Handling Clients' Pet Loss and Bereavement
Communicating Difficult News to Clients
- Communication is what is said and what is not said.
- What is empathy?
Empathy is the “act [art] of perceiving, understanding, experiencing and responding to the emotional state of another person” (The Social Work Dictionary, 141).
What do we say?
Use empathic statements such as the following:
- "Let’s plan what to do next together."
- "These are very common fear/issues we hear from clients; you are not alone."
- "I know this is upsetting; it would be for anyone."
- "You are doing the right thing by your animal."
How do we say it?
- "What do you enjoy doing with your companion animal right now?"
- "If cure or control isn’t possible, what is the next best thing to work for?"
- "What are your hopes and fears for your companion animal?"
- "What do you consider your animal’s quality of life to be like now?"
- "Are there any circumstances you would consider unmanageable/unacceptable for your companion animal during the course of treatment? (examples: feeding tubes, amputation, intubation, chronic incontinence)"
An excellent resource for more information on verbal and nonverbal communication is The Human–Animal Bond and Grief, by Laurel Lagoni, Carolyn Butler and Suzanne Hetts (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 1994).
Compassion Fatigue, Stress and Burnout
What Is Compassion Fatigue?
- Just being compassionate can be exhausting!
- Compassion means “to bear suffering.”
- “Compassion fatigue, like any other kind of fatigue, reduces our capacity or our interest in bearing the suffering of others. …Compassion fatigue can be defined as a state of tension and preoccupation with the traumatized patient by re-experiencing the traumatic events, avoidance/numbing of reminders and persistent arousal associated with the patient. It is a function of bearing witness to the suffering of others” (C. Figley, “Compassion fatigue: Psychotherapists’ chronic lack of self care,” Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 1433–41).
Circumstances That May Lead to Compassion Fatigue
1. Secondary traumatic stress disorder/vicarious traumatization
- Bearing witness to the distress of others who are traumatized.
- The more trauma one witnesses, the more traumatic stress one will suffer.
- Multiple losses of patients/clients can be traumatic to the practitioner.
2. Counter-transference
- Counter-transference is an emotional reaction toward a client by the social worker or therapist. Social worker or therapists may see themselves in the client/family, may over-identify with the client or "meet needs through the client” (Figley, 2002, 1425).
3. Burnout
- From the Fried Social Worker Blog: “Feelings of hopelessness and difficulties in dealing with work or in doing your job effectively…can be associated with a very high workload or a non-supportive work environment.”
- Burnout is associated with the work environment AND the self.
Symptoms under the Compassion-Fatigue Umbrella
- Intrusion: flashbacks, images, reminders, nightmares, preoccupation of thoughts and perception, self-blame
- Avoidance: addiction, destructive behavior, isolation, hypersomnalance, hypervigilance, constriction, dissociation
- Arousal: anxiety, insomnia, agitation, muscular tension, appetite changes, increase reactivity and sensitivity, paranoia, difficulty concentrating