Instructor
Dr Brian Mc Erlean, MVB, MRCVS
Brian was born in Dublin Ireland where he qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon in 1978. He moved to Western Australia in 1981 and founded a mixed veterinary practice on the outskirts of Perth. By 2011 this had grown to employ 7 partners and 6 associates.
Throughout his career, he has been an active member of the Australian Veterinary Association. Brian is one of the four trustees of the National AVA Benevolent Fund and is also the Veterinary Surgeon’s Board inspector in Western Australia.
Married to a West Australian he is the father to two boys. He is now semi-retired, retiring from full time practice in 2011.
The loss of three colleagues that were friends to suicide kindled in him a desire to reduce the incidence of isolation, depression and suicide in the profession. It prompted him into taking up the role of acting for two years as the Community Coordinator for the Australian Veterinary Association Western Australia with Onelife. This was a State Government funded initiative. The Onelife program in its foundation year was designed to accumulate information on veterinary suicides and mentation, liaise with researchers and train gatekeepers using a clinical psychologist. The second year was then given over to education.
He continues to make presentations around the state to local groups of veterinarians. In addition Onelife dovetailed into Australian state and national conferences and in the last 12 months into international conferences with New Zealand, FAVA in Singapore, and the Philippines. This is his first presentation visit to Hong Kong.
Brian is the 2013 recipient of the Ian Miller Medal which is awarded for services to the profession in Western Australia. He received a Meritorious Service Award from the Australian Veterinary Association in 2014.
Information
| Date: | 7 May 2015 (Thursday) |
| Time: | 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm |
| Venue: | Multi-function Room 8210, 8/F, Academic Building 3, City University of Hong Kong |
| Fee: | Registration Fee HKD 180 |
| CPD: | 3 CPD credits will be awarded to veterinarians attending the workshop. For details, please refer to HERE. |
| Time | Topic |
| 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm | Light dinner available |
| 7:00 pm - 7:45 pm | What are the occupational stressors common to all work places and universities? Using the veterinary profession and veterinary students as an example how can some of these be linked to poor mental health? |
| 8:00 pm - 8:45 pm | What do professional people have to do to make their careers less stressful, more enjoyable, and also keep their families and other people they relate to happy? Examples will be taken from the high stress lifestyle of veterinary professionals and other professions. |
| 9:00 pm - 9:45 pm | What steps have to be taken in order to succeed in reducing the risk of depression and suicide before graduating and later in life when working full time? |
Remarks: Three presentations with a discussion following each one.