MMI Campfire Chat: Letting Go of Perfect

The MMI Campfire chats are back for series four! Join the MMI Team and our fantastic guests for an informal delve into themes and topics that matter to the veterinary community. Open to all, these free online panel sessions offer a chance to pause, reflect and learn from each other’s experiences of navigating life and work.

Letting Go of Perfect

In this MMI Campfire Chat...

Working hard and doing your best is never a bad thing. However, consistently setting unrealistic standards for yourself and constantly striving for perfection can have a hugely damaging effect on your self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth. This, in turn, leads to an increased vulnerability to developing certain psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Join us in for this Campfire Chat as we discuss why so many of us feel the need to achieve perfection, why it’s important for us to try and stop being so hard on ourselves, and the ways in which we can start letting go of perfect.

Panel Guests

Dr Fabian Rivers MRCVS
Fabian Rivers graduated in 2018 from University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno. He is currently an exotics and companion animal vet in Birmingham. More commonly known as Dready Vet, an initiative started in 2013, he has written, featured and given talks to a variety of veterinary and non-veterinary publications, universities and initiatives. He is currently the British Veterinary Association recent graduate representative and is a keen contributor on topics surrounding mental health, racism, new graduate and student welfare, and the wider complexities of the veterinary community. In 2020, he was awarded BVA Young Vet of the Year.

He is currently undertaking a certificate in exotic animal practice clinically and mentors students on exotic specific casework when going into practice. He is the lead exotics vet at an independent practice and his interests are in preventative welfare, particularly in reptiles. He is also one of the vets on the Pets Factor, a children’s TV show on the CBBC, mainly placed as the exotics focused member of the team. He also presented a documentary in 2021 named, ‘Britain’s Puppy Boom; Counting the Cost’ which aired on BBC One, BBC Three and iPlayer.

Dr Elisa Lewis
Elisa is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at London South Bank University (LSBU). Elisa joined LSBU in 2017, having previously completed her PhD at the Royal Veterinary College and Birkbeck, University of London.

Her research interests are in mental health and wellbeing within general population groups and specific occupations. For her PhD, Elisa researched the mental health of students aiming for careers at high-risk of suicide, including veterinary, medical, pharmacy, dentistry and law students.

She continues to work closely with colleagues at the Royal Veterinary College and is involved in a project investigating experiences of racism within the vet profession. In addition to this, Elisa is currently carrying out research into the mental health of professional actors.

Further panellists TBC

How to register 

Please register to attend on Eventbrite. 

Register here 

Contact us

Should you have any questions, please email the RCVS Events Team.