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DISCLAIMER |
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Please Read Before Proceeding Before contacting licensed veterinarians listed in our Hospice Veterinarians database or mental health professionals listed in our Counseling and Hospice Professionals database, we urge you to inquire about their specific training and experience in animal hospice care or in pet loss counseling before entrusting your companion animal or yourself to their care. The NHFP cannot be held responsible for the actions, omissions or performance of the hospice veterinarians or mental health professionals listed vis-à-vis their handling of either your pet’s specific hospice needs or your own specific counseling needs.
On request, we can supply you with further information on each veterinarian or counseling/hospice professional listed, but we cannot vouch for any of them on an individual basis. These databases are designed to help you in your search for adequate animal hospice care or grief counseling, but the final decision on an animal health care provider or a therapist is yours alone. If you wish to ascertain in greater depth the reputation, training, and/or experience of these hospice veterinarians or counseling/hospice professionals, you are advised to contact the appropriate Veterinary Licensing Board or State Licensing Board in your state.
The NHFP cannot be held liable for any problems you may incur in regard to your choice of a hospice veterinarian or a mental health professionals from these databases. Furthermore, it cannot be named as a party in any malpractice lawsuit resulting from improper administration of medication or from improper implementation (or non-observance) of animal/veterinary hospice care guidelines as they are either posted by The NHFP on this website or by the AVMA on its own website nor can it be named as a party in any malpractice lawsuit resulting from inappropriate or inadequate counseling. Once you access our Hospice Veterinarians database and/or our Counseling and Hospice Professionals database, we will assume that you have read the above, understand it, and consent to its terms. |
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COUNSELING AND HOSPICE PROFESSIONALS |
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People who have lost a beloved pet often require assistance in handling their grief, which usually becomes particularly intense not long after the pet’s death. Hopefully, with the encouragement and support of The NHFP, the animal hospice teams that will gradually take shape in veterinary clinics will be able to offer counseling and bereavement services to their clients when the latter are most in need. This involves a deep understanding of what Dr. Cheryl Scott refers to as “the power of the human-animal bond and the needs, passions and desires that may arise from this dynamic relationship.”
By accepting the additional challenge of caring for the human client as well as for the animal patient, within the parameters of the animal hospice experience, veterinarians must be ready to take on new responsibilities, not the least of which is providing professional grief counseling to their clients. In order to help both veterinarians who are seeking mental health professionals willing to join their hospice teams and pet caregivers who are seeking grief counseling on their own, The NHFP has created this database. The professionals included can also become resources for hospice veterinarians who are not yet ready to hire a grief therapist but who would like to refer their clients to one.
The counseling and hospice professionals in our database are all dedicated to helping those who are grieving the loss of a beloved companion animal, and all of them have a strong interest in animal hospice care. We have asked each of them to submit a detailed questionnaire, outlining their experience and academic background, as well as a description of how they personally provide their services and their level of experience. Most are professionals (both licensed and non-licensed) who are already offering counseling but who have not attended any of The NHFP’s training seminars. Others (who have a double red stars**next to their names) are licensed professionals who have also completed a training seminar through The NHFP and/or have been providing counseling for many years and are extremely well-versed in their field. Some of them also serve as advisory board members of The NHFP or have conducted training seminars themselves.
Betty J. Carmack, RN, EdD, MSN, CT** University of San Francisco School of Nursing
Bonnie
Goodman, MA, CT Website: www.goodmancounseling.com
Deborah Antinori, MA,
RDT, NCC Email: antinori@optonline.net
Website: www.hopevet.com
Michelle A. Lotz, RN, BSN
VIRGINIA
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