Knowledge
Open Door on-demand courses – social work CEUs provided
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certification training for veterinary and animal welfare professionals
I am a licensed clinical social worker, experienced crisis intervention clinician, and nationally certified MHFA trainer. I am available to teach MHFA certification training to animal welfare and veterinary groups and organizations.
What is MHFA? Mental Health First Aid certification entails learning to recognize, reach out, and provide initial help to someone experiencing a mental health challenge or crisis.
National MHFA certification training entails 2 hours of asynchronous online content, a 6.5-hour remote live training, and 1 hour of post-live training asynchronous online content. Click here to learn more!
Fee - $170 per attendee - minimum of 10 attendees, maximum of 15 attendees for one MHFA certification course. Please inquire for group discount.
Custom training, webinars, workshops, and keynote speaking
I am happy to work with you to customize content for your staff or organization that meets your goals and learning needs related to supporting mutual human and animal well-being. For more information, email me at socialwork@opendoorconsults.org
Examples of topics I train and speak on include but are not limited to:
- Health and mental health benefits of animal companionship
- Supporting people with animal concerns in human healthcare and social work settings
- Compassion resilience in animal welfare and veterinary work
- Pets as partners in human health and well-being (incorporating clients’/patients’ animals in their treatment plan activities!)
- Animal companionship as a protective factor and potential social determinant in human health
- The GRR Method: Grounding, Relating, and Reframing with Our Companion Animals for Stress Management (Us!) and Enrichment (Them!)
Examples of Emotional Support Animal (ESA) trainings - can be customized to meet your needs:
- Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) 101
- 1-hour live webinar training on ESAs; covers what ESAs are, eligibility for an ESA, rights associated with ESA status, why they are helpful, and animal welfare considerations
- Fee - $250 for 1 hour live webinar;
- Assessing and Documenting Need for Emotional Support Animals (ESAs)
- 3-hour live webinar training; covers policy context for ESAs, biopsychosocial benefits of human-animal interaction; how to assess for and document the need of ESAs for patients/clients; how to amplify benefits of animal companionship; and animal welfare considerations
- Fee - $500 for 3 hour live webinar
Professional Development
- International Association of Veterinary Social Work (IAVSW)
IAVSW offers trainings, online meet-ups, and more. You may be able to find a veterinary social worker near you who has resource information!
iavsw.org
- Veterinary Social Work certificate training program at the University of Tennessee
csw.utk.edu/veterinary-social-work-certificate-program - Social work colleges and universities with human-animal relationship content
A national listing of social work education programs that offer human–animal interaction content. If there is a social work program listed near you, contact the faculty member and ask if they have any knowledge or ideas regarding the resource you are seeking for your client/patient!
nationallinkcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Schools-of-Social-Work-with-HAI-10-2020.pdf