Rebecca Stephens, Senior Lecturer in Social Work & Social Care, with Wesley the weimaraner

“The role that pets play in the lives of humans cannot be underestimated. And so it follows that there is also an important role for social work in incorporating these important relationships into practice.”

So begins a focus article in the latest edition (July/August 2023) of BASW’s ‘Professional Social Work’ journal on Rebecca Stephens’ (Senior Lecturer in Social Work & Social Care, University of Sussex) attempt to bring veterinary social work – already well established in the US and Canada and emerging in Australia – to the UK. Veterinary Social Work is an area of social work practice that supports and strengthens interdisciplinary partnerships that attend to the intersection of humans and animals (definition by the International Association of Veterinary Social Work).

Adorning the front cover with her former “best friend” Wesley the Weimaraner, Rebecca is currently undertaking a Postgraduate Certificate in Veterinary Social Work with the University of Tennessee to address the four core principles of veterinary social work: (i) intentional wellbeing, (ii) the link between human and animal violence, (iii) animal-related grief and bereavement, and (iv) animal-assisted interventions.

Rebecca explains:

“It all came about when my family had to make the heartbreaking decision to euthanise our adored dog, Wesley, when his health suddenly and dramatically deteriorated. My children wanted to say goodbye to him but didn't want to be in the room at the time, so they sat in the vet waiting room whilst my husband and I were with Wesley as he took his last breath. What I remember the most about that experience was walking back into the waiting room and seeing my children sitting on their own, no one else around, looking really lost, confused and sad. My first thought was, ‘Why isn't anyone sitting with them and offering them comfort and support? Anything?!' It was in that moment I thought there was a place for a social worker in vet clinics because the grief that can result from losing a pet is the same - sometimes more significant – than when a human loved one dies.”

Social workers are adept in using specific communication and intervention approaches to support people in crisis, but this is not the focus for veterinary professionals – even though they encounter pet carers in distress daily. Therefore, the role of a veterinary social worker is to bridge the gap and attend to the human – often emotional – side of working with and caring for animals, inadvertently supporting vets in their daily practice.

To build this branch of social work and influence its development here in the UK, Rebecca has created a peer network of veterinary professionals to identify opportunities for inter-disciplinary collaboration, including how to learn with and from each other. Together they are looking at how to develop their respective undergraduate and postgraduate courses to include a focus on human-animal relationships – currently missing from both vet medicine, vet nursing and social work courses nationally.

Rebecca is also working with a veterinary nurse to develop psycho-education seminars aimed at pet carers experiencing animal-related bereavement, and to undertake research involving social workers on the link between human and animal violence and cross-reporting. She has also led the development of a globally trademarked model of supervision specifically for veterinary professionals for a company in Australia.

In her capacity as a member of the Education Committee with the International Association of Veterinary Social Workers, Rebecca is also working with vet social workers and vets around the world to develop CPD opportunities.

For more information, see the article ‘Why we need veterinary social workers here in the UK’ which Rebecca did for Social Work News in June 2023.