Who are you, and why are you here?

Imagine sitting with a group of veterinary students and asking them the following questions: Who are you and why are you here? Why do you want to be a vet? What is a vet anyway? What does a vet do, and why do you want to do it? Why will you succeed at it? How will you judge your success? What’s your plan for becoming that vet that you want to be? These are not simple questions, but answering them cuts to the very core of professional learning and identity formation, and also to the deepest needs of the self: motivation, autonomy, belonging and wellbeing. While at least some of these students will have decided that they wanted to be a vet from a very early age,1 many perhaps will have never thought deeply about their expectations, motivations and strengths, and how these will align with their prospective employment within the profession. Most veterinary graduates are very focused upon a clinical career (at least initially), but in the UK many do not remain working in their first practice for very long, with 74 per cent leaving within six months.2 Much has been written about mental distress and burnout in the profession3 and it is generally thought mental health issues contribute to undesirable rates of attrition.4 …