Welcome and thank you for your interest in veterinary social work, which is the topic that we are presenting today. So for the purpose of this webinar, we're going to use the umbrella term veterinary social work, but just note that there are other professionals who have a similar role, like counsellors and bereavement support workers, so we're also including those as well when we're referring to veterinary social work, OK? OK, so a little bit about who we are and how we came to kind of connect with each other and be here.

So my name's Katie, and my background is in veterinary nursing, so I've been in veterinary nursing a long time, and I've worked in a variety of hospitals, so, from GP to referral. And about 4 years ago, I started training, to be a counsellor or psychotherapist, working with people. So I've kind of combined those two careers, and experiences in order to try and help people working within the veterinary industry, which has led me to the role that I have today, as hospital counsellor at the RAF.

And within my role at the RAF, I, basically oversee a lot of the well-being of both the team, and also our pet carers as well. So, Not necessarily counselling pet carers, but there is bereavement support and supporting the people who do the euthanasias, and, and a lot of the first sort of first line carer support as well. I first kind of came across the term veterinary social work, through a colleague I met on LinkedIn, actually.

And we had a few discussions. She works over in America, and she put me into contact with Rebecca, who is a social worker. And that's kind of how we've come about this term today.

So yeah, over to Rebecca. Thank you, Katie. Yes, my name is Rebecca Stevens.

We just wanted to say we both live in England, in the UK. So I currently work as a senior lecturer in social work at the University of Sussex. I qualified as a social worker.

28 years ago now, and practised as a social worker both in Australia and London for about 10 years before I moved into consultancy and training and and education and academia. And it was actually a couple of years ago, when I discovered veterinary social worker, and it happened from an experience actually, that I had with, my dog, Wesley, you can see in the photo there. And when Wesley had to be euthanized, I had my children with me and my husband, and my children wanted to say goodbye to Wesley, but they didn't want to be.

In the room where, Wesley, you know, Wesley was going to take his last breath. But I remember after being with Wesley and saying goodbye, walking back into the waiting room and seeing my children sitting there on their own, looking really lost and sad. And I just remember with my social work hat on, thinking, there should be someone sat there with them, you know, offering comfort or support, and there wasn't.

And I suppose, I instantly thought, you know, maybe there's an opportunity here for social workers working in vet clinics. So I just, I literally googled social workers in vet clinics, and then up came this whole world of veterinary social work. And that's how then I discovered the course, the, postgraduate certificate in veterinary social work through, offered by the University of Tennessee.

So I jumped on that and, currently studying. Completing that course, which is amazing, and then presented at the International Association of Veterinary Social Work Conference, met some people there, and that's how Katie and I linked in. So I think we both feel really fortunate to be able to, promote this interdisciplinary working and learning with and from each other.

So that's why we've developed the presentation today. Yeah. So our session aims from today.

We're gonna talk a little bit, about the emergence of veterinary social work globally. And as Rebecca said at the beginning of this, when we talk about social work or veterinary social work, we are talking about a whole host of different, roles that people might have in veterinary practise, that kind of joins into this type of work. We're also gonna go over the four core areas of veterinary social work, and we're going to look at the roles and responsibilities of that person that might work within the veterinary environment.

We're also then going to touch on, at the end some opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, which I guess is kind of what we're doing here today. And also, there is so much more that could be done. So first off, we would like to just put this slide in just to let you know that because of the the nature of the topic that we're talking about today, we are going to be looking at mental health difficulties.

We're gonna talk about some domestic violence and abuse, we will touch on animal abuse and also suicide and suicidality. So whilst we won't be talking about anything really graphic, we would like you just to be aware that these topics are coming up and to monitor your own responses to those, just to keep yourself safe. If you do feel upset by anything, and you do need to talk to somebody, please remember that Vet Life are there 24/7.

And on some of the more sensitive slides, we've put BetLife's number in the corner as well, so it is readily available for you. Well, I thought just to give some context, about what social work actually is. So traditional social work, is a practice-based profession.

It's an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, the empowerment and liberation of people. We focus on principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility, working with and respecting diversities, as part of the social work qualification, and certainly, in practise, we draw from a theoretical framework to help guide our assessment and our understanding of why people do the way, you know, why people do what they do and how people think. So we draw from a number of different disciplines to help us to appreciate.

Differences in people's life experiences. So that is the International Federation of Social Work, definition of what the role is. So when we're talking about veterinary social work, It has the, the, the name veterinary social work was first coined by Doctor Elizabeth Strand, and she sort of heads up the course at the University of Tennessee, but as Katie and I said at the beginning, you know, When we talk about this whole area of, you know, caring professionals, professionals who are caring, for people, there have been so many different roles as well, of people working in veterinary animal related fields as well.

They haven't been called veterinary social work. We know particularly, in England, the title, the title social work is protected in law. So, We have to be registered social workers, to be able to use the title social worker.

That might be different in other countries. But veterinary social work is a bit like a, a branch of social work. So there's different areas, different fields of practise that social workers work in, such as mental health, children's social care, or adult services.

And so they might call themselves a forensic social worker or mental health social worker. So veterinary social work is another branch, a bit like a subs. Speciality, I guess, of, of social work and veterinary practise.

So veterinary social work, really was established in, in America, and, has built, a framework in Canada, and it's emerging in Australia as well. Pretty much unheard of in the UK, which is why I'm really interested in influencing the development of this over, over here. So we also know that veterinary social work falls within the one health paradigm.

I'll just ask you to move to the next slide, Katie. So I'm sure you're aware of the One Health initiative, but this has really captured my interest as well, because as you note from the international definition of social work, The word animal does not feature, so the focus really is on supporting people, but under the one health paradigm, you can see here, one of the circles down the bottom focuses particularly on the human-animal bond. And so that is where the veterinary social work really steps in.

Next slide. So when we're talking about veterinary social work, the definition, as termed by the International Association of Veterinary Social Work, is that it is an area of practise that supports and strengthens disciplinary partnerships that attend to the intersection of humans and animals. I think really encapsulates the core of the role of the veterinary social worker.

So as we progress through the presentation today, you'll be able to gain a bit more in-depth, understanding of what the role and the responsibilities look like. So when we're talking about intersecting disciplines and this notion of the veterinary social worker attending to the needs that arise at the intersection between human and animals, this particularly, resonates with both Katie and myself, because we know that child and animal welfare have really been quite distinct areas of practise, and yet, Veterinary professionals, professionals working in animal related fields, and social workers have very similar capabilities, have very sim there are similarities in the work that we do every day. We, we go into this field of practise because we are generally quite compassionate people.

So as social workers, we feel compassionate and appreciate the human experience. And for vets and those working in the veterinary field, you have, you know, a vested interest and empathy and compassion towards, towards animals that you care for. We talk about the professional values, and certainly in social work and also as part of the veterinary codes of practise and code of ethics, it talks about dignity and respect and worth and rights and professional integrity.

We have the best interests of our clients at heart. So our clients in social work being people, the clients in veterinary practise being animals. So you can see here on the screen, the shared responsibilities that we have as professionals.

So, actually, it makes sense for social workers and those working in veterinary fields to collaborate and to work together, and there are many opportunities, that Katie and I are seeing. In our work together that we're gonna talk about a little bit more at the end, where there is opportunities for more joint working and collaboration. So just wanted to say a little bit about the human-animal connection, which you, you may or may not be familiar with, but I think it's important just to sort of highlight this at the start, just to give the background, the backdrop of this.

So we know that anthropomorphism relates to, The assigning of human traits, attributes and emotions to animals. So this dates back thousands of years, it's not a new concept, and we know that it's really prevalent in children's literature and is universally known. Like Winnie the Pooh being a prime example here you can see on the screen, where the animals are characters depicted as consciously behaving like a human.

And so we think about the term personification when it occurs when an animal is described with human characteristics. And you know very much from your own practise, and for those of you who, who have your own animal companions that you're living with, that we regularly hear people referring to their to their animals as my best friend, or my other child, or my guardian, for example. And this is very real for people.

So, for humans, animals can have a unique relatability. And I guess the showing or treating of animals as if they are human, in appearance or character or behaviour is quite common. So it is important to acknowledge this in the context of appreciating the human-animal connection.

Thanks, Katie. So when we're talking a little bit more about the human animal bond. We know that sharing a life with an animal is, is really quite a meaningful and significant feature in people's lives, and the role that animals play in the lives of humans really can't be underestimated.

In the UK we know that 62%, of British households, care for a pet, and they are considered family. They're cared for, loved and respected similarly to human family members. So the strength of the human-animal bond and the impact that companion animals have on the lives of humans can be, you know, really quite significant.

And we know that, The presence of animals in the lives of humans really has influenced human evolution and relationship structures, family dynamics, and the value that's actually placed on animals. We also know from research that an animal companion can be considered quite an important attachment figure, particularly for children, and the responsibility of caring for an animal can give a carer a role, actually, and sometimes a live person. So In our, you know, research and our studies of, of, you know, what we know about this connection is that actually the characteristics that define both species are less distinct.

Than what people think, so we know that animals can experience feelings like joy and fear, and they show moral conduct, such as emotional contagion and effective empathy, and we know from discoveries in biomedicine actually, that There have been shown surges in oxytocin in both dogs and humans during positive interactions. And I just wanted to, highlight this photo here. Some of you may have seen it, you can access it on YouTube.

This is a gentleman who, is from England. This happened, a couple of years ago, I think, from the north of England who had broken, broken, his leg, but continued to walk his, his animal every day. And he noticed that his, dog started limping, and he didn't know why.

So, cut a long story short, he spent about 300 pounds on vet bills, trying to work out what was possibly wrong with his dog, only to then realise from having these discussions with the vet and turning up at the vet clinic with a broken leg himself that his dog was showing. Sympathy towards him, and so this is what we're talking about when we're relating to effective empathy. OK, so this is a beautiful example actually of the strength of, of the human-animal bond.

And I think as well, it was only quite recently in the UK that animals are now recognised as sentient beings in UK domestic law. So this is huge significance for a huge significance for professionals working in both human and animal related fields. So, When we're talking about veterinary social work, there are 4 core and distinct areas, OK?

So this is something that Elizabeth, Doctor Elizabeth Strand had developed, and this forms the basis of the veterinary social work, postgraduate qualification. So these are the 4 areas that Katie and I are going to be explaining in a little more detail and how it links with veterinary practise. So the first one is animal assisted interventions.

There is what used to be compassion, fatigue and conflict management, but that term has been reframed now to intentional well-being, so it sounds a bit more positive actually. Animal related grief and bereavement and the link between human and animal violence. OK, so first off, we're gonna have a look at some of the roles and responsibilities.

So as Rebecca said, we're gonna go through those, those four quadrants, of what these roles will entail and what we look at, attending to the needs that come up between people and their pets. So intentional well-being, so just for a moment now, we'd like you to just take a moment to reflect, so if you want to pause this and and grab a a notebook and some and a pen, then that's that's great. We just want you to think about how your practise is impacting your mental health and your emotional wellbeing.

What aspects of your work are more challenging to deal with? Would you say that that was the animal side of your work or the human side of your work, or are there elements of both that you find quite difficult? How do you manage moral distress, compassion, fatigue, trauma, and the emotional impact of your work?

How do you go about dealing with that day to day? Do you feel supported and valid by your manager and your peers? And do you feel that you're able to ask for help and support when you need it or know where to go?

So we're just going to cover a couple of definitions. The first being compassion stress. So this is something that is unavoidable, and we often also look at this as being a positive stressor.

This is something that we have a lot of responsibility. So, we know that as vets and as veterinary professionals, you are, you are responsible for your patient's wellbeing, and that responsibility sort of stretches towards the pet carer as well. So a responsibility towards making sure they have informed consent.

That they are on board with everything that's happening and also sort of this felt sense of responsibility about how they might be feeling when you're giving them a poor prognosis, for example. We also come across this when we think about how we are there to alleviate suffering as well in our patients. The next term, is compassion fatigue.

And as Rebecca said, that's being reframed now, to sound slightly more positive. But we're gonna use compassion fatigue just because this is what's available at the moment in veterinary literature. So this talks about, emotional and physical exhaustion and the inability to empathise.

So if you've ever felt this, you might find yourself, Excuse my dog, you might find yourself going into work, still being able to do the job, very well, but having sort of a limit as to your ability to, to empathise with the people around you, and to the, the job that you're doing. This is something that comes about if we have a consistent exposure to compassion stress. So whilst our compassion stress can be a positive stressor and it can keep us motivated to do our job really well, if we have this consistently, and we don't have any good ways of dealing with, with that and the impact that has on us, that can lead into compassion fatigue.

The next thing is moral distress, and this is something that is more of an emotional state, so we might see this in veterinary practise if you feel that your ethical principles are different from those externally. So for example, if you're working in a big corporate facility and you have things that you need to do, because that is what the corporate side want you to do or recommend first. But as a vet, you're thinking, actually, ethically, I would prefer to go down this route first, then that can put you in this state of like moral distress.

Another thing that might bring this on is euthanasia stress. So again, morally, you might feel one way about euthanasia of a patient, and the scenario might be very different around you. And that puts you again in this, situation where you're feeling torn between two things, and that, that is moral distress.

The next thing is compassion and satisfaction, and this is the sense of fulfilment and purpose that we get from doing our job really well. This is satisfaction from being a care provider. You know that you're going into work every day, you're looking after your patients, you're looking after the pet carers as best you can, and you're feeling a sense of satisfaction from that.

You also have positive feelings towards your colleagues, your work environment and your patients, and you're really able to empathise really fully. And this is something that we would experience, sometimes more at the beginning of our career, but it is possible to experience this throughout your career as long as you have the things in place that enable you to look after your sense of well-being, outside of your working environment. So compassion fatigue, as we just touched on, this is the definition that's out there at the moment, which is a state experienced by helping people or animals in distress.

It is an extreme state of tension and a preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it can create a secondary traumatic stress for the helper. And we'll talk a little bit about vicarious trauma or secondary traumatic stress in a second. So vicarious trauma is a term that is most often used to describe this phenomenon phenomenon that occurs throughout, lots of caring professions.

So mostly therapists, who are exposed to accounts of severe traumas from their clients on a very frequent basis. It is, it is a real. Where by having these people sat in a in a traumatic state in front of you, recounting these traumas, you take on some of what they're feeling either somatically, or emotionally, and it can really start to affect your own wellbeing, even though you know that that trauma isn't yours.

This is something that, as a therapist, we talk about a lot. So from the beginning of our training, we are, made to be aware about what this is, what this might look like for us in practise, how we might combat this. But it's something I've never sort of heard of or thought of, as being a veterinary nurse.

So, interesting to me, I think, now with this training. Is the question of do we think vets or nurses or anybody within this veterinary field could become traumatised via vicarious trauma. And I think the answer is probably yes.

I think that we often will do things day to day that are very normal to us. We perform euthanasias. And even if those euthanasias are something that we are very on board with, we think it's the best choice for that, that patient, the best choice for that scenario.

We are being exposed to severe levels of distress from those pet carers who are losing their best friend, a member of their family. And then, especially in kind of a general practise, we're then maybe having to snap back two minutes later and go into a consultation to look at a puppy vaccination or a kitten vaccination. And have a completely different.

Emotional state from what we've just been involved in, often without the time to really process this or go over this with anybody else. And so I think actually vicarious trauma is probably more prevalent than we realise. And the third term burnout is something again that we're talking about a lot in the veterinary world at the moment.

So this is the progressive loss of idealism, the loss of energy and purpose, experienced by those in the helping profession as a result of their conditions of their work. So we often with burnout, we'll, have compassion fatigue as well, but we'll see with burnout some more physical symptoms. So you might somatically just actually be getting a lot of colds.

You, you might be feeling really unwell, unable to get up in the morning. You might have changes with your sleep, your sleeping habits. You might have appetite changes.

Some people may eat lots more, some people might eat not much at all. You'll be experiencing mood changes. Some people will have complete withdrawals, so they might change completely and pull away from friends and family and all of their normal support networks.

And some people will also self-medicate. So burnout is something that we want to be able to recognise early on to prevent it from becoming too bad. So when we look at veterinary work and sort of veterinary workers in crisis, I just wanted to highlight a few of the things that are happening within the profession now, for those of us who may be affected by any of those things, and the difficult working environments that we might be in, without the support networks that we require.

And in some recent literature I was reading, we actually have a higher level of anxiety, depression and stress compared to other professions, which isn't entirely surprising. So in, in a couple of different studies, which I'm happy to send to you if you wanted them, I can email them out to anyone who wants them. They have, they were doing some tests with some, general health questionnaires in veterinary students and other students within a different university, looking at levels of anxiety, depression, and stress.

And this is in a student population who are not even out working in the working world yet, and they had 3 times the level of anxiety, depression, and stress compared to those in other professions that are training. We know that we have levels of compassion, fatigue and burnout higher than many other professions, and this leads to our higher, suicidality that we see in our profession as well. And so this is something that is really important to be aware of.

We also have vets leaving the profession entirely, and again, if that's something that is healthy for them, then that's a, that's a good decision. But it's something that we want to prevent happening. We go into this job because we love it, because we care, we want to look after our clients, we want to look after our patients.

And so if we can help it, and we can do things and put things in place that enable us to stay within the profession that we do love, then that would be preferable to us leaving that profession entirely. And then another option is diversifying and so lots of people are finding that actually the day to day clinical work of a vet or veterinary nurse is too much for them, and they are maybe using their skills to go into something else. Mhm.

So why vets? So I think that, we have all kind of thought a little bit about why we might think that vets in particular are at such high risk of really suffering from mental health difficulties. But there have also been some studies done that have sort of looked into a little bit of this.

And so whilst nothing is sort of proven, these are kind of the the most general things that are thought to have an impact on why vets are at higher risk. They've divided it into two categories. So we have on the left here, personality factors.

This is everybody being a high achiever, often to get into vet school, we have to get the highest grades, we have to do lots of work experience, and we are often used to being very, very high in our class. So we're going from being a high achiever and maybe the best in our class in, in biology or whatever it is at school, to then going into a university class with 300 other people who are also at the top of their class. And suddenly we don't have that.

So that is one of the, the things that has come out of some of this research. We know that we're entering a caring profession, and that in itself is a risk factor. So we know from past what we've just been discussing that anyone entering a caring profession is at risk of empathising and having, the, the negative impact from that as well.

There's a personal isolation that comes with being a vet. There is a lot of work that has to go into it, there's a lot of studying that goes into it. And so sometimes what we find is that veterinary students don't have the support networks that maybe other people do have.

And also this stigma. So the stigma around seeking support for mental health is definitely still there. And I, in my own profession and job now, I'm seeing this a lot more within the veterinary community, in terms of the veterinary surgeons rather than the nurses or other support staff.

So I see a huge sort of difference in the amount of vets who are willing to talk about their feelings, talk about struggling quite openly, compared to everybody else. It, it does seem that There is still this huge stigma of, oh, you know, if I'm seen not to be coping, that might affect how people view me in the practise. That might affect how I'm viewed in my internship, for example.

That might impact then how I go on to specialise. People might not think I'm cut out for this work. So there really is still this high stigma.

We then can look at our work factors, and so we know that burnout especially often is very much linked to our working conditions. But there are other things that are within that as well. So, yes, workplace stresses are one of those.

But another one is undergraduate experiences. So being an undergraduate, we all know is, is difficult, it's very hard, and you're put through a lot of different experiences that are very stressful. And lots of people have quite a bad time at university, and that can lead us to feeling when we sort of reach that and we we've qualified, that actually maybe we're not as fulfilled as we wanted to be.

We may then go out into the world and have professional isolation, and that is another impact. So, especially vets who maybe are working in equine or farm vets, who are kind of going around their day to day, either on their own or with one other person, that's quite isolating, and again, it's a lack of support for that day to day work that you're doing. We obviously have the pharmaceutical access and the knowledge around drugs, and so this is potentially one of the reasons why vets have a more successful suicide rate than than other professions.

It's more than double that of doctors, medical doctors for human medicine. And our attitudes to death and euthanasia are very different as well. We're probably one of the only professions in the world who has such an attitude to death and euthanasia and are used to performing that every day.

If you're doing that every day and you know that it is letting a patient go with dignity or preventing suffering, and that it's a good choice, obviously you're going to have a different attitude to that overall. And then suicide contagion as well is a phenomenon where actually you are twice as likely to feel suicidal or have suicidal ideation if you have known somebody who has completed suicide. So within our veterinary community, I'm sure that we all know somebody who has sadly chosen to end their life that way, and that puts us again in a different risk bracket entirely.

So throughout this presentation, we've just got a few different case examples where we think that, it just kind of highlights how having a supportive person, such as a veterinary social worker might be really good and useful to us in practise. So, for this first example, I want you to imagine that you are in your practise and you have been understaffed for as long as you can remember, and you've been doing overtime every week for months on end and you're working sole charge, it's Friday evening. Whilst you're trying to finish with all of your lab reports, you're calling all of your pet carers to inform them of all the results that have come through that day, you realise that you've mixed up two patients you saw that week called Timmy, and you've given one of the wrong medications to one of them.

In your rush to call the carers to inform them of this, you give instructions to a locum who has just arrived, who you've not met before, a verbal instruction to pre-med, a dog that's in the kennels who's there for a stitch up. Whilst you're on the phone to Timmy's carer, who's understandably a bit frustrated at the mix up, although it's not that serious, you have the locum come in to tell you that actually, the dog is really obtunded, it's really bradycardic. She can't get a very good blood pressure.

And on sort of discussion with her about the dose that has been given, you realise a 10 times overdose of methadone has, has been prescribed to that patient. You then sort of give instructions for that person to reverse the methadone, and to sit with the dog, and the dog is OK. But you then have to call that carer as well to inform them that the dog isn't coming home this evening, because now you've got to keep the dog in overnight, just so that you can make sure that he's OK, keep on top of reversing the methadone, and the stitch up will have to wait until the morning.

This client is getting very angry with you, really, really frustrated, they lose their temper with you and they become quite aggressive with you in their language. Meanwhile, your receptionist runs through with a patient being hit by a car and is dead on arrival, and you're left with this situation. And I just want you to take a little minute about how you might deal with this.

Hopefully, this isn't an everyday scenario, but how you might deal with the impact of all these different emotions that are going through you. You know, you've made some mistakes, potentially with the mix up with the two Timmy's, which is, isn't a big deal, but it's frustrating for that client. That patient has then been given an overdose because that person was unfamiliar with the drugs.

It was a verbal instruction. And you've now got this other patient who you're potentially gonna have to call the carer to notify them of what's happened. What support network do you have in place?

Is there somebody there that you can talk to? And when you take all of that, you know, how do you hold onto that, that intensity and that emotionality of your, your day to day practise? We know that some days are gonna be worse or feel worse than others.

So, in social work, I often say to students and also experienced social workers, you know, social work is emotional work. And social workers see, hear, and read, really quite traumatic content some sometimes in relation to people's life experiences. And I suppose on a different, you know, a sort of like a a different level really, is that, You know, vets are experiencing and taking on other people's grief and trauma whilst trying to process the impact that practise is having on them as well.

So Here is the opportunity to have a veterinary social work. To hold that emotional space, you know, to, to partner with a veterinary practitioner who might be experiencing, Compassion fatigue, or a moral distress, or actually they've just had a really bad day, and just want to talk it through and have that debriefing. So having a social worker on board who, who understands and appreciates the emotional impact that practise can have, can be really quite beneficial, because a social worker can be that veterinary social worker can be that neutral person.

OK, and to sit with you, to process some of those emotions that that the vet might be experiencing. So, the social worker, you know, can be there to listen, to acknowledge, to validate the experience and not hold any judgement in relation to that person's practise. So they're a neutral person that can hold and offer that support to mitigate against compassion fatigue.

Veterinary social workers also provide opportunities. For further education and training around how to mitigate compassion, fatigue, intentional well-being, Giving you tools and strategies for self-care and emotional regulation and well-being. So having a veterinary social worker on board at the time can also be that person to offer a debriefing to staff when there has been a difficult day or has been an emergency situation and people's emotions are on a real high and are feeling quite heightened.

So they can also offer short-term interventions like conflict resolution, mediation, assessment, referral for external counselling. Which vets actually might be doing anyway as part of their practise, but I guess the role of veterinary social worker is just to take that load off, you know, because if you are moving from surgery to surgery and having to deal with, you know, A, a pet carer's heightened emotional state, you might not have the, the capacity to be able to do that, or, or indeed the, the, the want to do that because you're so full yourself of emotion. So we help bridge that gap that can sometimes result between the vet practitioner and the client, the, the pet carer.

Being a neutral person, the veterinary social worker can also identify any gaps in training, professional development, and ongoing learning. So, they will also consult with human resources departments within organisations to look at and identify where those gaps are, where the needs are, to look at training, to develop resources and tools that can support vet staff in their practise. Veterinary so we're gonna talk about this in a moment, but can also offer grief and pet loss, bereavement, counselling as as part of Katie's day to day role as well.

And to give you some tools and guidance around de-escalating, and looking at how to have difficult conversations or how to break bad news, which again is something that we're gonna focus on in a moment. So this slide really relates to the intentional well-being aspect of veterinary social work. So in terms of our animal related grief and bereavement and our pet carers, we know as veterinary professionals that grief responses associated with our pets and our animal companions, when we lose them can be really comparable to that of a human related loss.

We see this on a very, very regular basis that people describe their pets as their, their children. Their fur babies, their best friend, you know, their, their, their love of their life. And so the loss of a connection with somebody as important as their, their animal can really increase social isolation, increase loneliness, and that will lead to a deterioration in the physical and mental health and emotional well-being of our pet carers.

A difficulty that our pet carers experience with this grief that is often not associated with a lot of human bereavement, although it can be for some scenarios, is something we term disenfranchised grief. This is the grief that is not really well understood by society. So our pet carers may lose their pet who is their, their child.

It's somebody who's been with them through some of the hardest parts of their, their life in their world for maybe 10 plus years. And they've suddenly lost that, that person, that being who is their best friend. And yet they call up their manager at work and their manager says, well, you're still coming in, or maybe, OK, fine, take the day, but you're gonna come in tomorrow.

Because they don't have an understanding that this grief and bereavement is as severe as some of our losses within our human families. There's this, expectation that our pets are, are just pets, you know? It's just a cat, it's just a dog, it's just a horse.

And the people that don't understand that really do believe that. They do believe that, you know, oh, yeah, bit sad, but get over it. Maybe go and get another one.

And all of these little things that people say to our pet carers when they are suffering with their, their grief and their loss, can be really impactful. It often makes our pet carers withdraw even further. So whilst if they'd lost a human family member, they may well speak about it much more.

They may well feel understood. They will often very quickly realise they're not understood by the people, that maybe they're going mad, you know, maybe they shouldn't be feeling this way about their pet. Maybe it was just a dog, and they're a bit mad because they have all these feelings and that's not normal.

And so they withdraw really quickly and just having the ability to sit with somebody and validate that this is OK and this is a normal reaction to a really huge loss and can be really impactful to our carers. We know that the pet carers' grief response can be significant, and these are a few sort of snippets from a Facebook group, to provide support for pet carers where they support each other. And they can be really difficult to look at.

You know, I think that we probably hear this in practise more frequently than we, we care to, that we want to. Because it really is quite a big grief response and actually as veterinary professionals, we have very limited training on how to deal with people who are feeling like this. But yet again that responsibility of trying to make sure somebody is OK is is upon us.

So for our second case example, I want you to think about this client who has come in and is struggling with anxiety anyway, they mentioned to you that they have quite poor, mental health and their anxiety's been pretty bad. They've had their little cat, Tinkerbell, who's a 19 year old female neutered domestic shorthaired cat, in and out of the hospital for a long time. She's got cardiac disease, renal disease, and many other multiple comorbidities that are really, making her quality of life quite low, and you're recommending that actually euthanasia is the best option now for Tinkerbell.

This pet carer has been thinking that this is going to be coming for a while. This isn't new information for them. So they have already started grieving the loss of Tinkerbell, and they've got what we're going to term anticipatory grief.

So they've started going through the grief reactions that we, we associate with maybe a loss, already, while Tinkerbell's been in their care and they've been doing their utmost to care for her. When you're in this consult with Tinkerbell's carer, they start saying things like, Oh, I'm not gonna be able to live without her. She's my only reason for living.

She's the only reason I get out of bed. I have no one else. I don't know who to turn to.

I can't live without her. And you feel quite worried. What support do you feel that you've got available for that carer?

And what support do you feel you've got available for you? How do you deal with that situation? I'm sure that that situation has come up for you within your, your work, and maybe comes up quite, quite often.

How do you deal with that? I think that this is a, a good example of where actually having somebody who is even just at the end of the phone, even if they're not in the building. Who you know, you can refer to, who will take on some of that support for that person who's going through these acute stages of grief, but also who can actually listen to you, have this debrief, as Rebecca said, talk about the difficulty that you're feeling with this responsibility.

You know, you're doing the best thing by your, your patient. Your patient is that cat. So Tinkerbell is your priority, and you know that her quality of life's really poor.

So of course you're gonna want to make that decision that actually euthanasia is best for her. But that responsibility weighing on you that actually this person is really, she's saying some really worrying things and she really doesn't have anybody else, and that responsibility is on you. So having somebody available for you to talk to as well would be really important.

I think what's really important because as social workers, you know, we're, we're, as I said, we know we're having to hold that emotional space a lot for people as well, and so, How do we deliver bad news, you know, in a, in a positive way, in a supportive way, and what's really important, particularly when you are supporting people, you know, very quickly, often. When they are going through a particular range of emotions, and they could vary, you know, within a minute. They could be feeling anger towards you, you know, towards the vet.

They could be feeling guilty, you know, sadness. So a whole range of different emotions. What's really important is just be aware of how the client is responding.

OK, so what are they saying? What are they doing? What is their behaviour suggesting?

So as Katie said, you know, it's really important to acknowledge and validate the experience that they're having right now. It's actually quite normal, given the circumstances. However, when it doesn't become safe, or what they're saying is cause for concern, then that's something else.

That's a different response. So as Katie said as well, be aware of anticipatory grief responses. This is grieving before the loss has actually occurred.

So it's almost like, well, if it's a planned euthanasia, then A pet carer will start to go through those emotions of feeling guilty and sad and despondent and confused and lost and bewildered and worried and overwhelmed and all of that, even before their pet has been euthanized. So it's just really important. To just, you know, not only explain the procedures around that from a clinical point of view, but just acknowledge and validate, you know, their experience and, and what they're having, and say what you see can be helpful sometimes.

I can see that you're really upset, you know? So, you know that clients need time to absorb all of this, and often they won't be listening to the clinical side of things, because a lot of the time it goes over their head. They're trying to process the degree of emotion that they're experiencing.

And some of it might be really confusing for them. So what can be really helpful during this time is active listening skills. And in the world of social work, we refer this as minimal encourages or paralanguage.

So this is, you don't necessarily have to say anything, but it's the, it's the head nodding, you know, it's the, -huh, yes, -huh. Right. Yep.

Mm. Yep. And just showing that warmth, showing that care, showing that concern and that compassion, and be comfortable to not say anything.

You know, silence can be really helpful sometimes. You know, if, if you've ever experienced a grief, a bereavement, a shock, or whatever, you don't want people filling in the gaps sometimes. You don't necessarily want to hear people talking, you just want someone to be present.

And just know that they're physically there and emotionally available, if, if you need that. So it's really important to acknowledge and validate their response. So when we're talking about grief communication, these are really just some top tips, really.

And it's something that we're taught in social work. It's, it's really social work one on one. And you might know this already, but I think it's really important to remind ourselves of unhelpful language.

So, Big no no is, don't ever say I know how you feel, or I understand because you don't. It's their experience, it's not your grief, it's their grief, OK? So, an alternative would be, I can really appreciate how heartbreaking this feels for you, and use the same terms.

If they're saying, I feel heartbroken, you would say, I can really appreciate how heartbreaking this must feel for you. OK? Because that's a way of joining with them and sending the message, I'm emotionally available, I'm hearing what you're saying.

OK? Another big no, no is don't say she or he. Is in a better place now and no longer suffering, OK?

Because there's some connotations there that people, you know, may not believe in a better place, or what that actually means. And for some people it's not really helpful to know that they're no longer in suffering, you know, because they might not have that belief or that view. So it's important as well to keep the language and communication fairly neutral when it comes to this.

Don't say at least they've had a, had a long life. You know, they were 12, they had a good innings. It's not helpful for people sometimes.

You know, age for people is irrelevant. In fact, the longer you can have a pet, the harder it is, you know, and that grief reaction, that response can be even more distressing sometimes. And don't say be strong, because actually they don't have to be strong.

You know, this is about using language that doesn't necessarily, come across as being influenced from your own personal values and, and beliefs. OK? So it's OK for people to be upset.

It's OK for people to cry. It's OK that they don't feel strong right now. OK.

So some alternatives of what can be helpful is, as I've said, replace the word I know or I understand with I can appreciate how you might be feeling right now. I know Winnie was a wonderful companion who brought you so much happy. You know, it's not easy losing a family member.

We know that winning was more than family to you. Simple statements like this. What you're feeling right now is normal under these circumstances, OK?

So we don't expect vets or veterinary staff to, be skilled. At bereavement or grief, bereavement, grief and loss counselling, and we don't expect that at all, but just some simple terms, some simple statements to support people and show that you appreciate what they're experiencing can be really helpful. So something else that I wanted to, go over within this, is that we appreciate that actually, the, what we're talking about today is having somebody who's centred around the human side of our veterinary world, such as a veterinary social worker, such as a counsellor, is something that we would love to have in all practises worldwide, to be able to look after you, as the professionals, to help you look after your pet carers, and to really help with all of these difficult situations.

So whilst we know throughout this sort of, webinar today that we're talking about how this is gonna be really helpful and hopefully this is the way that this is gonna go, we know that nothing is gonna change immediately. And for many of you, you may leave this webinar thinking, well, great, actually, yeah, I'd, I'd love to have a veterinary social worker. I'd love to have somebody who can come in and help me with all of this stuff, but it's just not gonna happen, or it's not gonna happen soon.

So we wanted to make sure that throughout, we're gonna be giving you some helpful tips, as Rebecca's just gone through some really good dos and don'ts in how to look after somebody who's in that acute stage of grief. And another thing that is important is if we have a pet carer who is saying some really worrying things, so maybe we would call this a mental health emergency. Potentially they are saying things about suicide.

Potentially they're saying things about harming themselves or harming others, and you feel that actually their, their mental health state isn't something that's safe, even just to drive away. If you see that within or after a euthanasia that somebody. Or not just a euthanasia, a difficult consultation that somebody is having really rapid mood mood shifts, mood changes, is becoming quite irritable, is, changing in, in how they approach you, how they approach their pets, how they approach other people.

If you're worried at all that maybe this person isn't safe, then it's really important to feel confident that you have got the skills to be able to, to make sure that they're safe as far as you can do. So. We know that as people, we can only have a certain amount of control over other people, and that is very minimal.

And so you're never going to be able to fully safeguard clients that are under your, your care, that are under your building. But if you are worried about a risk for a client's safety or a safety about somebody else they might live with or know, then I would start to assess, sort of using some really gentle questioning. If you were worried that this person is suicidal, that they have said something about ending their life, that they have said something dramatic about jumping off a bridge, jumping in front of a car, you know, ending their life in any way, then what I'd like you to take away from this is that it isn't inappropriate to question them a little bit on what they mean by that.

Even if they've not used the word suicide, using the word suicide is not going to enter that idea into somebody's mind. So take away some of that fear of, oh, if I bring up suicide, if I bring up ending their life, they might then think that's a great idea and go away and do it. That's not gonna happen.

So feeling confident to, to actually just assess what they mean by what they've said. Often when people are talking about ending their life or suicide or saying things like I can't go on, I don't want to live without Tinkerbell, without my cat, without my pet, I can't live without my pet. I just want this all to end.

What they mean is they want this situation to end. This is a painful situation to be in. They don't want to be in anymore.

And that is completely normal. Most people feel like that at some point in their life, but what they don't mean is that they want to take a permanent decision to end their life. And so you can ask gentle questions around, oh, you know, I heard you say that, you know, you can't go on anymore and you can't live like this.

What do you mean by that? Have you got a plan? If that person has a plan and they talk about it, then again that is a, that's an emergency, and I would absolutely call 999, to make sure that you're passing that on to people who have more training and more ability to keep somebody safer than you can.

If somebody wants to run out of the veterinary practise and you're worried about them, you cannot hold them down, you can't stop them from leaving that veterinary practise, but you can call somebody who can assess that situation further and can restrain that person if they feel that it's necessary to do so. If you have had a conversation like this with a client, then I would encourage you to make some records of a conversation. I wouldn't say you need to put in lots of details, but just a little bit about what you've said to do and why.

So if you've spoken to somebody and they have said, Oh, no, no, no, I know I said, you know, I, I couldn't live without them, but I just really, I'm not thinking about suicide. I haven't got a plan. I, I just really feel a huge sense of loss and you think, OK, we'll check in with you in a couple of days' time.

Then maybe just make a note on their records to say that you've had a conversation and that you have both agreed that you'll check in with them in a couple of days to see if they're OK. And what I'd say would be most important is in any of these situations is ensure that you then speak to somebody, because doing any of this, even just doing some of these assessments with somebody who's in a very fragile state, can be really upsetting. So making sure you speak to somebody.

And that can be a friend, a family member, somebody that you work with that you feel comfortable speaking to, a veterinary social worker, if you have one at hand. Or you can callet Life. So again, we've put the number in the corner of this slide, but Vet Life are there to be a listening ear, and they do understand they are veterinary professionals, so speaking to somebody is just what's very important here.

How does this link with the role of a veterinary social worker? Well, I suppose what I wanna say at the outset really is, This is sort of part and parcel of, of social work practise, so we know in social work, that there are occasions when people who have addiction challenges turn down a place in a, in a rehabilitation centre because they can't secure or can't afford alternative care arrangements for their pet. We also know, social workers have this experience where during care proceedings, A child can experience additional trauma if they are being removed from their home, where their pet also lives, and that relationship ends as well.

So not only are they being removed from their from their parents or their primary caregivers, they're being removed from their best friend, their pet as well. So that's additional trauma. So in the UK while pets, domestic pets are legally considered property, we also know that navigating divorce and separation arrangements where there is joint pet, you know, where where where couples have, sort of caring for a pet jointly, this can present significant dilemmas for couples.

So, where there's a change in the connection with a companion animal or a threat of experiencing that change, such as loss, then the grief that can result has similar parallels with grief responses when a secure human connection changes. So social workers and vets really have an ethical responsibility to acknowledge and honour that relationship that clients can have with their companion animals. Because as we know, the person who's just lost their animal companion may be also grieving the loss of the only source of unconditional love in their life.

So The veterinary social worker can almost act as a conduit sometimes between veterinarians and pet carers, they can bridge that gap. So it's supporting and focusing on the human side, the emotional side. Of pet carers having to navigate treatment options, end of life decisions, and, and aftercare, where they might not have the funds, they might have, might not not have the, you know, the financial backup to be able to, to do that.

And all of this is, you know, presents, a highly emotional experience for pet carers. So then every social worker again can hold that emotional space for, you know, vet vet practitioners, either support before or during or following euthanasia, procedures. They can offer individual bereavement support or counselling where it's needed.

They can facilitate bereavement support groups as well. They can provide psychoeducation seminars and and develop tools and resources that can support pet carers through their grief, through that, bereavement process. And also to refer on, to identify where they actually they might need more.

Specialist intervention and support, and to make those referrals because social workers are really adept, at being able to do that, because we do this every day. You know, our knowledge extends to our local services and resources, so we know where to refer, clients when needed. OK, so we're going to move on now to the next core area of veterinary social work, and I'll just put this link up here because it's quite a powerful one.

So, we know that the interrelationships between humans and animal members of the family can be quite complex, and this is particularly true, where there is interpersonal violence. There is established evidence of the correlation between child abuse, domestic violence, and animal cruelty. And so this is a quote, termed from the American Humane Society.

So when animals are abused, people are at risk. And when people are abused, animals are at risk. OK, so this is the link I'm talking about.

So it's often termed the link, but we know there is there are correlations between child abuse, domestic violence, and also elder elder abuse. So what do we mean by this, so. There's also evidence that caring for an animal companion delays people, usually women, we know from the research, they delay leaving an abusive relationship.

Or they return to an abusive relationship in fear of what might happen to themselves, their children or their animal companions, particularly because we know, again from the research that abusers will often use the animal as a tactic, a strategy to coerce and control family members. We also know from studies conducted that children who frequently witness animal abuse within the home, are at a greater risk of performing acts of cruelty to animals. So under the one health paradigm, which we showed you earlier and that you, you are aware of, professionals from a range of disciplines, that includes social workers and veterinarians, have an ethical duty to ensure the health and the well-being of humans and animals.

So professionals have a responsibility to recognise the potential warning signs of child abuse, domestic violence and animal abuse, and respond appropriately and work to prevent, the abuse from occurring. So we also know that child and animal welfare have historically been distinct and separate practise areas, as we mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, and this is particularly true for the UK. We also know that abuse to humans and animals are both potentially prosecutable offences in England, so this is even more important to wider knowledge of the length, which will enable professionals to identify, prevent and further safeguard vulnerable children, adults, and animals.

Next slide, Katie. OK, so with case example 3. We want you to imagine that you're in consultation.

You've got your, a yearly vaccination appointment that's coming through the door, and you're, you're not, you've not really given it a second thought. But once the person enters into your consult room, you realise that they are quite sort of shifty. They're not making any eye contact with you.

They're really staring at the floor, They are maybe covered in bruises down one side of their body, and they're quite sort of timid when you're speaking to them. When you question them about, their dog and you're speaking to them about how they've been recently, it comes up that actually the patient has been drinking more, urinating more. Actually, when you've weighed them, they've had quite a significant weight loss recently.

And you suggest because of the pet's age and all of these clinical signs that maybe blood work would be something worth doing. For this patient The client takes that in and says that they would be happy to do that, but that actually, maybe they just need to check with their partner, just to make sure that they're going to be OK with it too. Their partner is waiting outside in the car for them, and they make a sort of comment about how, oh, God, he's not gonna be happy knowing that, knowing that this needs to be done and that I need to spend money, on, on this pet.

You feel really uneasy about this appointment and you're, you're not really sure what to do next, so we just wanna talk to you a little bit about what might be good to do in a scenario where you're suspecting that there might be maybe domestic abuse. So again, some helpful information for you in terms of responding, which is really important to consider, so I, we are talking about this as it relates to the UK context. So, In the UK Personal information can be disclosed lawfully if there is serious concern about the safety of a child or an animal.

So as I said before, we know that harming children and animals are potentially prosecutable offences. So, the Children Act, the Data Protection Act, and the Crime and Disorder Act actually allow the sharing of confidential information without consent. So when a disclosure of abuse or risk of abuse to a child or a vulnerable adult is made and they want help, they have asked for help, that's fairly easy and straightforward.

So you can provide the details of the relevant agency that they can contact. And you can notify the police or social services on their behalf, and we know that people who are experiencing violence, abuse, really, really scared, you know, and often fear for their lives. And so, you know, something that might seem quite small for you can be an enormous, source of support.

So you can make those phone calls on their behalf. And again, you might be doing this in practise, but again, this is the role of a veterinary social worker, where they can bridge that gap as well. So when a disclosure of abuse or risk of abuse is made, and they don't want help, or they refuse help, so they've told you what's happening, but they say, I don't want you telling anyone, and I don't want any help.

This becomes more complicated, and difficult to deal with sometimes. But what we would suggest is that you always refer. Your professional body or your professional regulator and your organization's guidance on reporting, and, reporting protocols.

Some organisations have reporting protocols in place, some don't. And if they don't, then we would really encourage you to consider developing one, just so that staff know what to do. And so, you know, should they be faced with situations like this, so there's some guidance there, to help them.

So if it's abuse to a child, then you would seek advice from and share concerns with the relevant authorities and all the police, the relevant authorities in the UK are, local, local authority social services, children's social care. If it's abuse to an adult, then you would encourage them to approach relevant agencies, and to seek help and to provide relevant contacts, a little bit different for an, for an adult, rather than a child, . And as Katie mentioned, if you believe they are in immediate danger, then call the police.

So when abuse or risk of abuse is suspected, but it's not disclosed, so you think there might be something going on, you notice bruising or you notice, unusual behaviour, or they might allude to something maybe going on without actually specifying the details, it is important to just ask some inquiring questions and simple things like, You know, you can acknowledge and validate the experience they might have had with their pet. You know, I can see that, you know, this is a really tough time for you. How's, how's, how's everything else going for you?

How are things at home? That might be more difficult if it's, a client that you're meeting for the first time. But sometimes, you know, people build up relationships with their local, vet providers.

So just asking general questions about how they are, what's going on for you today? You know, what you're experiencing today. As I said, acknowledge and validate.

Sometimes it's helpful to say what you see. I can see that you're really upset. Can we offer any support, that might be helpful for you, OK?

Is there anyone that you would like me to call on your behalf? And again, if you're, if you believe that they're in immediate danger, then you would call the police, an emergency, contact line. The role of veterinary social work again, we also, you know, this is part and par, you know, sort of our daily practise in in social work, and these can be really difficult conversations, for veterinary staff to have, but, you know, social workers have been trained, and are really quite adept at being able to have these really difficult, complicated conversations with people.

So there is an opportunity here for veterinary social worker to help vets, You know, have those difficult conversations. What do they actually say in these scenarios? Obviously, we've got a very short time for this presentation.

And this is, this is a whole day's training, you know, on what to say, how to say, how to identify, you know, how to deal with ethical dilemmas, ethical challenges that come up around this topic. The veterinary social worker can, you know, provide that, extra input, in, you know, your own continued professional development in relation to that. OK.

OK, so then the last, thing that we, well, nearly last thing that we want to be covering is our animal assisted interventions. So, this is something that I think lots of you may or may well be involved in already, but it's something that I think is becoming sort of wider in lots of other countries, and maybe the UK is catching up a little bit. So as vets and and veterinary social workers, and any veterinary professionals, we want to advocate for our patients, so the health and welfare of the animals and the humans participating in programmes like this.

So these might be our guide dogs for the blind. They might be our support dogs. Go into hospitals or hospices, they might be horses used in therapy programmes.

And whilst vets might not necessarily be involved in these programmes or the running of these programmes directly, you may be involved in the process of, maintaining them. You can do this using your physical examinations of our of the pets, of the animals, making sure they're up to date with vaccinations and any other preventative healthcare, and advise people on the potential stressors during a selection process for animals who may be going into these types of programmes. Vets can set the medical standards for these animal assisted intervention programmes as well.

But there may be some challenges with this. So, for this case example, you have a nine year old Labrador retriever who has been coming in and out with, osteoarthritis for many years. He has been on meloxicam doses quite regularly and is also on Labrella injections.

And his carer brings his in, because recently, he is a support dog. He's, he's working with children in a children's hospice very regularly. Recently, he's becoming a bit grumpy with them, and he's just not as happy as he has been.

He's been doing this for years, and his, his behaviour has changed quite a lot over the last few months. You recommend that actually you should do some blood work and maybe some radiographs and on all of that you can see that there's been a significant worsening of his arthritis. And so your plan for him would be to increase his analgesia, where, where possible, he's already on a little bit.

But also, you really think that he's, he's becoming quite unhappy with the children, using him as sort of a climbing frame sometimes. Maybe the random movements he can't predict, and, and he's getting quite anticipatory about everything hurting a little bit. And so you think, actually, it's probably best he stops visiting the hospice.

Your, your interaction with this client sort of takes a turn, they really disagree and they want to go to the hospice anyway. And this might be, again, another area where a social worker can come in. Yep.

So again, the social worker could act as, you know, like, like a conduit, a middle person to liaise with the animal carer, the handler, the therapist, and the vet, to ensure that these practises are ethical, to ensure, That, you know, these practises are in the best interests of the animal. They also can reframe the language, or they can provide additional support. They can also act as a media when someone wants the vet to say, sign off, that their pet would be a good therapy animal, but the vet doesn't agree to that.

So again, this is difficult conversations or some, some tensions there. So the veterinary social worker can offer that additional support, and maybe explain things in a different way as well to really help the client understand. What is again in the best interests of, of their animal.

OK, so then thinking a little bit about supervision. So supervision is something that is a regular contact between a professional and another professional, so maybe a more experienced professional, where you spend a specific amount of time reflecting on your practise, what's been happening maybe over the last two weeks, maybe the last month, if there are any cases that you want to talk about. It's an ability to monitor reactions in yourself and your effects that you're having on other people, and also to review and prioritise tasks and cases.

So if you've got quite a large case load, then maybe prioritising what is most important at that time, where the things that might be going well are going well, where things might be going badly or or have the potential to go badly. It's where we will speak to this other professional to get some guidance and support with things that might be difficult and identify those areas of development, both in clinical practise, but also in maybe areas for training, or even personal development, maybe even self-care and looking after our wellbeing. So when we are training as counsellors, when we're training as social workers, it is a national requirement for us to have supervision on an ongoing basis.

So no matter what kind of ethical body we're belonging to, they will all say and require that we have a minimal amount every month of supervision, for our case load. And this can be individual supervision, where maybe you speak to one other professional once a month or twice a month to speak about all of this. Or it could be a group supervision.

So you might go to a group regularly where you all take time to discuss different cases in an anonymous way, so never discussing anybody's identifying characteristics or or names or anything. But have this kind of group supervision where you can share things in a group and learn from each other. And this is something that isn't really done in the veterinary world.

So I've asked sort of how this is done currently, and I guess when I'm thinking about what I see as supervision, what I have as supervision, and where I see this happening around me in the veterinary context, is I see this happening in some ways, on kind of a smaller scale. So within the referral world, especially, I will often see clinicians, maybe interns or residents, taking on cases within an ICU department. And forming a plan, maybe doing their clinical assessment, forming a plan for investigations, including imaging, and then going to a rounds and maybe discussing their plan or their sort of ideas about what might be happening with this case to their more senior clinicians.

So maybe the specialists that are around them, maybe their mentor, and having a group discussion about that case in particular. What I don't see often in terms of the veterinary world is actually how you're reflecting on your own progression with this, how maybe there might be areas for development in terms of your own well-being and self-care, and how that might impact you or or your effect on other people. So I think there is kind of a gap and a mismatch in In a job that is so high in responsibility and so stressful and so demanding, to not kind of have to have a prescribed amount of supervision at all.

Yeah, so, as Katie said, this is a national requirement for counselling, those in the helping caring professions, and it's particularly true, in social work, so, Often when people who are not familiar with supervision or haven't experienced professional supervision. There can be some negative connotations or some negative thinking around what supervision is. And so some people might think, well, it's, it's, an opportunity for your line manager to micromanage you or to monitor your performance, or, you know, supervision space where they're gonna criticise your work.

It's a space where there is a disparity of power, and power may be used differently or misused. But actually it's not that, and well certainly the purpose and the intention of supervision is more that it is a professional discussion. It's a mutually collaboration.

The power is neutralised by the supervisor so that the supervisor. Can feel safe and protected, within that space to talk through and to process the impact that practise might be having, and to identify any gaps in their own knowledge and, you know, to think about a path for their own professional learning and development. So at the very core, it comes from a a strengths-based framework, OK?

But in every supervision, Every supervision needs to be formal, OK, so it's not ad hoc, it's not talking over the desk at each other about the case. It is about sitting in a room, that is hopefully without, free from interruptions, that it's regular. In our Katie in my world, it's once a month, at least once a month, and there is a structure, there's an agenda that both contribute to the supervisor and the supervisor.

Supervision is recorded. OK, because supervision notes can always be subpoenaed for court. So it's really important as well to keep notes of supervision and to sign them off.

So, whoever takes the notes, you normally it is the supervisor, they should be shared with the supervisor, the person being supervised to ensure accuracy and that it is an accurate reflection of what was discussed in the supervision. Using a supervision model, there are many models and frameworks that are used to guide the discussion, so it's really important to use that model so that it frames the supervision context and the discussions. That supervisors don't just turn up and expect the supervisors to do all the talking, that there is active participation and engagement, and that conversations are really transparent.

Feelings and emotions, thoughts, and all of those are made very clear and honest, with each other, that there's an openness to learning and feedback, and as long as feedback is given constructively and that there isn't a focus on, poor practise or negative practise, although we appreciate that supervision is also the context in which to raise any areas, of challenge that might be experienced in practise as well. And an opportunity to review and evaluate. So it's always really helpful at the end of supervision to say, have a supervision for you today.

Some supervisors will rate it, say on a scale of 1 to 10, where do you think supervision sat today or that particular discussion today? So that's a really important part of checking in with each other to ensure that supervision remains productive and a positive experience for both parties. So what we have, and what's really important is a supervision agreement so that you know that where there is an agreement in place, that actually the organisation takes supervision very seriously, and it is a really important aspect and part, of practise.

So having a supervision agreement really reflects and represents the commitment that the organisation has to supervision. It ensures that there's clarity. On the roles and responsibilities of the supervisor and the supervisor, and the agreement clarifies also how that cos the supervision feeds into the employee's annual appraisals.

So how does this link in as well, and it encourages a joint responsibility. What's really important part of the supervision agreement also is to discuss and agree the parameters of confidentiality, OK? So, supervision is not counselling, it is not therapy.

But as I said, it is a professional discussion, however, there may be some elements, of people's personal lives discussed in supervision, and that would more so be in the context of, How, whatever is happening in the supervisor's personal life is impacting on their practise and their profession, you know, and their professional, input. So it may be that the supervisor and supervisor agree that there are other issues, other personal issues are at play here and they might need to be referred on for counselling or therapy, whatever the nature of those issues are. So there is a delineation, there is a separation, then it's really important to keep that supervisory space within the professional context.

Thanks, Katie. So then lastly, we just wanted to touch on the opportunities that are available here for interdisciplinary collaboration. So education, so we would really love to look at developing the curriculum of the veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing and social work, undergraduate and postgraduate courses so that we can really talk about this human-animal bond and everything that we've discussed today, how our, our two kind of, areas of interest can really collide and benefit each other.

There's opportunity here for potential student placements and internships and also CPD opportunities, I guess like we are doing today. There's also the the ability to have some cross reporting for for procedures, so maybe when we're looking at the link in particular, having a really good solid base on, on what we do with reporting. Some psychoeducation seminars for pet carers, so as we discussed, maybe pet carers who are grieving, putting together packs for them so that they can learn about anticipatory grief, learn about disenfranchised grief, what that means for them, and really have that validation that can really, really support them in those really acute stages of bereavement.

There's a lot of opportunity here for different research and also opportunities to diversify outside of clinical practise. So if you know, as you, we talked about right at the beginning, we are in a position that actually we're we're thinking that maybe clinical veterinary work isn't for us anymore. Then actually there are, there are opportunities here to maybe get more involved in the human side of looking after our pet carers, of looking after our colleagues in the veterinary world, by maybe looking into to social work or counselling or another profession that comes within all of this that can support everybody within it.

So thank you for listening. We've listed here just some links to some very important sites. So if you wanted to take note of any of these, then that would be great.

As I said, if you wanted any of those research papers, we can also send those to you. And if you have any questions, we would love you to reach out to us to hear our emails. So we really hope that you've gained new insights from this presentation.

We also hope that you feel inspired to consider how you might be able to, you know, incorporate new and innovative practises, in your own work environment. So, from Katie and I, thank you so much for your interest in veterinary social work, and if you are interested in learning more about this topic or anything related to what has been covered in this presentation, we're happy for you to contact us directly.