RE: New pet bereavement distance learning course

Sid Korpi — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:07:27 GMT

(I'm sorry if this is a repeat message. I wrote one and it disappeared when I clicked on "Add.") Thank you so much for including pet loss as a subject of study/training for your veterinary professionals. I am an animal chaplain in Minneapolis who works with people to help them prepare for, cope with and move on after pet loss. While I was researching and writing my book, "Good Grief: Finding Peace After Pet Loss," I heard innumerable times that many animal lovers find it more difficult to process their grief over a pet's death than they did some humans' deaths. Aside from the obvious unconditionally loving relationships many of us share with our animal companions causing that intense sense of loss, we can also blame society's bias against pet loss as a legitimate cause of grief. Because of the dismissive attitudes of many people, we are not given the same "permission" to grieve when an animal dies as we are when a human being passes away. Thus, people wind up burying or denying their emotions or rushing through the natural process just to avoid those ignorant, scathing remarks like, "What's the big deal? It was just a dog/cat. You can get a replacement right now and be done with it."

I invite you to visit my website at www.goodgriefpetloss.com to see if you might like to include my book on any list of recommended readings for either your students or their clients. Ongoing support and a variety of resources are vital to providing this necessary grief-counseling service.

RE: New pet bereavement distance learning course

Sid Korpi — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:50:06 GMT

I am an animal chaplain in Minneapolis who works with people to help them prepare for, cope with and move on after pet loss, and I just had to tell you how happy I am to see you are including training in this area for your veterinary professionals. As I was researching and writing my book, "Good Grief: Finding Peace After Pet Loss," I heard innumerable times of how much more difficult it was for many pet owners to process their grief over the death of a beloved pet (as compared to various instances of human loss). I believe this is because our society has made pet loss a form of disenfranchised grief by dismissing its validity out of hand and denying the sufferer "permission" to grieve normally and fully—just because the pain is linked to a "mere" animal.

I've been working long and hard to educate others about the magnitude of grief many of us animal lovers experience in hopes of eking out a bit more compassion from people who are hurtful by their very ignorance.

As gatekeepers, vet staff are perfect ones to approach this subject with their clients and to offer them resources for ongoing support. I would be most grateful if you could add my book's title to any recommended reading list you may have for those bereaved clients. (See <www.goodgriefpetloss.com> for more information.)

Thank you so much for providing this vital course. I am sure it will help immeasurably with pet owners' healing process.