Connect veterinary professionals to the mental health support they need, regardless of where they are on the mental health continuum and before a crisis occurs, so they can stay healthy, supported and in the profession they love.
Make all mental health resources easily available and organized around the entire mental health continuum, not only the crisis point.
In 2021, Catherine Haskins lost her nephew Hunter to suicide.
Afterward, Hunter's mother Kelly asked a question: Would a simple reminder that he mattered have made a difference? She began placing stickers on students' laptops in Brevard County, Florida, so every young person would know they matter, in their hardest moments and long before.
Through Do It for Hunter, she has distributed more than thousands of stickers and installed 33 benches printed with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline number.
Catherine kept asking what the sticker is in veterinary medicine. No one saw Hunter's death coming, because no one knew where he was: managing, struggling or past the point of asking for help.
Support tends to arrive once someone is visibly in crisis. It rarely reaches people in the quieter stages before that.
In early 2024, a chance meeting at the WVC conference with co-founder Alyssa Mages, BS, CVT, FVTE, shared their experiences and formed Project Sticker.
Veterinary medicine is losing people to the cumulative weight of emotional labor, client expectations, financial stress, workforce shortages and compassion fatigue.
6 in 10 veterinary professionals have experienced work-related stress, anxiety or depression severe enough to seek professional help.
30% of those in clinical practice plan to leave their current position.
Four of the five leading reasons people leave are not primarily financial.
STICK WITH US — The Veterinary Mental Health Resource Hub
A free, centralized hub that connects veterinary professionals to mental health, wellbeing, financial and career resources. Every resource is mapped to one of five stages on the mental health continuum, so you can start from where you are.
Tell Us Something Good
A science-backed storytelling initiative that invites veterinary professionals to share one positive moment from their work or life—strengthening connection, resilience, and purpose across the profession. By capturing these authentic stories, we help reinforce belonging and support more people in sticking with veterinary medicine.
Mental Health Support at Every Stage
Project Sticker partners with organizations and support services inside and outside veterinary medicine to bring the right resources to every stage of the mental health continuum, so people can find what they need wherever they are.
The Project Sticker board works to connect veterinary professionals with trusted mental health support. A licensed clinical social worker guides our work, so that everything we share is safe, responsible and grounded in clinical practice. Every board member is also trained as a QPR suicide prevention gatekeeper.
Founder of The Bridge Club
CEO & Clinical Social Worker, M3 Counseling
Chief Operating Officer,
Empowering Veterinary Teams
Senior Consultant, Brakke Consulting
