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Pet Loss: Dealing With Grief During Holidays & Anniversaries


MartyT

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Dealing with Grief During
Holidays & Anniversaries
When You Have Lost An Animal Loved One
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A Two Hour On-Demand Teleclass

with Judy Tatelbaum, LCSW author of The Courage To Grieve
$25 includes audio recording & handout package

to listen to and read at your convenience

NOTE: For those working toward their certificate in the Animal Loss and Grief Support Professional Program of Study, this class serves as one of the 8 required elective credits.

Dear Clients, Friends and Colleagues,

The death of an animal loved one, for some of us, is one of the most painful experiences of our lives. As holidays, anniversaries or other special milestones approach they can trigger fears and concerns about how challenging it may be to experience these special days without our loved ones--even if our loss occurred a long time ago.

If you or someone you know is feeling anxiety, worries or dread about how hard upcoming holidays or anniversaries might be, the content, resources and guided meditation offered in this class bring both practical and emotional support.

I am honored that author and therapist Judy Tatelbaum agreed to facilitate this class. I have known and respected Judy for many years: she has written a best selling book on healing grief that has inspired me, is a huge animal lover, knows the deep pain of losing a beloved animal from her own experiences, and supports others grieving from pet loss in her practice (scroll down for bio).

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With love and blessings to you and all of

your animal loved ones,

Teresa

For many of us the grief from the loss of loved ones is felt acutely at times of celebration. Holidays, birthdays and anniversaries are times when we are expected to be happy, but for those who are grieving it can be challenging to put on a happy face. This is especially true if those around us don't understand the depth of our love for animals and the animal we have lost.

This class provides strategies to make these occasions somewhat easier. The class will help you not only survive but to also find solace and meaning during these special seasons and days. You will receive practical help, hope, loving comfort and the knowledge that you are in the company of others who also share your experiences.

The handouts include detailed lists and descriptions of ritual and

memorial ideas and links to many resources and also includes exercises:

* A guided meditation you can listen to again and again to fill you with courage and love to not only survive these special seasons and days but to find meaning and connection with the spirit of your animal loved one.

* Identify and seek supportive people, animals, places and ideas to help you

through the challenges of these times

* Plan meaningful rituals and special ways to memorialize and honor your animal during holidays and anniversaries
Issues that are addressed in the teleclass:
The Three C's: Choose, Communicate and Compromise
Be Kind to Yourself
Express Your Feelings
Create Support for Yourself
Ask for What You Need
Appreciate Your Other Loved Ones
Help Another Person in Need
Don't Compare Your Life with Anyone Else's
Making the Best of Tough Circumstances
Modify Your Expectations
How Not To Be A Victim of Your Pain
Resolving How or Where to Spend the Holidays or Anniversaries
Including Your Beloved Animal Who Has Died in Holiday Plans
Avoiding the Holidays
Doing Something New and Different
Meditation for Solace and Connection

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Class Instructor Judy Tatelbaum
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Judy Tatelbaum, M.S.W., Licensed Clinical Social Worker, psychotherapist, inspirational speaker, popular keynote speaker, workshop leader, and professional trainer. She grew up in Rochester, New York, and is a graduate of Syracuse University and Simmons College, School of Social Work. She worked at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, and Payne Whitney Clinic of the New York Cornell Medical Center in New York City before starting her private practice in California. She now lives in Carmel Valley, California, with her husband, Allan Marcus, and her dog, Honey.

She is the author of the best selling books, The Courage to Grieve and You Don't Have to Suffer. A foremost authority on 509.jpg overcoming grief and emotional suffering, Judy encourages people to face and recover from life's inevitable crises courageously. She has many years experience working with individuals in therapy facing issues of grief, loss and life transitions. A pet lover and owner, she also works with issue related to pet health concerns and pet loss. She works extensively with mental health professionals, hospitals, hospices, bereavement groups, funeral directors, and AIDS programs.
516.jpg Judy appears on television and radio, and lectures

across the country. She 510.jpgrecently produced the award winning DVD The Courage to Grieve, The Courage to Grow and audio tapes, The Caregiver Series: Caring for the Caregiver, Enhancing Self Esteem, The Power of Saying Good-bye, and The Special Grief of HIV and AIDS. Her most recent book is The Journey From the Land of Forever Flowers, A Fable About Afterlife.

She can be reached at jmiracle@comcast.net and www.judytatelbaum.com.

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Woot-woot!, Marty, for posting one of Teresa's new teleclasses here! I've followed Teresa for many years now, have promoted her everywhere, have some of her products, and have taken a few of her classes, plus hired her once for a Communication with my beloved fur-son. I just can't praise her enough. Her classes are simply exemplary, so if anyone's ever wondering if they ought to take an animal-focused class, or deciding between more than one, I'd always recommend any of Teresa's first!

In fact, I just took an excellent, 2-part teleclass from her very recently, on the flip-side, titled "Animals Grieve Too: Helping the Animals We Love Through Times of Loss & Grief, and the Grief-Related Stress of Re-Homing and Starting Over," and couldn't recommend it more. (haven't checked yet, but I'm guessing it will also be offered as an On Demand, previously-recorded class, through her website/product listing) To my mind, Teresa remains one of THE most thorough, organized, eloquent and empathetic people I've ever had the pleasure to listen to and learn from, and I find she and I are very aligned on just about every level and perspective regarding animals, so her works suit me to a "t." She also has one of the gentlest, most tender voices one can imagine - SO soothing during painful periods or while dealing with sensitive material.

All-told, It was an extremely well-done, information-packed class (albeit excrutiatingly painful for me at present on several fronts), and more than worth every penny. I'd especially recommend it for anyone who hasn't already considered all aspects of how, when, about what, and the extent to which animals grieve. (I already knew of course, so most was just more validation to my ears) Part 2's focus on preventing grief and grief-related stress for animals, was amazingly well thought-out and again, incredibly thorough....heh-heh...almost as if I'd written it myself :P , but with even more fine details included! I'd actually come up with on my own, and done whatever parts I could at the time for my own furchildren's future provision should I predecease them or become incapacitated, way back before there was even an internet, so was delighted to find Teresa covering the same ground, too, yet with a little bit more thrown in in certain areas. The handouts in Part 2 are incredibly invaluable to have and work through for anyone who has an animal family member. In a nutshell, if everyone followed these guidelines, there would be incredibly less pain for animals in the world.

I find Teresa to be a deep, discerning thinker, an excellent planner, and emotionally supportive to the "nth" degree, all while balancing/healing her own emotional responses to what are essentially all the various "hells" animals endure due to how own species classically views or ignores them and their needs, or simply acts out of ignorance. There's just so much to admire about Teresa. :wub:

So if there's any way I can swing it, I'll be signing up for THIS teleclass, too, since this will be the very first Christmas in close to 30 years where I've had absolutely NO feline loves around (mine, or visiting) to dote on, share some joy with, or to help me through the holidays, since losing my own kidlets, and additionally am now heavily grieving "the last two" feline friends I've lost and may ever have. (this last class really brought home the cold, hard facts for me, which is yet another loss & grief of sorts) It's going to be a "killer" holiday season for me, so I could use as much help as I can find. And I hope everyone who can also avails themselves of such expert help, as I'm also sure Teresa's guest will be excellent as well.

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Thank you for those illuminating comments, dear Maylissa, and I agree with you completely. I was fortunate enough to come across Teresa's resources many years ago, and she is one of my most admired and most trusted colleagues ~ certainly the best with regard to animal companions and our love and loss of them.

I'm also quite familiar with Judy Tatelbaum ~ I had the privilege of attending one of her presentations in Phoenix, AZ many years ago and since then have read two of her books, both of which are brilliant. I cannot recommend her highly enough. If you decide to take her teleclass, I know for sure that you won't be disappointed.

Again, thanks so much for keeping a watchful eye on our Loss of a Pet forum here, Maylissa ~ I so appreciate your participation, and your input is always so valuable!

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Oh gee, thanks, Marty. :blush: And glad to know you too admire and know Teresa and her work! (but why am I not surprised?...or had you even mentioned this awhile ago, before my poor brain went dead? :wacko: )

I've heard of Judy several times as well, but don't have her books, and don't believe I've heard her speak....but will soon now because I've just actually ordered this other On Demand class (apparently another prerecorded one that's downloadable), to listen to as time permits. I so wish I could make more time to write and get/give support here, but I've slowed down now, while the to-do's keep piling up if I don't keep pushing myself....sigh....so I can only manage to fit in little chunks of more personal things here and there. That's just how it's been for the last several years, yet I've missed sharing so many of my own losses here on GH all throughout that time....just one after another, and I'm feeling quite spent...another reason I've come to prefer sharing with others verbally by phone instead -- less typing, and more multi-tasking possible, staving off more of the overwhelm!

In any case, I just took a look, so for anyone interested in the "Animals Grieve Too" On Demand class, it appears you can find it here:

http://www.animalsinourhearts.com/store/on-demand-teleclasses-and-webinars/animals-grieve-too-detail.html

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Thank you for sharing this, how timely! I hope those who've lost pets will access this.

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