmers give sheep milk production a go. "It's probably one of the biggest industries of start-ups and failures in Australia," he said. "There are not many sheep dairies still running in Australia because it's very labour-intensive. "[But] if you love sheep, then it's worth it. "We would actually love to be able to buy sheep's milk from other farmers. If that was an option, then we could focus on the cheese side of things."
