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New Teleclass!
Pet Loss Support Groups:
Start Up, Structure and Facilitation
June 22nd & 29th   11 am - 1 pm PT

 
Instructors
Enid Traisman, MSW & Donna Kahora, RN
Pet Loss Support Group Facilitators since 1986 and 2001 respectively

Moderated by Teresa Wagner, MS 

$48 fee includes four hours of live class time, over 60 pages of handouts
and digital recordings of the class
If you cannot attend live, you will receive the digital recordings & handouts 
to listen to and read at your leisure

REGISTER HERE

Dear Clients, Colleagues and Friends,

The desire to help others from a place of genuine love and compassion is a sacred thing. When we offer our support to help those who've been where we've been, to help them move through their pain and loss with perhaps less suffering than we've experienced, we provide a gift of loving service.

This class provides the information, skills and practical preparation for those who want to help others heal from the loss of beloved animals in a support group setting. 

Support groups can provide a powerful place of solace, a place of understanding from others who know our pain first hand, from others who do not misunderstand, mock or diminish our grief from losing an animal loved one. Support groups provide an antidote to feeling isolated in our grief, a place to be with people who love animals as deeply as we do. Leading such a group can help many animal lovers in grief find their way, and bring meaning and fulfillment as we help. 

For everyone who is experiencing the pain of losing their animal loved ones--whether you ever attend or lead a support group--may your heart be supported in just the ways that you need. May you be blessed and graced with all you need to heal, and feel the continued connection and love with your beloved one. Thank you for loving animals as much as you do ~

With Love and Blessings,
Teresa


   When I had this image created for this class, I wanted something that symbolized how our hearts can grow and heal, despite heartbreak, with the support of others who understand and care. I first saw an image of a broken heart with growth sprouting from its wounded-ness from an art exercise completed by one of the workshop participants in my Legacies of Love class. 
I was enchanted with her image because it spoke so clearly about two realities that can live side by side: heartbreak and growth. So I had graphic and web designer extraordinaire,
Pam Riesmeyer, create a similar heart within a circle of hands supporting a broken, yet growing heart.

WHO IS THIS CLASS FOR?
Anyone who is interested in gaining the information and skill to start and effectively facilitate a pet loss support group. It may also be valuable as a review to those who currently facilitate support groups.

Many times, people are drawn to do pet loss support groups or pet loss grief counseling because they have been through tremendous pain of loss and healing themselves, and having come through this, feel a compassionate desire to help others through this same process. Such compassion and love is the best possible foundation for offering grief support! At the same time, in addition to our own loss and healing experience and a loving desire to help, effectively supporting others who grieve also requires skills of empathic expression, group facilitation and understanding the ethics and boundaries of this work. This class was designed to provide this specific information and skill building. We would look forward to having you in the class! Learning the skills in this class will empower you to effectively facilitate support groups for many years.

HOW DO I REGISTER?
When your payment is received you will receive a confirmation of payment and registration for the class. We will also send you a brief survey so you can let us know your specific learning goals. Approximately one week before the first class session on June 22nd you will receive the handout package by email, with directions for pre-class reading and exercises. After the class you will receive digital recordings of each session so you can review the audio portion of the class for years to come.

WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CLASS?

To an onlooker, an effective support group may appear to be seamlessly led by the facilitator, with each participant being fully heard and supported, and with differences amongst members' stories and values being validated and respectfully honored. For this to occur, however, the facilitator needs to fully understand, cultivate and carefully apply specific skills to insure that every participant feels safe, listened to, respected, and has ample opportunity to openly share. Skilled facilitators also know how to deal with disruptions, challenges and problems that arise with grace and ease.  

This class has been designed to help those interested in becoming pet loss support group facilitators to:
  • Understand the purpose and scope of grief support groups and how they are different from therapy groups, therapy and workshops
  • Become aware of how to find sponsors, participants and space for grief support groups
  • Learn the purpose of structuring support groups and how to do so in ways that maximize participant emotional safety, learning and growth
  • Understand group dynamics, learn the specific skills of expressing empathy and interventions needed for effective group facilitation
  • Become familiar with a wide array of additional resources:
    • Resources to continue facilitator learning and skill building
    • Resources to share with your support group members for their continued healing and growth  
WHAT IS THE CONTENT OF THE CLASS?
The Purpose and Scope of Pet Loss Grief Support Groups
  • Expectations of what can be accomplished and what cannot
  • The difference between a support group, a therapy group, one on one counseling, and a workshop
  • Understanding scope of practice; knowing when to refer & having therapist resources ready for referral

 

Finding Sponsors, Participants and Space
  • Finding an organization sponsor for a group (if needed or desired)
  • Locating appropriate space for a group; seating arrangements
  • Advertising and attracting participants
  • Charging for group attendance or facilitating as a volunteer

 

How to Structure Support Groups
  • Open for drop ins? Closed except to those signed up?
  • Schedule: Ongoing or held for a finite period of time
  • Frequency of meetings: every week, twice a month?
  • Length of meetings: an hour? 90 minutes? 2 hours?
  • Ground rules and boundaries for support groups
  • Format: Just sharing? Or include some rituals, exercises, activities or educational materials?

 

Skills and Knowledge Needed to Effectively Facilitate a Grief Support Group
  • Two Golden Rules of Grief Support: Empathy Before Strategy; Do Not Impose
  • Understanding group dynamics: What can go wrong and how to keep a group on track and harmonious
  • Qualities and responsibilities of an effective support group facilitator
  • Acknowledging and Active Listening
  • Empathic questioning to gain clarity
  • Gatekeeping
  • Appropriate use of self disclosure
  • Effective interventions for challenges and problems: difficult or disruptive group members; shy, introverted group members; those who take up too much air time; when a member may sob uncontrollably and seem to be falling apart; when members are angry or rude with other members
  • Handling Major Differences in Values and Beliefs: Between members and when the values or way of dealing with grief of a member is quite different from the facilitator's
  • The Difference between offering resources as suggestions to consider (whether tangible such as books or ideas on how to reframe an issue causing pain) and being overly directive or imposing our values and beliefs onto members

Empathy is the bridge to offering strategies and ideas to clients.
Without it, we are leaping blind, guessing or not caring what our clients need.

Our expertise, in whatever healing fields we have been trained, can be priceless. It can also be worthless if our delivery lacks empathy, energetic
boundaries and ethics.


WHO ARE THE CLASS INSTRUCTORS?
When I decided to add a class on Pet Loss Support Groups to the listings available in the Animal Loss and Grief Support Professional Program of Study, the first thing I did was reach out to two people who have been facilitating such groups for many years and whom I greatly respect:  
Enid Traisman and Donna Kahora. 
I was thrilled when they both agreed to teach the class. Team teaching takes a great deal more coordination, planning and work than teaching alone, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for the tremendous effort they've put into creating this extremely informative, practical and inspirational class.


Enid Traisman, MSW, CT, CFS 
 In 1986 Enid founded and continues as the director of the DoveLewis Pet Loss Support and Art Therapy Program in Portland, Oregon. Enid facilitates the four support groups each month, provides art therapy for the community and DoveLewis staff each month. Enid presents workshops to the staff at DoveLewis and veterinary clinics and conferences around the country about pet bereavement, compassion fatigue and the human-animal companion bond. She has a Masters in Social Work specializing in Grief Counseling and is a Certified Thanatologist through the Association for Death Education and Counseling.

Enid is the author of five published books. Four are for human loss published by the Centering Corporation in Omaha, Nebraska. Enid's fifth book is a guided remembrance journal especially designed to support and help bereaved pet owners navigate life without their beloved pets: My Personal Pet Remembrance Journal.

 
Donna Kahora, RN 
Donna is the founder and sole facilitator of the Friends of Nikki Support Group, which was founded in 2001 and is located in Somerset, NJ. With Friends of Nikki, Donna provides a forum for pet parents who may benefit from peer-based support for pet loss at any stage and also provides ongoing support and resources to pet parents who seek support between meetings. Donna brings the skills that she has gained from: her 35 years as an RN; the completion of the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement Pet Bereavement (APLB) Counselor Training and her many years of studying the grief process. Donna also served on the APLB's planning committee for the 2010 and 2012 conferences.

She is also a member of the Animal Concerns Ministry at St Matthias Church in Somerset, NJ., has presented talks on pet loss at numerous conferences and has been interviewed by New Jersey radio and television shows. The Friends of Nikki's website includes Donna's original writings about her own animal companions. 

REGISTER HERE