Ep 147: Grief Management, with Sarina Manifold

For this week's episode of That Vet Life Podcast, Sarina Manifold join Dr. Moriah. Sarina Manifold is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in veterinary social work. She gained the knowledge and abilities necessary to offer crisis intervention and grief support to clients of the small and large Animal Clinic after working as one of the clinical social workers at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center for ten years. In this episode, Dr. Moriah and Sarina Manifold talk about compassion fatigue and its effects on veterinary professionals. Using her years of experience in grief management, Sarina explains how a young vet can get through situations involving loss and grief while supporting the team and client all the while.Utilizing her passion for animals and her grief management expertise, she assists pet owners in their end-of-life decisions and conducts memorial services for their pets. Through increasing self-awareness, eliminating the thoughts that don't serve them any longer, and integrating losses in their lives, Sarina helps people become more balanced, effective, and authentic in their personal and professional lives.Listen in as the certified grief recovery specialist and owner of Authentic Healing Counseling shares an insight into what it's really like to work in the veterinary field as a veterinary social worker.Outline[01:13] Dr. Moriah begins the episode with a short introduction of Sarina Manifold. [04:00] Dr. Moriah describes an unusual and unpleasant episode from her general practice career that left her emotionally drained and mentally exhausted.[09:15] In her explanation of how grief management works, Sarina Manifold highlights all of the feelings and phases of grieving that surround compassion fatigue. [14:50] Sarina explains the importance of emotional agility and physiological flexibility in the veterinary profession.[18:57] How the ability of post-event debriefing can help in resilience building, [20:05] A short ad break - join Thrive[21:15] Dr. Moriah continues the conversation by outlining how young vet students can incorporate emotional debriefing into daily living to establish a healthy process of healing.[24:30] Sarina discusses how important it is to acknowledge, name, and accept your emotions when dealing with grief.[28:40] Sarina Manifold shares valuable techniques and tips for young vet students on how to handle scenarios of loss and grief while also supporting the team in overcoming them.[36:10] Sarina summarises key details from the episode and adds her closing remarks on dealing with loss and maintaining mental well-being.[40:13] Dr. Moriah thanks Sarina for joining and wraps up the episode.