We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Casara Andre a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Casara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

A state of complete health is one of physical, mental, emotional, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Recognition of the interdependence of human, animal, and ecosystem wellbeing is essential to achieving a state of global, holistic health. A significant amount of physical, mental, emotional, and social healing must occur across both human and animal populations, as well as within the ecosystems that we all inhabit, in order to achieve a global state of wellbeing and health.

Healers are responsible for catalyzing this change – both within the individual patient (human and animal) as well as larger interconnected ecosystem. The trust placed in a medical practitioner by their patient is often THE most relevant aspect of a practitioner-patient relationship. Trust in the practitioner’s ability to listen, interpret, and propose a solution allows the patient to find encouragement, support, and direction in their healing.

As Healers we are often immersed in the landscape of our industry. It can be difficult to step away from the patterns and expectations of our professional lives and remember that we are humans too! ​It’s okay and normal to feel all of the human emotions of frustration, grief, anxiety…but also joy, connection, and love! It’s good and okay to be human. It is a risk for a Healer to “feel unwell”, it takes courage for a Healer to be “in need of help” themselves.

However, without Healers that are themselves healthy…. our world is missing the driver needed for us to all move toward a state of global health. Care for the Healer is an organization built by Healers to stand as an advocate for ourselves, our colleagues, and our communities – we’re willing to ‘risk’ being unwell together, so that we can also work toward our own wellbeing together.

Casara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Care for the Healer (CFTH) is an organization built by Healers to stand as an advocate for ourselves, our colleagues, and our communities.

Healers utilize an emotional connection with our patients and their caregivers in order to provide compassion, support, and guidance. Often, this connection comes at a cost, particularly when a Healer is required to maintain a difficult emotional posture frequently or over a long period of time.
As essential workers for the wellbeing of the world, Healers are currently in need of support and resources to maintain their own wellbeing and, consequently, be better equipped to work toward the wellbeing of others.

Our mission is to restore the wellbeing of the world’s Healers through compassion, curiosity, and innovation. We work to provide resources and education that are geared towards our audience of Healers who are looking to understand the science behind, mechanisms of, and clinical applications for, both existing and emerging modalities of healing.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Yes, absolutely…. through all of the twists and turns – everyday, it is everyday that I’m glad I’m a veterinarian.

https://www.careforthehealer.org/the-dream.html

Whether your role is in reshaping the landscape of today’s clinic environment or investigating new, innovative, and non-traditional veterinary roles such as house-call practices, hospice care, relief work, industry positions, teaching, research, consulting, and others. . .. . .your voice has power and your actions have meaning.
Whether you entered our community this year, have retired from the workforce, or are somewhere in the middle like me, this veterinary industry is our community. It is our world. It is shaped and defined by us, its members. We have an obligation to push, prod, question and strive toward creating lasting change for our industry on a daily basis. It is not until every young graduate can look into their professor’s eyes and say, “Every day. It is every day that I’m glad I’m a veterinarian,” that we will have fulfilled our obligation to ourselves, our community, and to our mentors who set us on this path.
Together we can speak up and emphasize the importance of our own mental and emotional health and that of our colleagues. Together, let’s take a definitive step to improve the health and wellbeing of our community.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Compassion for self. Balancing chaos and order…. you need a bit of both to pull an idea out of a dream and into reality!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cultivatewellbeing.health | www.careforthehealer.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/careforthehealer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarefortheHealer
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-for-the-healer/

Image Credits
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