The loss of a pet is something that many can struggle with, and expressing this loss in a healthy and open way for many can be difficult.
People and Animal Assisted Therapy Services, dubbed ‘PAATS’, is the unconventional service within the Ipswich community that provides important this emotional support to those who need it.
Elijah Barber of MyBT spoke to Naomi Blake, co-creator of PAATS, about the services provided within the organisation, and the reason why she created a service that many are unaware of.
Q: What types of services does the People and Animal Assisted Therapy Services organisation provide?
A: People & Animal Assisted Therapy Services Inc (PAATS) provides services in 3 main areas:
Animal Assisted Therapy – that is, gaining a therapeutic outcome from working with animals. We currently work with children in out of home care, with our goats and dogs and with dogs from local shelters and rescue organizations. This work helps children build skills / mastery and self-esteem / self-confidence, develop empathy, and heal trauma.
Grief and Loss Support related to animals. We currently run a monthly grief and loss support group for anyone who has lost a companion animal, and also offer individual counselling. Over the next few months we are expanding the program to include people who work with animals – for example, veterinarians and their staff, animal shelter and rescue workers – who face significant levels of grief and compassion fatigue in their work.
Therapy Dog Training. PAATS works with Doggy Dogma training to develop handler and dog teams to the standard required for therapy work.
Q: Can you briefly take me through the science behind having animals aid people in recovery and therapy?
A: There is often scepticism in regard to the claims being made about the benefits of working with animals. However, there is quite a lot of research to prove there are therapeutic outcomes – it’s not just that it’s nice to cuddle an animal. The benefits to people from interacting with canines include decreased levels of stress hormones, regulation of breathing, lowered blood pressure and the release of oxytocin, a hormone associated with bonding and affection, in both the dog and the human.
Q: What was the reasoning behind making The Pet Grief and Loss Support Group a donation-only service?
A: PAATS is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to better outcomes for people and animals. Consistent with that goal, we decided to make the cost of attending the support group a donation to ensure the maximum number of people can be helped by the group. Often the reasons behind the loss of a pet are financial – for example unable to pay the vet bills, or having to relinquish a pet to obtain affordable housing – and it would be terrible to exclude those owners from emotional support and the chance to grieve.
Q: The loss of a pet is generally something most consider a harsh reality within our lives. What types of circumstances cause people to be more deeply affected by this loss, compared to those who take it in stride?
A: The value judgment you make on the loss of a pet, and that it should be taken in a person’s stride, is quite contradictory to the research findings associated with the loss of a companion animal.
Research using psychological assessment tools indicates that people experience grief for pets that is consistent with the grief associated with the loss of humans, including a child (references can be supplied). This finding acknowledges that humans have deep bonds with animals, and they are with them constantly, and provide unconditional support and love, and their loss is felt deeply.
The loss of a pet often fits the category of “disenfranchised grief” – grief that cannot be openly expressed because the death or other loss cannot be publicly acknowledged. It can come from the death of a pet, or having to relinquish a pet or even when a pet goes missing.
It is more likely to be the lack of opportunity to mourn the loss of a beloved companion, and uncaring responses such as “it’s just a dog and you can get another one” that creates complicated grief.
Q: How traditional is pet-related therapy, and also how common is it in your experience?
A: Animal assisted therapy is becoming more common, as are a number of modalities that go beyond “talking” psychotherapy, such as music therapy, art therapy, etc. Much of the research into the effectiveness of these types of therapies has been driven by the need to have evidenced based therapies in our health and community care system. Being specific, pets as therapy would most likely be service / assistance animals who are specially trained to offer defined supports. Guide dogs are the most well known example. Another example is animals who support people with autism, who have both a “pet” role and a job.
Q: Why do you believe that pet-related grief is dismissed so easily by those that have not experienced it?
A: I think people are generally uncomfortable with grief expressed by another. We see someone sad (or angry or depressed – all normal parts of grief) and it makes us uncomfortable, so we want that discomfort in ourselves and the “problem” in the other to go away. One way to feel better ourselves is to dismiss another’s grief. I’ve had many clients who have been hurt by close friends telling them 6 months was enough time to get over the loss of a husband or wife or parent….
So, there are a few reasons pet related grief is dismissed so easily. As you point out, one reason is people underestimate their depth of the loss until they experience it themselves. We generally give ourselves wholeheartedly to pets, so it can be a shock when we realize how much more they meant to us.
Another is that that feeling of discomfort around someone who’s sad because of the lost of pet, and wanting them (and ourselves) to start feeling better now.
Q: I can only assume most members of The Pet Grief and Loss Support Group have experienced the loss of a dog or a cat, have there been instances of other species of animals?
A: Not so far, but I’m sure that will change!
Q: In the two years it has been active, PAATS has seen a lot of positive changes made in people’s lives. What kinds of future endeavours and projects would you like to see PAATS conduct for the Ipswich community?
A: We would like Ipswich to be a community where it’s great to be an animal. That includes positive reinforcement training for all pets, so they have good manners and are a pleasure to have within the community. It includes excellent training for therapy animal partnerships, and our therapy teams being accepted across the state and Australia. And, it includes other institutions accepting that pets are vital to health and well being of many people (eg nursing homes, schools, etc).
Naomi Blake provided the following information for people seeking more information about various services pet-related therapy provides:
https://www.pawswithacause.org/what-we-do/dogs-for-autism
https://www.qld.gov.au/disability/out-and-about/choosing-ghad/
Who do you think we should send a Q&A? What should we ask them? Send your list of questions to ipswich@brisbanetimes.com.au and we’ll do our best to track down some answers.
