Social workers provide human support in veterinary medicine
Maryanne Pagonis’ dog Rosie was more than part of her life. She was — and still is — a part of her very soul.
“She was here to teach me all about love, how to love myself and how to love others,” Pagonis said. “I became a different person with Rosie. I got what goodness and patience and bravery and loyalty and courage meant.”
Adopted as an older dog, Rosie had many health conditions. Pagonis brought the 14 1/2-year-old bundle of black fluff to the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital to receive care, sometimes visiting three to four times a week to get the care Rosie needed for her chronic conditions.
When it was time to say goodbye, a group gathered with Pagonis and Rosie for support, including Augusta O’Reilly, the college’s veterinary social worker.
“They were there as Rosie became my little heavenly angel,” Pagonis said. “For those moments, it was a little family. They were there to help me through this, and they were there to help Rosie leave.”
Veterinary hospitals are designed to take care of animals, but there is a growing need for human support. Veterinary social workers like O’Reilly work with the people side of veterinary medicine, supporting clients through grief and hard decisions as well as creating space for emotions — as Pagonis put it, creating “the opportunity to be fragile.”
Supporting the human-animal bond
Humans have always loved their pets, but the past decades have seen a shift in the role pets play in people’s lives — we've transitioned from “pet owners” to “pet parents.”
"There's a lot of need for human support in veterinary medicine,” said O’Reilly. “There is a growing number of families seeking care, and that can strain the veterinary profession — there are more households now that have animals than children. Even though most people are bonded to their pets, there's not many resources when the pet is aging or sick. I come in to bridge that gap.”
Every morning, O’Reilly completes a walkthrough of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital to check in with the team behind each department so that she can connect with pet families who need her support. For people who have recently lost pets, O’Reilly sends out grief packets offering her counseling sessions and other resources — hospital clients receive three free counseling sessions with O’Reilly or her intern.
"A lot of what I do is putting a name to what they're feeling, like ‘caregiver burnout’ or ‘compassion fatigue,’ so those pet owners are able to then seek out more support. I also help them navigate end-of-life and quality of life issues,” said O’Reilly.
O’Reilly is an important member of the care team, working alongside veterinarians and other team members.
"As veterinarians, we want to give,” said Erin Phoenix, clinical assistant professor of clinical practice. “That's the whole reason we get into veterinary medicine, so we can take care of our patients and our clients. And also, we have our days scheduled out and we have multiple patients and clients we're seeing every day, so it's really nice to have Augusta as a trusted part of the team to help provide the emotional and logistical support for clients when a sick animal comes in the door and we have to leave. Especially in those really challenging, emotional cases, having not an extra set of hands, but having an extra heart helps navigate the emotional load.”
In addition to families, she works with interns, residents, and students in clinical rotations, including offering “debrief rounds” where they can talk through their experiences with tough cases. She serves on the college’s Wellness Committee and is working with Garry Morgan, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, to put together cultural competency training.
A vital, growing field
Veterinary social work has been around for a little over 20 years — the term was first coined in 2002.
O’Reilly also serves as president of the International Association of Veterinary Social Work, an interdisciplinary organization that offers continuing education programs and a bi-annual summit. The organization was founded in 2018 to create a professional space for the new field.
“There's not a lot of resources out there, so we're navigating as it comes up and adapting what we know about human hospice into animal hospice as these trends are growing,” said O’Reilly.
As a new field, veterinary social work is sometimes misunderstood. For one, the job title makes some people bristle.
"Not every family wants to see a social worker,” O’Reilly explained. When people hear the term, they sometimes think O’Reilly will take their pets away from them, or that she’s been called in because they’re not showing their emotions in an appropriate way. She said the term “client advocate” better describes her role in many situations.
Over the past 10 years, more and more colleges and clinics — particularly corporate clinics such as MedVet and VCA — have been hiring veterinary social workers. A growing number of universities now offer veterinary social work classes and certificates.
"Their value is huge, especially for situations that can be very, very taxing,” Phoenix said. “Having someone who is a trusted, sensible, listening, person trained in caring people who are dealing with grief allows us to offer the best care, because not only are we providing the medical care for the patient, it's an elevated care experience for the client.”
The value of empathy
O'Reilly grew up wanting to be a veterinarian, but her dreams were dashed by a bad college biology grade. Instead, she found her niche in psychology.
After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, she got a job as a veterinary assistant, but she found herself called in again and again to help with families. When a veterinarian at her practice brought up the veterinary social work program at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, O'Reilly knew this was the career for her.
"I get to help the people I wanted to be when I was younger and give back to all of my friends and family who are in this field,” she said.
After earning her master's degree in social work with an emphasis in veterinary social work and her license, she worked at various practices before arriving at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in fall 2023.
Her experience as a veterinary assistant and as an animal lover — she has a cat, two dogs, and a hamster at home — gives her the opportunity to connect with practitioners and clients alike. She understands the stressors and the work environment of veterinary medicine, and she can empathize with pet owners. As Sierrah Travis points out, having a veterinary social worker at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital who can step in and help with emotional needs is invaluable.
“You try your best to think about how the client feels and put yourself in their shoes, provide the best support to them as you can, but at the same time — I didn’t go to school for this, I’m not the most qualified. I’m trying, but this might not be telling them what they need to hear,” said Travis, small animal internal medicine resident. “I think a lot of people don’t know how often veterinarians have to be doctors to animals and also therapists to people. Miss O’Reilly helps alleviate that job for me.”
