Companioning Pet Loss Saturday, October 22, 2022 | 9:30am-12pm (MST)
A workshop on honoring animal lives & healing human hearts
Seventy percent of homes in the U.S. are interspecies! Humans have practical and spiritual questions about what to do—especially when animals are injured, sick, lost, or die.
One study found that 93 percent of humans reported a disruption in their lives, such as trouble sleeping or losing appetite. Over 50 percent reduced their social activities, and 45 percent had job-related difficulties. Other studies have documented people’s loss of motivation, increased stress, anxiety, worry, and depression. Furthermore, animal death tends to resurface our memories of past bereavements and losses.
The grief we experience during these heartbreaking moments is real. Yet it is often denied because the loss is “not human.” We can be the counterbalance to that tendency, offering open-hearted places for people to memorialize and heal those reeling from losses of the furry, feathered, and finned.
Animal chaplaincy tools help us companion animals―and the humans who love them―through health dilemmas, end-of-life challenges, and the grief and loss that inevitably follow.
Presented by: Rev. Sarah Bowen
Rev. Sarah Bowen
Rev. Sarah Bowen, is an animal chaplain, interspecies minister, and co-founder of Compassion Consortium (the first interfaith, interspiritual, and interspecies community) where she leads the Animal Chaplaincy Training program. Sarah serves on the faculty of One Spirit Interfaith Seminary and is a columnist for Spirituality & Health Magazine on human/animal relationships. She is the author of Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice For Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, & Healing The Planet (Monkfish Publishing, April 2022).
Thank you to our amazing Co-sponsors:
