Pet Loss Companioning

Pet Grief Counseling Certification

Purpose: To earn a Certificate in Pet Loss Companioning and learn how to help others, or yourself,  through the loss of a beloved pet.

Required Texts:
Pet Parents: A Journey Through Unconditional Love and Grief  Coleen Ellis – author

When Your Pet Dies:  A Guide To Mourning, Remembering and Healing Dr. Alan Wolfelt – author

Course Information: In this pet grief counseling certification course, you will learn how to help pet parents with the loss of a pet. Death and loss are a mystery, not only to the person that’s walking on a grief journey but it’s also a mystery to those who want to be a companion to that person on their journey.  The Pet Loss Companioning course provides the student with the information and practical guidance in knowing how to be that caring companion on a grief journey.

As Pet Care Professionals, while it’s our responsibility to help pet parents with the loss of their pet, it’s also an area that many people are uncomfortable with.  In the eight Pet Loss Companioning webinars, many different aspects of death and grief are explored as the attendees learn the intricacies of one of life’s inevitable events.

Homework: Each session will consist of a lecture, a quiz, and homework that helps the student to absorb the material.

The seven segments (8 sessions) of the Pet Loss Companioning Certification include:

• Basics of Pet Loss Companioning
• The Six Central Needs of Mourning
• Various Age Segments and Pet Loss
• The Importance of Rituals in the Grieving Process
• Caregiver Qualities
• Self-Care for the Companion
• Faith Found in Fur 

Prerequisites: None

What you can expect to learn from this course:
Basics of Pet Loss Companioning -This is the foundation course for Pet Loss Companioning. Learn the difference between treatment and companioning philosophies; grief and mourning; and the 8 “attitudes” of companioning and what each means to the person companioning. Earn a Pet Grief Counseling Certification.

The Six Central Needs of Mourning – The six central needs of mourning are not steps. They will happen in a variety of ways and in a timing that’s right for the grieving heart.  Learn what these needs are and how to recognize them.

Various Age Segments and Pet Loss – This lesson looks at three special types of segments of the population who will grieve in their own individual ways for the loss of their special pet friends.  Those segments are children, senior citizens and other pets that grieve for their pet friends.

The Importance of Rituals in the Grieving Process – As a pet care professional – our role is to guide our families-give them options.  Families often “don’t know what they don’t know” in the areas of pet death or how to honor the life they shared with their pet.  This lesson goes over many different rituals and how to help families with them.

Caregiver Qualities-(Two Sessions) What does it mean to be a “good” caregiver or companion to someone grieving? What are the things we should do or not do? This course teaches the caregiver to know what she can do, accept what she can’t do, and have the spirit of the heart engaged in ways that can and do make a difference.

Self-Care for the Companion-Poor self care causes distancing by the caregiver.  The absolute exhaustion will cause a caregiver to be so tired that the thought of caring for others is almost overwhelming. This session shows you how to recognize that you, the caregiver, needs self-care and ways to provide this necessary component.

Faith Found in Fur- What role, if any, does spirituality have in a pet’s life and death? The grief journey is work and the bereaved heart will be full of questions such as the meaning of life and death.  Questions that truly don’t need answers – they are just a way for a person in their grief journey to try and make sense of what’s happened – and to make sense of their own way to find hope.

IAABC-7.5 CEU’s

CCPDT-8 CEU’s
ABCDT-L2 – 8CEUs

RACE- We can give “certificates” for some of these sessions that are RACE approved. Email us for details.

Instructor: Coleen Ellis 

Course Length: Eight approximately 1 hour sessions

Course Cost – For Credit,  $175.00 USD

Student Information:

Access to this course will expire in 3 months. Therefore, you have 3 months to complete this course from the date of registration.

You must also read and agree to the E-Training for Dogs, Inc. Standard Terms and Conditions prior to taking a course: Click HERE to read these. You will be asked when you register if you have read them and will not be allowed to take the course if you do not agree to the terms.

Please read our policy on refunds. Click HERE