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The PAWEDcast: Veterinary Social Workers
Veterinary Social Work is a new and growing field that focuses on the human needs of veterinary medicine. We know it’s not all puppies and kittens. There are humans behind every tough diagnosis, end of life conversation, and long 10-hour shift. Veterinary Social Workers help both pet owners and veterinary staff to pause, talk, and process the grief and emotions they experience with their pets and their patients.
Social Workers & Veterinary Staff Well-Being
Veterinary professionals care so deeply about the work they do with animals and spend their shifts putting their heart and soul into their patients. On top of that, our ER & specialty hospitals at Ethos are seeing some of the toughest, and sometimes saddest, cases.
But you can’t care for others if you don’t care for yourself first.
While half of a Veterinary Social Worker’s day may be supporting clients with pet loss support, decision making, and coping with grief, the other half is spent with the veterinary staff. They are a resource for:
- Dealing with stress & compassion fatigue
- Coping with euthanasia every day and the secondary traumatic stress it can cause
- Wellness & mental health counseling
- Establishing self-care routines & setting boundaries
Compassion fatigue and burnout can be driven by not processing all of what we’ve endured in a day. It can become so emotionally overwhelming that many end up leaving the profession. Having a Veterinary Social Worker available can be that expert resource and help overcome these mental health challenges in this field.
How We’re Making Veterinary Social Workers a Part of Our Hospitals
On this episode of The PAWEDcast, Emergency & Primary Care veterinarians Dr.’s Krista Vernaleken & Lindsay Renzullo talk with one of our licensed Veterinary Social Workers, Christina Malloy, LICSW. She discusses her role at Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital and how her field of Veterinary Social Work is growing. At Ethos Veterinary Health, we are expanding our Social Workers team and hope to someday have one employed at every one of our locations.
Ethos Veterinary Health Social Worker Christina Malloy, LICSW (middle) with Drs. Haber and Brisson at the AVMA Wellbeing Summit on supporting mental health and preventing suicide in the veterinary profession.
In a field that truly takes a toll on our own staff, we must support our own. We hope our veterinary community will continue to pioneer and place high importance on mental health support and consider hiring Social Workers for their own teams. And we hope that Social Work programs at universities will consider offering more pathways for the veterinary field. There is much work to be done, but we believe in a healthier, stronger veterinary field.
