Guiding Clients Through the Loss and Grief of a Pet

 

This training will provide participants with an understanding of the important role that pets play in our lives and the struggles that clients have in processing the loss and grief of their pets.  Counselors will earn 6.5 NBCC CE's (with 1 Law and Ethics CE included).  Veterinary Staff, students and others who attend will receive a general certificate of attendance noting 6.5 hours of training (including 1 hour of training for Law and Ethics).  

This training will provide an overview of the grief process, with an emphasis on complex grief as it relates to the death of a pet.  A highlight of the workshop will include a viewing of the award winning film by Amy Finkel, entitled, "Furever," an educational documentary that explores the dimensions of grief people experience over the loss of a pet.  This also includes 1 CE Clock hour about the ethical implications for helping professionals working within the context of the human animal bond. Participants will have opportunities to be involved in interactive learning, discussion and reflection throughout the course of the training.  It is the hope of the presenters that helping professionals, as well as those who work with animals (e.g., Vet Staff, Animal Researchers, etc.) will benefit from the cross-disciplinary perspective about how pet loss impacts us as humans.  

Objectives: 

• Understand the importance of the human animal bond and its emotional/physical/psychological impact for all ages.
• Learn about the grief process with an emphasis on complex grief.
• Gain an understanding of disenfranchised and anticipatory grief as it relates to the human animal bond. 
• Provide an overview of the ethical and legal implications for helping professionals, including how to respond to clients requests for both service and emotional comfort animals. 
• Understand the role of counselors in helping clients throug the grief process with their pets.
• Explore the potential for professional collaboration with mental health professionals and veterinarians. 
• Learn about valuable resources for working with clients who have pets.  

Rates:

There are early bird, group and student discounts available.  Email sapelskog@msn.com for more about group rates.  

Professionals: $ 154.00 before September 5th and $ 166.00 after this.  

Students (enrolled in a graduate level Counseling Related or Veterinarian program): $ 101.00 before September 5th and $ 116.00 after this.

Registration, the day of the event is only open if there are seats available and is $ 175.00 for professionals and $ 125.00 for students (at the door).  

About the Presenters

 

Dr. Andra Edwards, DVM

Dr. Andra Edwards is a 2005 graduate from Washington State College of Veterinary Medicine.  She owns a small mixed animal practice in rural Eastern Washington.  Dr. Edwards has a particular interest in helping guide clients through the end of life process with their pets and spends much of her time providing house calls, palliative care and home euthanasia visits.  She enjoys sharing her experiences with the WSU veterinary students at Washington State University in a class she teaches focused on companion animal end of life and understanding client bereavement associated with pet loss.  When she is not teaching or with her busy practice, Dr. Edwards enjoys spending time with her family, which includes her husband, two young children and numerous furry and feathered family members.  

 

 Dr. Phyllis Erdman pictured with Duke and Fancy

Phyllis Erdman, PhD is a professor in the Counseling Psychology program and Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Education at Washington State University (WSU).  Dr. Erdman has conducted research in parent/child relationships and human-animal interaction (HAI), specifically looking at the effectiveness of equine facilitated activities.  She is past chair of the Section on Human-Animal Interaction, Society of Counseling Psychology, American Psychological Association.  She served as a consultant on a $ 100,000 NIH Grant in 2010-2012 to measure the impact of an equine faciitated program on children's stress levels and social competence development.  She also completed studies on the impact of equine programs on social skills development for children on the autism spectrum.  She works with the PATH Therapeutic Riding Program at WSU and provides programs in equine activities directed with youth, parent child teams and Veterans.  She also works closely with colleagues in the College of Veterinary Medicine at WSU, particularly focused on pet loss/grief and infusing the human-animal bond into Veterinary practice.  She has created an online non-credit course at WSU entitled: Human-Animal Interaction: What We Know and What We Don't Know.  Her goal is to promote the field of human-interaction within a multidisciplinary framework.  

CE  Co-Sponsorship and Refund Policy 

Suzanne Apelskog, MS, LMHC, LCPC, DCC is Co-Sponsoring Dr. Phyllis Erdman and Dr. Valerie Russo, LMHC, LPC.  This Co-sponsorship has been approved by NBCC. Suzanne Apelskog of Life's Learning is an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP # 6786.  The ACEP is soley responsible for this program, including the awarding of NBCC credit.   

Full Refunds will be given with 72 hours notice to the date of the training.  

Cancellations without 72 hours notice, will be refunded 50% of the original rate paid.  

Cancellations the day of the event will be refunded 25% 

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We are not able to offer CE's for Veterinary staff, students or other non-counseling professionals.  

We will provide a general certificate of attendance for 6.5 hours of training (with 1 hour of Law and Ethics included).  

Register Now!