The name "Compassionate Creatures" was chosen intentionally to reflect my beliefs and understanding of reciprocal relationships. Through compassion, we hold concern for others, which is a vital component of collective care and relationships. Additionally, we are all creatures, interconnected through life and spaces. Think creatures supporting creatures, compassionately. This speaks to the human-animal bond and the reciprocity that brings mutual benefit to the bond.

After more than a decade working across animal care settings from research and clinical vet med practice to mental health advocacy, I’ve seen firsthand how emotional strain impacts animal health and husbandry teams, including veterinary teams. Between grief, moral distress, and compassion fatigue, the veterinary profession is carrying a weight that often goes unspoken and unsupported. I'm here to acknowledge this.

Additionally, I have lived experience with anticipatory grief and pet loss, as well as supporting animal guardians through decision-making processes and holding compassionate space on their worst days. It has been one of my most honoured roles as a veterinary staff team member, and continues to hold onto a place in my heart. There is so much room for acknowledgement and support of our challenging experiences as pet guardians, and yet the experience continues to be minimized for many of us.

As a background, I began to academically engage with the human-animal bond during my Master of Science program. The program focussed on One Health, which is a collaborative, multi-sector, and transdisciplinary approach to health that encompasses human, animal, and environment contexts. In the context of the human-animal bond and human-animal work, we can see that in so many ways our wellbeing and care is interlinked.

To add onto my MSc learning, I decided that social work and supporting animal caregivers was the direction for me. The  University of Calgary's Master of Social work program has offered me advanced learning opportunities steeped in social work values and opportunities to apply my skills in practicum-based settings with animal caregivers.

Let's also not forget the years of client-facing roles in animal health and veterinary medicine.

All of my experience has come together to acknowledge that I have a unique set of skills and perspective, collected through my experiential and academic learnings. It is time to share these skills with the individuals, families, and teams who could benefit from support where support has been historically lacking.

I believe that experiential and academic learning both hold value in the process of growth, where neither is more important than the other. Academic learnings offer common context, and community-based experiential learning is where nuance shows up and knowledge becomes action.

To continue to grow my knowledge, I will engage with trainings and certifications that expand the areas of my practice and support options and engage with communities where I see gaps in support.  

What is next on this learning journey:

• Continue studies through the Master of Social Work program, including trauma-informed trainings.

• Continued experience and engagement with communities that I share space and time with.

• External trainings in emotional CPR, crisis intervention, debriefing strategies, grief guidance, and more.