How FVMA members can reach free well-being counselors
Our members do so much to care for animals, and we’re just as driven to do our part to take care of you, our members. That’s why we are proud to offer live, professional counselors for free through the Membership Assistance Program (MAP). Available in the palm of your hand, this counselor network can help you improve or resolve both work-related and personal difficulties of all sizes.
The Problem—and How We’re Helping
We previously shared several studies from across the veterinary industry that show a significant number of veterinarians suffer from distress.
The most recent of those studies, performed by biopharmaceutical company Merck, revealed in 2020 that 92% of veterinarians surveyed were very concerned about high stress levels. Of those surveyed, 91% expressed concern regarding student debt and 89% expressed concern regarding suicide in the profession.
Fortunately, studies show that receiving professional help leads to satisfactory results. Digital resources and online counseling have made receiving such assistance easier and more accessible than ever. A 2021 Journal of Medical Internet Research-published study found that 90.9% of respondents found their virtual well-being visit made it easy to get the care they needed, with 82% of respondents stating they found virtual well-being care to be as satisfactory as in-person care. Though there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to mental well-being, such encouraging signs have further boosted our confidence in the MAP, offered free to all FVMA members.
Due to the dynamic nature of mental well-being concerns and the optimism around digital well-being practices, we’re thankful we can offer live, professional therapists and counselors through the MAP. Confidential, one-on-one consultations ensure your struggles—and your solutions—remain as private as you’d like while still being as accessible as ever.
How to Make Use of MAP’s Professionals
By downloading the MyGroup app or visiting mygroup.com, FVMA members can have constant access to the service and all its many additional features. In the app, follow the top-right tab, tap or click “My Portal Login,” and choose “Work-Life.” Use the username fvma2021 and the password guest to sign in. Here you have access to all the MAP’s resources.
Those who only want assistance through the counseling process can call 704-529-1428 or 800-633-3353.
No problem is too big or small to seek consultation, and you won’t have to pay out of pocket to get started with the MAP. Through our simple-to-use, FREE program, you can take the first step to finding clarity and bettering your mental health.
We hope that this offering from the FVMA will be a step toward countering one of veterinary medicine’s biggest obstacles and help brighten the future of a profession so dear to us.
As a new, limited-time addition to your well-being benefits as an FVMA member, we’ve partnered with the PERMAH Workplace Survey, an evidence-based tool to make it easy to figure out how you’re feeling and functioning lately at work. It will help you check in on how you, your workplace team, the workplace itself and the FVMA are doing by providing detailed insight into your own well-being.
This survey will take you less than five minutes to complete. Your results are strictly confidential. No one in the organization will be able to identify your answers. Best of all there is no such thing as a perfect score – just the scores that work best for you.
All you need to do is click the link below to get started. Create your username and password and in a few simple steps you’ll complete the survey, and be able to see and make sense of your results immediately.
Once you’ve completed the survey, you will receive a personal well-being report, where you will have the option to delve deeper and develop a personal well-being plan.