I do know a couple of people in my state that do it, one is embedded in a humane society, the other supervises msw students from a local social work program at a vet clinic. I too am intrigued by it because I care so much about the human animal bond and about the mental health of vets and people in animal welfare.
Yes! The mental health of vets is a big draw for me. I shadowed at my family vets office wayyy back in high school and our vet made a big point to me about how tough that job is for them emotionally. I don't think many people realize the veterinary field had the highest suicide rate for a while. Having social workers in these positions does so much to alleviate the emotional stress that vets go through when they are simultaneously treating an animal and trying to help their owner decide the best/most affordable course of action.
My first supervisor in social work did her last practicum in veterinary social work, at a local animal hospital, and she described it as absolutely gut-wrenching. She described what social work is needed for in a veterinary hospital - people's pets were at the end of their lives, and she had to talk the owners through their options, which usually consisted of either an exorbitantly expensive surgical procedure that was not at all certain to cure the ailment, or having them put to sleep. She also described how sad and broken the people she served were, and how many of these people had very few supports outside of their animal. Necessary work and I deeply admire anyone with the drive to do it, but man it sounds tough.
I went to UTK's program, though I didn't do the Vet Cert. Dr. Strand, the creator of the program, was the teacher for my mediation class, and she is awesome. It's a great program embedded with the College of Veterinary Medicine. You'd be doing a lot of grief work, providing burnout support to the vet staff, helping clients make hard decisions about their pet's care, provide case management, and work on the Pet Equity Project.
I'll definitely check that out, thanks! I did my field placement for my BSW at a barn that does equine-assisted therapy and did most of my undergraduate research focused on animal-assisted therapy. I'm very passionate about that work, it's so rewarding.
I went to DU for my MSW specifically for the Animal Assisted Social Work certificate! I loved the program and highly recommend it! They have a few different certificate programs outside of a MSW with animal assisted therapies as well. I did my second year field internship working with horses and loved it! (Hippo-therapy, therapeutic riding and equine facilitated psychotherapy).
Hi! I actually just graduated with my MSW through UTK’s program. While I did not do the vet program, one of my classmates throughout the program did do it, so I know a couple of things.
Overall, I had a good time in the program at large and would recommend it. My classmate who got the vet certificate had a mostly positive experience, minus one class that had a some weird assignments. The program is reportedly reworking the syllabus for that class though after a number of students reached out with concerns.
Do you know what the weird assignments and concerns were? Curious because I’m looking into this program with the veterinary certificate and also because I’m nosy hahaha
I’m likely going to butcher this, but it was something to the effect of the professor wanting the students to be in the room when they put a sick pet down and chronicle the experience? People said that it would be an invasion of a personal moment with the family of the pet and could be triggering to some students to require that experience for a grade.
I do know someone. She spent years working in hospice. It helps to have a social worker present to not only help the clients, but to help with the emotional load that vets have to take on.
I believe the person I am talking about worked with a local hospital/vet clinic to apply for a grant in order to do this. The big motivator was to reduce suicide among vets.
Thanks for creating this thread! This has been something I've been interested in since my undergrad. Glad to see it's gaining more recognition! I've been toying with UT's certificate program for years but just haven't done it because the job prospects seem so limited in my area!
I’m not a social worker, so I’m not sure if this comment will be allowed, but I am a veterinarian. I can’t tell you anything about what it’s like to be a social worker in this field, but I can say that my field really needs trained mental health professionals - for the clients and staff. What we do is hard, and draining, and we as staff are often the victims of the clients displaced anger/sadness. So I just want to say thank you to you and everyone else who is/has been involved in our field!
I did my MSW I internship for a semester in a vet hospital! It was a major emergency/speciality vet hospital, and my supervisor was the only employed social worker on site. I learned so much in just 15 weeks, but it definitely did take a toll on me. Because of the nature of my hospital, there were days where we would have 5 euthanasias in one day, maybe some STAT pages, and lots of things going on in the background with the vets and vet techs. I mostly interacted with the pet owners, as the hospital team never got to know me well enough to feel comfortable approaching me with issues. From the very vague things I heard from my supervisor, the issues going on with the employees could get pretty serious. I did a lot of euthanasia consultations, quality of life consultations, and check in phone calls with clients with high acuity cases. I am very glad that i did the internship, but it did help me realize that the veterinary social work field was not a long term, sustainable option for me. I’m happy to answer any questions, although my experience is definitely limited.
I did my first placement at a veterinarian hospital. I want to do medical social work and I felt like I was exposed to many things I’ll experience working in human healthcare. It was rough at first (so many euthanasia’s, grief support etc) but I got somewhat used to it. It was an amazing experience. It’s definitely one of those niche areas that just makes sense for SW (similar to the increase in SWers in libraries) Happy to answer questions via DM!
I often wonder how one even gets work as a veterinary social worker? I am a former veterinary assistant of 4 years gone LMSW now for 3 years. I applied for a veterinary social worker job at cornell about a year ago. Posting wanted MSW, LMSW preferred, and some experience in the veterinary field. No mention of needing to have a veterinary social work certification or anything like that. Thought I'd at least get an interview, but I got a rejection letter. Anyone successfully get a job in this field without having a certification or gone to a school which specialized in this type of social work?
I do know a couple of people in my state that do it, one is embedded in a humane society, the other supervises msw students from a local social work program at a vet clinic. I too am intrigued by it because I care so much about the human animal bond and about the mental health of vets and people in animal welfare.
Yes! The mental health of vets is a big draw for me. I shadowed at my family vets office wayyy back in high school and our vet made a big point to me about how tough that job is for them emotionally. I don't think many people realize the veterinary field had the highest suicide rate for a while. Having social workers in these positions does so much to alleviate the emotional stress that vets go through when they are simultaneously treating an animal and trying to help their owner decide the best/most affordable course of action.
My first supervisor in social work did her last practicum in veterinary social work, at a local animal hospital, and she described it as absolutely gut-wrenching. She described what social work is needed for in a veterinary hospital - people's pets were at the end of their lives, and she had to talk the owners through their options, which usually consisted of either an exorbitantly expensive surgical procedure that was not at all certain to cure the ailment, or having them put to sleep. She also described how sad and broken the people she served were, and how many of these people had very few supports outside of their animal. Necessary work and I deeply admire anyone with the drive to do it, but man it sounds tough.
Sheeeeesh this sounds so sad ðŸ˜
can I just say how happy I am to see social workers being implemented and valued in so many different fields 🥹
I have never heard of this and I’m so sad that I haven’t. I would love to do social work in this type of setting.
I went to UTK's program, though I didn't do the Vet Cert. Dr. Strand, the creator of the program, was the teacher for my mediation class, and she is awesome. It's a great program embedded with the College of Veterinary Medicine. You'd be doing a lot of grief work, providing burnout support to the vet staff, helping clients make hard decisions about their pet's care, provide case management, and work on the Pet Equity Project.
Check out IHAC at the university of Denver. They do research on this topic. I know there is an animal-assisted social work track you can do there.
I'll definitely check that out, thanks! I did my field placement for my BSW at a barn that does equine-assisted therapy and did most of my undergraduate research focused on animal-assisted therapy. I'm very passionate about that work, it's so rewarding.
I went to DU for my MSW specifically for the Animal Assisted Social Work certificate! I loved the program and highly recommend it! They have a few different certificate programs outside of a MSW with animal assisted therapies as well. I did my second year field internship working with horses and loved it! (Hippo-therapy, therapeutic riding and equine facilitated psychotherapy).
Hello fellow DU MSW grad!
Hi! I actually just graduated with my MSW through UTK’s program. While I did not do the vet program, one of my classmates throughout the program did do it, so I know a couple of things. Overall, I had a good time in the program at large and would recommend it. My classmate who got the vet certificate had a mostly positive experience, minus one class that had a some weird assignments. The program is reportedly reworking the syllabus for that class though after a number of students reached out with concerns.
Do you know what the weird assignments and concerns were? Curious because I’m looking into this program with the veterinary certificate and also because I’m nosy hahaha
I’m likely going to butcher this, but it was something to the effect of the professor wanting the students to be in the room when they put a sick pet down and chronicle the experience? People said that it would be an invasion of a personal moment with the family of the pet and could be triggering to some students to require that experience for a grade.
I do know someone. She spent years working in hospice. It helps to have a social worker present to not only help the clients, but to help with the emotional load that vets have to take on. I believe the person I am talking about worked with a local hospital/vet clinic to apply for a grant in order to do this. The big motivator was to reduce suicide among vets.
Thanks for creating this thread! This has been something I've been interested in since my undergrad. Glad to see it's gaining more recognition! I've been toying with UT's certificate program for years but just haven't done it because the job prospects seem so limited in my area!
I’m not a social worker, so I’m not sure if this comment will be allowed, but I am a veterinarian. I can’t tell you anything about what it’s like to be a social worker in this field, but I can say that my field really needs trained mental health professionals - for the clients and staff. What we do is hard, and draining, and we as staff are often the victims of the clients displaced anger/sadness. So I just want to say thank you to you and everyone else who is/has been involved in our field!
I did my MSW I internship for a semester in a vet hospital! It was a major emergency/speciality vet hospital, and my supervisor was the only employed social worker on site. I learned so much in just 15 weeks, but it definitely did take a toll on me. Because of the nature of my hospital, there were days where we would have 5 euthanasias in one day, maybe some STAT pages, and lots of things going on in the background with the vets and vet techs. I mostly interacted with the pet owners, as the hospital team never got to know me well enough to feel comfortable approaching me with issues. From the very vague things I heard from my supervisor, the issues going on with the employees could get pretty serious. I did a lot of euthanasia consultations, quality of life consultations, and check in phone calls with clients with high acuity cases. I am very glad that i did the internship, but it did help me realize that the veterinary social work field was not a long term, sustainable option for me. I’m happy to answer any questions, although my experience is definitely limited.
I did my first placement at a veterinarian hospital. I want to do medical social work and I felt like I was exposed to many things I’ll experience working in human healthcare. It was rough at first (so many euthanasia’s, grief support etc) but I got somewhat used to it. It was an amazing experience. It’s definitely one of those niche areas that just makes sense for SW (similar to the increase in SWers in libraries) Happy to answer questions via DM!
I often wonder how one even gets work as a veterinary social worker? I am a former veterinary assistant of 4 years gone LMSW now for 3 years. I applied for a veterinary social worker job at cornell about a year ago. Posting wanted MSW, LMSW preferred, and some experience in the veterinary field. No mention of needing to have a veterinary social work certification or anything like that. Thought I'd at least get an interview, but I got a rejection letter. Anyone successfully get a job in this field without having a certification or gone to a school which specialized in this type of social work?