In 2016, a chance encounter with a homeless man and his dog led Jade Statt to reflect on the importance of the human-animal bond and inspired the creation of StreetVet, a multi award-winning registered charity delivering free essential veterinary care and services to the pets of people experiencing homelessness in multiple locations around the UK.
StreetVet now has over 1800 patients registered, and in 2021 provided over 150 outreach clinics and 1700 consults through its network of over 400 volunteer vets and vet nurses.
Jade is now Clinical Director, Brand Ambassador and Co-founder of StreetVet, as well as working one day a week in practice. Previously a director of Vetlife, Jade has a passion for supporting the mental health and wellbeing of the veterinary community, and has developed a framework to provide training and support to StreetVet volunteers.
“Your options are boundless. If you believe in something passionately, stick with it.”
Please summarise your journey so far:
- Wanted to be a vet from age of 12
- Graduated from Glasgow vet school in 2002
- Completed GP cert in small animal medicine
- Worked as assistant in small animal vet practice or as a small animal locum throughout my career
- Suffered with depression which twice saw me off work for 6 months at a time
- As a result, I wanted to understand more about veterinary mental health and I got involved with VBF, now Vetlife
- I became a director for 3 years and wrote the “Pocket book of small animal tips for vets” to raise funds and awareness
- In 2016 I had a chance encounter with a homeless gentleman and his dog in London. His dependence on his dog as his main mental health support really struck me as my own dog Oakley had been my constant throughout and had been recently diagnosed with cancer. I felt frustrated that I could not offer veterinary help to Dave’s dog Brick, who had itchy sore skin, and walked away feeling determined to do something about it – which led to the creation of StreetVet
Describe your typical day from waking to sleeping:
I work as a vet in practice on Mondays. The rest of my week I am clinical director and brand ambassador for StreetVet.
No day is typical! It’s a very varied and unpredictable workload. Overall a day will likely involve meetings with StreetVet partners, media interviews, speaking to vets/case coordinators about specific StreetVet cases, responding to emails and writing or delivering presentations.
How would you describe yourself in a sentence?
Compassionate, loyal and tenacious.
How would others describe you in a sentence? (Do ask a few work colleagues, friends and family).
Passionate (x4), driven (x2), stubborn (x2), caring (x3), hardworking, loyal (x4), determined (x2), kind (x2), generous, hilarious, fun, tenacious, direct, thoughtful, “laser focused and unstoppable”, “the kindest most charming force of nature you will ever meet”
Well, that was an interesting exercise!
What has been your top success and what have you learned from this?
Undoubtedly the creation of StreetVet. I have referred to StreetVet as a beautiful accident as it was never my intention to create a charity; I wanted to find a way that I could volunteer my skills in this country. I have learnt how truly diverse a career you can have as a veterinary professional and how if you truly believe in something, it is likely that others will too and you can make things happen even if at the start it feels impossible. I have also learned what an incredible profession I am part of.
What has been your biggest challenge, setback or failure and how have you overcome it? How did you grow or change as a result?
One of the biggest challenges I faced was realising that the creation of StreetVet although wonderful, was also exposing very compassionate individuals – our volunteer vets and nurses – to situations that may affect their mental health. The demographic of people we support have an average life expectancy of 45 for men and 43 for women. I experienced this first hand when a client I had been supporting died at 36 – we were of similar age at the time. This was in the early stages of StreetVet and he had become a friend.
I was beyond devastated and considered walking away as I could not see past the possible ramifications on other volunteers in the future. Instead, I spoke to the wonderful Rosie Allister (VetLife helpline) and together we developed a framework to better support our volunteers.
What compromises have you had to make and what, if anything, could have helped?
I guess the biggest change I made in my StreetVet journey was to leave vet practice in 2018. This decision was taken as Sam (Joseph, co-founder of StreetVet) was at an earlier stage in his veterinary career. It was an incredibly daunting thing to do as I was embarking on a completely new path with no experience in the charity sector. It was the best decision I have ever made and I have now gone back to working in practice one day a week.
What advice would you have given to your younger self, that you would now give to others wanting to follow your path?
Please don’t be blinkered, your options are boundless. If you believe in something passionately, stick with it. It will not always be easy and there will be times where you question your choices but if in doubt, reach out to the veterinary community because they are a truly incredible resource of knowledge and support.
I couldn’t have got where I am today without…
My chocolate Labrador Oakley (who I attribute as the third co-founder of StreetVet). My family who, although slightly anxious at my desire to put a backpack on and roam the streets of London delivering free vet care, knew better than to argue with me and have been constant StreetVet cheerleaders. Dean, the homeless gentleman and my friend who sadly passed away, who believed wholeheartedly in everything StreetVet stood for – our Volunteer of the Year award is named after him. The incredible StreetVet team and volunteers, and the veterinary profession as a whole.
What has most surprised you along your career journey, and what influence has this learning had?
I guess the high incidence of poor mental health and retention within the profession. As a new graduate entering the profession, it was not something I had any awareness of. From my own personal mental health journey and my subsequent involvement with Vetlife, it has definitely played a large part in the creation of StreetVet, albeit subconsciously.
My personal motivation for the creation of StreetVet was to support those experiencing homelessness with veterinary care as I recognized the importance of the human-animal bond paralleled with Oakley and my own mental health struggles.
Providing a safe platform for the veterinary profession to volunteer in the UK has also helped individual vets and nurses re-engage with the profession and it may be helping in some way with retention.
Supporting the wellbeing of our volunteers is incredibly important at StreetVet and we offer free mental health first aid training, we run monthly reflective practice, supply a bespoke wellbeing app to volunteers, run a monthly Pay It Forward and encourage a volunteer buddy system.
“But our animals don’t judge or see stigmas, they love unconditionally – so if we could interact with the world like they do, how much better would it be?”
What do you think is important in the way we interact with the world?
Joshua Coombes is a hairdresser and is the founder of a movement called ‘Do Something For Nothing’. He was the first person I contacted when I was hoping to start delivering free vet care to those experiencing homelessness with pets. It was through my interactions with him and my subsequent clients that I really learnt how much we all judge, even subconsciously in situations we have very little understanding of.
But our animals don’t judge or see stigmas, they love unconditionally – so if we could interact with the world like they do, how much better would it be?
If you would like to support StreetVet, find out more here.
For information about volunteering, please visit StreetVet’s volunteering page.
StreetVet has a team of over 400 vet and vet nurse volunteers. Most have full time roles within the veterinary industry and volunteer a few hours in the evenings or/and at weekends. They provide free accessible vet care to the homeless, vulnerable and those in crisis nationwide.
StreetVet has teams on the ground in 17 locations around the country. These teams outreach regularly, at a fixed time and place, normally in conjunction with a social care provider such as food provision by a third-party partner, soup kitchen, day centre or hostel. The place and time is kept consistent in order to build a trusted presence in the community, and it also allows better engagement with the owners as they know where and when to find us.
During these outreaches volunteers deliver free preventative and reactive veterinary care, procedures such as simple diagnostic tests, flea and worming treatment, education and daily essentials such as food, treats and other pet equipment. If a patient needs to be referred to veterinary practice for surgery, x-rays, blood tests or further investigative procedures Streetvet covers the cost of this treatment, ongoing medication and often transportation costs to and from the vet appointment.
StreetVet are looking for volunteers who are:
- RCVS registered vets/RVNs eager to use their professional training to help others
- Able to commit a minimum of two hours each month
- Adaptable and resourceful team players
- Approachable, non-judgemental, friendly professionals
Many thanks to Jade for sharing her story to inspire veterinary women to aspire and grow into their full career potential.
If you would like to share your story please get in touch at info@veterinarywoman.co.uk
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One response to “Jade Statt – Veterinary Woman Role Model”
What an inspiring woman
No judgement on human circumstances and understanding the special relationship with their dogs. For some it’s about humanity & canineamantity not profit