I had the incredible honor of guest-hosting this very special episode of Dougy Center’s Grief Out Loud podcast so Jana DeCristofaro, LCSW, longtime host of Grief Out Loud and Advocacy & Education Manager at Dougy Center, could shift to the guest role and share about her love and grief for her beloved dog, Captain.
I first connected with Jana in 2018 and since then, we’ve become colleague friends, finding common ground in our commitment to grief work as well as in our dedication to our fur babies. I’m, unfortunately, intimately acquainted with the pain of pet loss, having said goodbye to my own dog, Birch, in 2022. Jana’s openness in navigating her own grief has been both moving and validating and I was grateful she agreed to this podcast “takeover.”
Together, we delve into how Captain came into Jana’s life, the complexities of caregiving for an aging pet, the difficult decisions surrounding their end-of-life, and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways pet grief can be minimized or dismissed…and how we can internalize those messages in surprising ways.
Click here to listen.
*Content Note: we discuss tender topics like end-of-life caregiving for a pet, including the decision-making process around euthanasia, so please take care as you listen.
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