Grief Support
Grief is a passage that we all travel when we love.
The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement offers online options and other support HERE.
If your animal is or was a client at UGA’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, you may receive individual or group support. Their CLIENT SUPPORT page also offers a wealth of support resources near the bottom of the page.
Pet Loss and Grief Support Group in Athens, Georgia
If you are in the Athens, Georgia area, come join our peer-led Pet Loss and Grief Support group. We meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. We understand your depth of love and your grief for your animal companion.
Our peer-led support group offers compassionate connection with other adults who are walking a similar path. We share stories of our animal companions in their last days and in their best days. You are also welcome to bring the grief that accompanies hospice care and loss of sight or loss of mobility in your animal companions. Feel free to bring photos of your beloved animal so we can all honor them.
This is a free group.
Let us know you are coming so we can let you in the building’s locked door.
We have a group facilitator who has walked the path of grief many times. If you would like a licensed counselor in the lead, we’re happy to refer you to one.
All who want support for grief related to animal companions are welcome!
We ask that you agree to these group values before joining us:
Confidentiality—Whatever is said in Grief Support Group stays in Grief Support Group. Even if you don’t use the person’s name, their story is not yours to share. Unless you obtain explicit permission from the person about the exact story/wisdom/observation you want to share, do not share it.
Consent—We want support, listening, and understanding. We generally don’t want advice or coaching. If you have a bit of knowledge that you feel would be helpful to someone, ask them if they want to hear it. Wait for their answer. If the answer is “no,” respect that.
Acceptance—It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to let others cry. It doesn’t need to be fixed because there is nothing wrong. Hold the crying person figuratively with compassion. No one needs to be held literally unless they ask to be held or hugged.
Back-up—Pick up our list of suggested professional counselors and keep it where you can find it. If you are feeling dangerously down, call those numbers until you get a quickly upcoming appointment. In an emergency, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Or visit 988lifeline.org
If you have any questions about joining our group, call 706-296-6893 or use the CONTACT FORM.
Our facilitator, Shannon Waters
Sharing my home with multiple dogs at a time and working with others’ dogs has been the norm for most of my life. Loving that many dogs carries with it the inevitability of loss. I have a lot of experience with grief—accepting it, moving through it, and running away from it, too.
Shortly after my mother died, my best friend, Kris, died of cancer. In the same three years, I also lost a lifelong friend, two other friends I loved, and all five of my beloved dogs. I lost my health and closed my business, as well. Every experience of grief was its own.
Most experiences I moved through with eventual rebalancing after heartbreak. Other grieving was more difficult.
Besides having to recalibrate my life without Kris in it, I dragged around the shame of not being with her at the end. I felt shame and guilt that I stayed home because I was so sick that I crashed on the couch many times a day and had an elderly dog needing 24/7 care. “I could have been a better friend,” I said a million times.
Nicki was what some people would call a Heart Dog or Soul Dog. It’s hard to describe what this means in words, but you know it when you feel it. It wasn’t guilt that made the grief for Nicki so difficult. It was, in various shadowy forms, denial.
She was with me for 15 years. I somehow thought she would be with me forever. We had been through so much together. She literally saved my life and I couldn’t fathom my life without her. It seemed like it had always been Shannon & Nicki. Who was Shannon without Nicki?
One thing that helped me move through even the most difficult grief was having honest conversations. Being heard, witnessed. Being received by people who accepted wherever I was on the grief spectrum without trying to fix it.
While sharing this accepting space with others, I have seen a facial expression relax when the heaviness lifted. I have witnessed the exhale of the long-held breath of grief.
We have acknowledged and celebrated the deep love we have for our animal family members. No one expects us to cheer up if we don’t feel cheerful. We have space for laughter and funny animal stories, too. We don’t walk out the door fully healed, but we feel a little lighter.