Mental wellness is important in all veterinary practices. Merck Animal Health, known as MSD Animal Health outside of the United States and Canada, announced that the company is partnering with Not One More Vet (NOMV), a U.S.-based non-profit focused on mental health and wellbeing support for veterinary professionals, on the launch of CLEAR (Compassion, Listening, Energy, Action, Resources) Blueprint. CLEAR Blueprint is a program meant to encourage clinics to develop and maintain a work environment that prioritizes wellbeing and mental health and is available to veterinary teams from anywhere in the world in any specialty or clinic setting.
Designed with all clinic staff in mind, the new program offers a practice certification process that was developed by an interdisciplinary team of veterinary professionals and mental health professionals. This certification seeks to inspire mentally healthy cultures within veterinary medicine and energize workplaces with actionable tools and resources.
“Veterinary medicine is an extremely rewarding field of work, but it can also be inherently difficult for many reasons. Fortunately, there are steps that employers and staff can take together to improve wellbeing and ultimately increase wellbeing of veterinarians, staff, and everyone in the practice,” said Joseph Hahn, DVM, executive director, US Companion Animal and Equine Professional Services. “We are a profession with tremendous capabilities and willpower, and our goal through this partnership with NOMV is to further cultivate and nourish a mentally healthy culture across the entire veterinary industry.”
The CLEAR Blueprint program is based on a whole-team assessment, meaning that input from an entire veterinary team is required for a clinic to become certified. In order for a participating clinic to move into the second phase of the program, at least 80% of their paid staff must complete an anonymous assessment, which rates individual experiences in the workplace. Results of the whole-team assessment, critical to the success of the CLEAR Blueprint program, allow clinics to focus on evolving certain areas of the workplace to become sustainable for mental wellness in collaboration with NOMV.
“Not One More Vet’s vision for CLEAR Blueprint was ambitious from the start,” said Caitlin Furlong, vice president of the NOMV Board of Directors. “The partnership with Merck Animal Health has allowed us to fulfill our goal of creating a holistic, high-touch program to empower mentally healthy workplaces in the industry.”
NOMV is also offering a scholarship program to ensure CLEAR Blueprint is accessible to every veterinary team that wishes to participate, regardless of their ability to pay for fees that cover the program’s costs. Scholarships will be offered based on available funding and are anticipated to cover all program-related costs for approximately 5% of participating clinics.
“The work being done by Not One More Vet to protect veterinarians – particularly those in early stages of their career – is well aligned with our work at Merck Animal Health to identify challenges and solutions and support veterinarians through all stages of their careers,” said Taylor Tillery, DVM, veterinary academic and industry liaison lead, Veterinary and Consumer Affairs. “I see firsthand some of the struggles new veterinarians face as they enter the industry and I’m proud to have our organizations working together to shape a healthier future for the people who care for our animals.”
Merck Animal Health’s partnership with NOMV will be celebrated at the second NOMV Annual Gala Awards featuring keynote speaker, Dr. Joseph Hahn, title, Merck Animal Health. The gala will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Saturday, December 3rd. For veterinary professionals looking to receive more information on the CLEAR Blueprint program, visit: www.nomv.org/clearblueprint.
Veterinary clinics interested in applying for a scholarship to the CLEAR Blueprint program can do so here.
About Not One More Vet, Inc.
Not One More Vet, Inc has a mission to transform the status of mental wellness within the veterinary profession so they can survive and thrive through education, resources, and support. Not One More Vet addresses wellbeing in veterinary medicine through multiple innovative and inclusive pathways. For more information visit, https://www.nomv.org/.
About Merck Animal Health
At Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than a century, we’ve been at the forefront of research, bringing forward medicines, vaccines and innovative health solutions for the world’s most challenging diseases.
Merck Animal Health, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA, is the global animal health business of Merck. Through its commitment to The Science of Healthier Animals®, Merck Animal Health offers veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services as well as an extensive suite of connected technology that includes identification, traceability and monitoring products.
Merck Animal Health is dedicated to preserving and improving the health, well-being and performance of animals and the people who care for them. It invests extensively in dynamic and comprehensive R&D resources and a modern, global supply chain. Merck Animal Health is present in more than 50 countries, while its products are available in some 150 markets. For more information, visit www.merck-animal-health.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
