Calm Clinic Academy

The veterinary clinic can be a stressful environment for many of our patients, and any resulting fear and anxiety can have long-lasting impacts on their emotional and physical wellbeing, and can compromise the safety of both owners and staff members.

Creating a Calm Clinic environment is essential in conditioning a positive emotional and physical response in our patients when they visit us, which in turn facilitates a calmer and safer practice environment for owners and staff.

The course will consist of a combination of online training programmes, case studies and assessments, and two attendance days at our Central London venue with experienced lecturer, RVN and behaviourist Charlie Wright.

The attendance days are on Friday 19th January 2024 and Wednesday 15th May 2024, and the online programme can be completed at your own pace anytime from October 2023. Registration for the programme is open until the beginning of January 2024.

There will be a final assessment to include a reflection on how the learner has found the academy and outline their future role as a Calm Clinic Ambassador in practice. During the year, the learners will have access to a closed Facebook group which will allow them to discuss cases, patients, and material. This will continue after the year should the learner successfully gain certification as a Calm Clinic Ambassador.

Attendance days are split into two species-specific days. In order to create a Calm Clinic it is important to recognise species-specific factors that influence the biological stress response and the behavioural coping strategies of a patient. This facilitates how we approach patients, manage the environment, and design behaviour-focused services within the clinic.

Friendly Feline Attendance Day - Friday 19th January 2024

Topics covered include:

• Recognising species specific challenges
• Providing coping strategies within the clinic
• Overcoming barriers in feline stress reduction
• Facilitating caregiver compliance
• Running feline behaviour services
• Tour of London Cat Clinic

Calm Canine Attendance Day - Wednesday 15^th May 2024

Topics covered include:

• Recognising species specific challenges
• Adapting our approach to focus on emotional health
• Overcoming barriers in canine stress reduction
• Facilitating caregiver compliance
• Running canine behaviour services
• Training dogs for examination and procedures