The grief of pet bereavement is often not taken seriously by family, friends, colleagues and employers. Even health professionals, including therapists, may judge it as less serious than the death of a family member, and bereavement charities seldom work with pet loss, leaving many people with disenfranchised grief.

Yet for many people, a pet IS a family member. For some, a dog, cat or any pet can be their primary attachment figure, and the routine care of a pet becomes part of our assumptive world. The companionship of others, the friendly chats on walks and the sense of love and connection are all taken away when there is suddenly no dog to walk. A pet or companion animal may also be the last living link to a deceased partner — when the pet dies, grief for that partner can be reawakened.

Helena, a therapist specialising in pet loss and the veterinary end-of-life process, leads this session, with the Onlinevents team on hand for general questions on loss and grief.

The workshop will cover:

- Pets as family members – how society is changing, so that for many people pets may be the most constant and reliable relationship in their life

- Pets and healthcare – the impact of rising costs and a widening range of services on the decisions pet carers face

- Pets within society – their growing role as people rely on pets for emotional and physical wellbeing, including as assistance dogs and therapy dogs

- Pet loss – how losing such a central relationship can reawaken earlier losses, such as a parent or partner, so that grief is felt with its original intensity

- Anticipatory grief and societal factors – what can compound the loss, including how family, friends and employers respond

- Pet aftercare – how end-of-life practices and aftercare services offered by the veterinary profession can help or hinder the grieving process, and what carers can do beforehand and at the end of life

You'll leave with a clearer understanding of disenfranchised grief in pet loss, how to recognise it in clients — including where it reawakens earlier bereavements — and how veterinary end-of-life and aftercare practices shape the grieving process.

Description supplied by the event organiser.