Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association | 1121 Chatham Road Springfield, IL 62704

ISVMA COVID-19 Resource Page

Your Personal Mental Health and Physical Well-being

Staying positive and taking care of your personal mental and physical well-being as well as supporting others is even more critical as sheltering in place continues and the stress of changing operations settles over everyone. ISVMA is grateful to many members for sharing their ideas on somethings to create a positivity during our new normal.

General Tips

  • Allow time in the day to actively avoid taking in news about covid-19 from TV, your phone, social media, etc.
  • Try to maintain some sort of routine, if you aren’t working, and try keeping familiar things in your schedule (walking your dog, dinner with the family, anything that you did before that you are able to do w/o interacting with others).
  • Movie night or binge watch Netflix
    At-home family dinners (if you didn’t do family dinners before) are great things for the family to bond.
  • Some artists are also doing free acoustic concerts on Instagram Live. https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/all-musicians-streaming-live-concerts.html has some of those listed.
  • The NY public library has over 300,000 FREE e-books you can download too https://www.nypl.org/books-music-movies/ebookcentral. Also, check out your local libraries for online book lending. Start a virtual book club!
  • In terms of clinics, if anyone likes crafts, consider making fabric surgical masks! You can make them reversible and there are tons of templates now that more people are doing that at home.
  • Starting a gratitude journal or filling out strengths/resiliency worksheets with your clinic team is also a great way to self-reflect during this time in a positive way!
  • For those stressed after work, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and meditation are great methods to calm down. I have a lot on my Facebook group, but YouTube has many good options for those…including specific ones for anxiety and stress.

Virtual activities for all ages (includes TONS of museum and zoo tours): 

FREE workouts:

Kids yoga: 

Source: ISVMA DVM Student Liaison Razyeh Mazaheri.

More Ideas-

  • My Veterinary Life Podcast with Social Worker Dr. Jen Brandt: Wellbeing in a Time of COVID
  • See if your neighborhood is participating in window walks and if not start one! Our neighborhood has a new theme every few days. 3.17 was shamrocks, 3.20 was silly faces, 3.23 animals, 3.26 encouraging words, 3.29 flowers, 4.1 jokes, 4.4 Easter eggs. This way families have something to look for when they are out walking. Add a sign that says if you see a dog in the window, His/Her name is (fill in the blank) He/She says Hi! It is fun to hear people talking to your dog! It makes everyone happy.
  • I’ve started themed days for our ‘work’ i.e. the our household and we get Charlie, our dog, involved in it. I post them on social media ahead of time and people reply with their participation as well.

Source: Dr. Marci Kirk, AVMA Assistant Director of Recent Graduate Initiatives and a Power of 10 Alumni

A Few More Ideas-

  • Take your pet for an extra walk or involve them in a new exercise routine.
  • Teach your pet a new trick
  • Write a kind email or send a positive note to someone else, especially remember the elderly.
  • Join a new Facebook Group.
  • Start a new hobby or re-engage in a previous one.
  • Happiness Lab Podcast
  • Yale on the “Science of Wellbeing” online courses

Source: ISVMA President Dr. Olivia Rudolphi

Yale Course: The Science of Well-Being (New April 9, 2020)
Happify: A Single Destination for Effective, Evidence-Based Solutions for Better Mental Health (New April 9, 2020)
Headspace – Free Meditation (April 9, 2020)