Supporting Pet Owners Through Loss (While Looking After Yourself Too)

1 Sep — 31 Dec 2026

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Supporting Pet Owners Through Loss (While Looking After Yourself Too)

September 1 @ 8:00 am - December 31 @ 9:00 pm AEST

This practical, self-paced CPD course helps veterinary teams support grieving pet owners while protecting their own wellbeing. Across six short modules, vets, nurses, receptionists, technicians and practice managers gain simple language for difficult conversations, practical ways to support clients through euthanasia and grief, clear boundaries for handling anger or blame, and realistic ways to recognise compassion fatigue and burnout and look after themselves. Grounded in grief education and current research, and made for the reality of a busy clinic, it leaves the whole team more confident, better equipped, and reminded that looking after themselves is part of the work.

Who should attend

Veterinarians, Veterinary nurses, Veterinary technicians, Veterinary receptionists and Practice managers.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Recognise how pet loss affects clients and the team
  • Understand why clients respond the way they do when grieving
  • Know what to say and what to avoid in emotionally difficult situations
  • Use simple, practical responses that work in a busy clinic
  • Support clients through euthanasia conversations with clarity and compassion
  • Respond when clients are distressed, angry or upset
  • Care for clients without carrying it all home
  • Recognise the signs of compassion fatigue and burnout and look after themselves.

Further details

Course format
Six short modules plus an introduction, delivered online and self-paced. Start whenever suits you and work through it at your own pace. Lessons unlock in sequence, so each module is completed before the next begins.

Duration
1.25 hours of total learning time: 46 minutes of video across the seven sections, plus reading, downloadable resources and assessment.

Assessment
26 questions in total, with a pass mark of 80 per cent on every module quiz. Each question is mapped to one of the eight course learning outcomes. A certificate of completion is issued at the end.

What the course covers
Modules 1 to 4 focus on supporting the grieving client: the emotional context of pet loss, how grief presents in a consult, simple language that helps and language that does not, and euthanasia conversations, including what to do when grief turns to anger or blame.
Module 5 focuses on the team: recognising compassion fatigue and burnout, boundaries that let you keep caring, and a short reset that fits between consults. Module 6 brings the two together with five responses worth keeping close.

Resources included
Downloadable resources and a full reference list. The course also introduces the free client-facing support a clinic can offer: a pet loss support guide, follow-up emails, ideas for honouring a pet, and a private community. All free to the client, with no admin for the practice.

Presenter
Ann Harris, Certified Grief Educator trained through David Kessler’s Grief Educator Certification, and author of PerPETual Love: Forever In Your Heart. Ann has spent more than thirty-five years working with animals as a dog trainer and as an animal casting agent for television and film, and for ten years ran a mobile farm taking animals into disability services, aged care and hospitals. She supports a community of more than 1,800 grieving pet owners across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Pricing
Individual and team options, with founding pricing while the course is new. Current pricing is on the course page.

 
To find out more, or to register click here.

Details

September 1 @ 8:00 am AEST — December 31 @ 9:00 pm AEST

1 CPD Point

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