Suicide Prevention Training for Veterinary Professionals 

This three-part course explores suicide prevention strategies to support veterinary medicine professionals. This course will take approximately three hours to complete and meets state licensure requirements for veterinary professionals in Washington.

• Three self-paced online training modules (total 3 hours)
• Module I – LEARN Saves Lives: Suicide Prevention for Veterinary Professionals (1 hour)
• Module II – The Intersection of Wellness & Suicide Prevention: Supporting the Health of Veterinary Medicine Professionals (1.5 hours)
• Module III – Access to Lethal Means (0.5 hours)
• Free and open to everyone.
• Appropriate for veterinarians and other professionals working in the veterinary field.

Learn specific veterinary industry skills for suicide prevention:

• Learn about unique challenges and risk factors veterinary professionals face.
• Explain the public health issue of suicide and why people may consider dying by suicide.
• Define and describe wellness concepts as they relate to the veterinary profession.
• Understand the importance of conversations about wellness and suicidality in reducing stigma and increasing connection.
• Understand thoughtful storage access to high-risk medications and other lethal means.
• Identify available resources for veterinary professionals and recommend appropriate resources for a wide variety of scenarios.

Take and share this free 3-hour suicide prevention training today. 

If you are unable to register for the training, please see this handout for more information.  If you are still unable to register, please email ffront@uw.edu.   

Suicide in the Veterinary Profession is a Crisis 

Suicide ranks as one of the top nine leading causes of death in Washington State and the United States. Compared to the general population, male veterinarians are 1.6 times more likely and female veterinarians are 2.4 times more likely to die by suicide. Furthermore, veterinary professionals report higher levels of anxiety, depression, compassion fatigue, and suicidal thoughts. To address this problem, Forefront Suicide Prevention has collaborated with Laura Moss, MD of the Washington Physicians Health Program and Sonja Olson, DVM of BluePearl Veterinary Partners​ and Heartstorming Wellness to produce a suicide prevention training that will improve the safety and wellbeing of veterinary professionals. 

References 

• Suicide Risk for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technicians. 2019. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2019/09/04/veterinary-suicide/ 
• Nett RJ, Witte TK, Holzbauer SM, et al. Prevalence of Risk Factors for Suicide Among Veterinarians — United States, 2014. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64(5):131-132. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6405a6.htm  

• Tomasi SE, Fechter-Leggett ED, Edwards NT, Reddish AD, Crosby AE, & Nett RJ. (2019). Suicide among veterinarians in the United States from 1979 through 2015. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 2019;254(1):104-112. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.254.1.104. https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/254/1/javma.254.1.104.xml