Greif Counseling

Gift Opportunities

Counseling Department: Strengthening the human - animal bond
 
In 1981, The Animal Medical Center sponsored the nation's first conference on pet loss, sparking programs around the world and the founding of the Carola Warburg Rothschild Society for the Human-Animal Bond. The Society consists of a group of nearly 200 dedicated individuals involved in the fields of animal health and behavior, social work, thanatology, and pet-facilitated therapy as well as interested lay people. The members of the Institute gather to study and discuss issues critical to improved understanding of the bond between people and pets and to explore ways of fostering that bond. As part of this program, free counseling assistance is provided to grieving pet owners during a pet's illness or death. Social workers facilitate bereavement groups and counsel pet owners who are emotionally distressed regarding their animal's health.
 
Also part of the Counseling Department is the Pet Outreach Program. Depression and loneliness are serious mental health problems for people with an illness or disability that causes them to be isolated from other people and from life in general. Through The AMC's Pet Outreach Program, volunteers escort cats, dogs, birds, and other small companion animals on visits to these individuals in various institutions in the New York area. Each year, approximately 100 visits are made to hundreds of men, women, and children in hospitals, nursing homes, and other institutions, helping to encourage and strengthen human and animal interactions and bonds.