Supporting Animals and Grieving Humans
Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 7pm – 8:30pm ET
Webinar Moderator:
Kris Kington-Barker | INELDA Director of Outreach and Care Provider Programs
Webinar Guest:
Colleen Rolland | President of Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement (APLB) and pet bereavement counselor
David Shuey | Licensed master social worker and former veterinary technician
Melissa Meadow | Licensed funeral professional and The Modern Mortician
Recorded: July 2023
Our April webinar is open to all annual and tier members as part of membership benefits.
Webinar Moderator:
Kris Kington-Barker | INELDA Director of Outreach and Care Provider Programs
Webinar Guest:
Colleen Rolland | President of Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement (APLB) and pet bereavement counselor
David Shuey | Licensed master social worker and former veterinary technician
Melissa Meadow | Licensed funeral professional and The Modern Mortician
Pet ownership has been on a steady rise. As of 2023, 66% of U.S. households (86.9 million homes) own a pet. Join us and examine the animal and human bond with our panel of animal and human caregivers and educators. Melissa Meadow is a dual licensed funeral professional, carrying active licenses in Washington, Oregon, and Texas and founder of The End Green Funeral Care for People and Pets, and online as the Modern Mortician. Colleen Rolland is president of Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement (APLB). She is a pet loss grief specialist, certified through the American Association of Health Care Professionals and trained as a pet bereavement counselor. Dave Shuey is a licensed master social worker, author, pianist, and equestrian. He works for IndeVets, creating and providing wellness education and support to the relief veterinarian community.
For many of us, an animal’s death brings up feelings of significant loss and grief. Together we explore animal loss and the grief that arises with the death of a pet. Our three panelists explored topics around human and animal interactions, signs and symptoms, pet loss education, euthanasia, pet bereavement, sustainable funeral options for people and pets, and more!
INELDA educator, Kris Kington-Barker, moderated this webinar that discussed the end-of-life experience of pets, the grieving experience for humans, and approaches on how to confront both.
Guest Speaker Bios:
Melissa Meadow is a dual licensed funeral professional, carrying active licenses in Washington, Oregon, and Texas.
Online, as the Modern Mortician, her goal is education on all options at end of life, providing a unique insight into the funeral service industry with over 20 years observation and participation.
Born and raised in Lubbock, Melissa spent the first 41 years of her life questioning the Good Ol’ Boys of Texas, starting with her first mentor and beloved grandfather, Joe D. Unfred. Many weekends and summers in her youth were spent by his side, farming cotton, running the Farm Store, and sipping a tall glass of milk while absorbing local cafe talk between her Papa Joe and the other community members. Sure, quite a few dirty jokes, but she picked up on a lot of the area chatter and admired the strength of the small area as she grew older and reflected back on the many mornings in her youth.
Melissa dreamed of moving to the West Coast starting in her late teens, longing for green mountainsides, moisture, and abundance in nature. October of 2020, she left a green funeral company she built that remains a leader in the Austin, Texas market, and moved to Washington, eager to provide all legal, sustainable forms of end of life care to those seeking her care.
After years of working for others, seeing corners cut at the detriment of the families in her care and her own well being, she decided now, Fall of 2022, was the time to create change in the death care industry beyond educating and working under the thumb of others… it was time for action; thus The End Green Funeral Care for People and Pets, along with The End Foundation, was stirred to life.
Melissa is almost always shadowed by her sidekick, Kermit the Dog. Melissa and Kermit have served their communities together for 6+ years, and present often to non-profit organizations and educators across the world both in person and via online.
Melissa is the visionary behind The End Green Funeral Care for People and Pets as the founder/owner, and shares it with the community it is seated in.
Colleen Rolland is president of Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement (APLB), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, commencing her term in August 2019. She is a pet loss grief specialist, certified through the American Association of Health Care Professionals and trained as a pet bereavement counselor with the renowned Dr. Wallace Sife, a private practice psychologist and founder of APLB, in 2014. Colleen became his deputy trainer and was asked to join their board of directors in January 2015.
Under Colleen’s leadership, APLB adopted new mission and vision statements, identified core values, built & delivered a robust website, introduced new chat room technology, implemented a new 4-tier membership plan and benefit structure, installed new membership technology, and implemented Google Suite throughout the organization. She co-wrote, implemented, and delivered a revised & expanded new Pet Loss Grief Specialist training program which has certified 48 new specialists since February 2021, and co-authored the article “Overcoming the stigma of Pet Loss: considerations for counseling professionals.” Human-Animal Interactions Journal, November 2022.
Colleen founded Pet Bereavement Services (PBS) in 2014 and works with grieving clients on an on-going basis. It is the goal of Pet Bereavement Service (PBS) to help establish such services across Canada, making compassionate grief support available to all who need it.
Colleen lives on the Niagara Escarpment, identified by UNESCO as a World National Biosphere Reserve, with her two saucy cats, a newly rescued and extremely naughty pup, and rides her gracious gelding as often as possible.
Dave Shuey is a licensed master social worker, author, pianist, and equestrian. He works for IndeVets, creating and providing wellness education and support to the relief veterinarian community, working to increase veterinarians’ professional health and fulfillment, and longevity in the profession. Dave also maintains a small clientele in private psychotherapy practice.
In his eleven years as a registered veterinary technician, Dave’s career evolved from small animal dentistry at a specialty hospital, to large animal anesthesia and emergency and critical care in a university teaching hospital, to joining the animal hospice and palliative care movement as practitioner and writer, to conference-speaking on equine end-of-life practice, to returning to graduate school to study human mental health and wellness.
Before returning to veterinary medicine with IndeVets, Dave worked as an outpatient clinician in a community behavioral health agency, providing assessment, diagnosis, and individual and group psychotherapy for people with severe and persistent mental illness. He is the author of “The Human -Animal Bond and Euthanasia,” Chapter 37 in the 10th and 11th editions of McCurnin’s Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses.
Dave holds a doctor of musical arts in piano performance, and gives solo recitals in public from time to time. He lives in the woods of central Georgia with his wife, cats, dog and horses.
The recording of this webinar is available to Tier 2 & 3 members as part of their INELDA membership benefits. Tier 1 and Non-members who purchased access to the webinar may also view the recording.
To view a recording of this webinar [CLICK HERE]
