Hello and welcome to my podcast, The Wellness Project with Des. On today’s episode, I speak with Julie Marty-Pearson about pet loss and grief.
I’m Desiree, a Mental Health Therapist that is passionate about helping people improve their mental health and live a healthy and fulfilled life. One way I do this is by interviewing experts in the field of mental health and wellness as well as those that have struggled with their mental health but have gained control over it and now live fulfilling lives. In this episode, we will hear from Julie about her own personal experiences with pet loss and ways to cope with the loss of your beloved pet.
Julie Marty-Pearson has her doctorate in Psychology and works as a life coach. Dr. Julie’s love of animals inspired her to start her podcast, The Story of My Pet. Through the podcast, amazing and inspiring stories of animals and their bond with humans are shared from all over the world. Dr. Julie has also started a grief coaching program for pet parents who have lost their fur babies or are dealing with fur babies who are terminally ill.
In the past few years, people have been more open and vulnerable about the painful experience of losing a pet. Julie believes as a society we are becoming more aware of how precious time with our pets can be. Many people have been building stronger connections with their pets which makes it so difficult to lose them. We spend every day with our pets, we take care of them. Pets are family.
On top of the grief or impending grief over the loss of a pet comes a lot of other difficult emotions like the worry over finances if your pet needs medications or frequent vet visits. Maybe the guilt over feeling relieved of their passing or the torment over deciding if it is time or not. There are so many unknowns when it comes to the loss of a pet. It can be a difficult time with so many different emotions being felt like shock, anger, denial, immense sadness, relief, and guilt. Julie explains that all of these feelings are normal and valid.
“What you are feeling is completely natural and normal.”
Julie Marty-Pearson
Losing a pet is so difficult. Julie gives us many ideas on how to cope with the loss as well as how to honor and memorialize our beloved best friends.
Listen to this episode if you have experienced the loss of a pet or if the passing of your pet is impending.