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Current Practices in Veterinary Social Work: A Survey Review from Professionals Supporting the Human-Animal Bond Will

Room B

Virtual
1.5 CE Hour
General

Presented By

Description

With the field being new and the work of most Veterinary Social Workers siloed in their organizations, there is a great need to “compare notes” and understand norms, goals, workload, and strategy. This session reviews findings from a series of in-depth surveys taken by VSWs in North America. These “Current Practice” surveys aimed to gather data to create a snapshot in time of where our profession stands. The Social Work team at MedVet, the nation’s largest veterinarian owned and led ER/Specialty organization, partnered with the Cleveland State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and International Association of Veterinary Social Work to create, administer, and analyze these surveys. This effort was modeled after the field of human healthcare experience and the work of the Beryl Institute.

Target Audience
  • • Social Worker
  • • Counselor
  • • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • • Veterinarian
Educational Goal

The educational goal of this workshop is to increase knowledge about  the current state of the field of VSW from the perspective of VSWs and to engage in dialogue about the next steps for VSW education and practice. 

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the nature of Veterinary Social Work.

  • Identify the social work competencies needed to perform veterinary social work.

  • Explain the moral burden borne by VSWs.

  • Summarize how infrastructure can help VSWs to manage stress.

  • Describe 2 ways educators can best prepare students to work in VSW spaces.

References

  • Sridar, S and Rauktis, M. E. (2023). Qualitative exploration of the dog acquisition process during COVID 19 pandemic: impact on owners’ loneliness and isolation. Social Work and Mental Health https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2023.2282933

  • Stephes & Rauktis. (2024, March.) Why and How Pets Matter: Bringing Animals into our social work spaces. Presentation for Social Work Week England

  • Rauktis, M. E., & Hoy-Gerlach, J. (2021). Animal nonhuman companionship for adults aging in place during COVID-19: A critical support, a source of concern and potential for social work responses. Gerontological Social Work and Covid. DOI: 10.4324/9781003138280

General
Social Worker

TPN.health, #1766, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. TPN.health maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 03/31/2022 – 03/31/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 1.5 General continuing education credits.

TPN.health is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider #1000101) to sponsor continuing education for LCSWs. TPN.health maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. Course meets the qualifications for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit for LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

Trusted Provider Network, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0654.

Counselor

TPN.health has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7267. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. TPN.health is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

TPN.health is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider #1000101) to sponsor continuing education for LPCCs. TPN.health maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. Course meets the qualifications for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit for LPCCs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

Trusted Provider Network, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0220.

Marriage & Family Therapist

TPN.health is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider #1000101) to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs. TPN.health maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. Course meets the qualifications for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

Trusted Provider Network, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0097.

Veterinarian

This program has been approved for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval.

CE Policy
This course is fiscally sponsored by International Association of Veterinary Social Work . There may be potential biases or conflicts of interest inherent to this relationship, and it must be disclosed to participants. These conflicts of interest have no bearing on the course content and have been resolved.
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Laurie Maxwell, MSW

 Laurie combines 20 years of animal welfare, advocacy, and veterinary experience with an MSW from The University of Chicago to create an expertise of issues facing animals and the people who love them. Laurie is the Director of Social Work at MedVet, which provides leading emergency and specialty healthcare for pets with 40+ locations across the country. In her role, Laurie works to build programs that attend to the intersection of veterinary care and social work including direct short-term interventions for pet owners in distress and compassion fatigue prevention for team members. Laurie came to MedVet from PAWS Chicago, the area’s largest spay/neuter clinic and no-kill shelter, where she created and ran community outreach programs that brought veterinary care to under-resourced neighborhoods. These programs served over 22,000 pets from 2015 – 2021. One of the programs – a job training program focused on creating workforce opportunities in the veterinary industry for community residents – won the Multicultural Veterinary Medicine Association’s Commitment to Change Award in 2021. Prior to PAWS, Laurie spent seven years at The Humane Society of the United States. There she worked on several programs, including serving as a founding team member of Pets for Life, a groundbreaking program focused on providing pet resources to owners in under-served communities nationwide. She also completed her postgraduate certificate in Veterinary Social Work from University of Tennessee in 2022. Laurie is a certified yoga instructor, community cat colony caretaker, and avid video gamer. She received her BA in Public Relations from Pennsylvania State University.

Mary Elizabeth Raukts, Ph.D

Mary E. Rauktis is Associate Faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. She has worked with MedVet assisting with analyzing data from their VSW surveys, and assisting with outreach to shelter VSWs. She has taught for 20 years at Pitt and at other universities.

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