VETERINARY TEAM CPD COURSE
One course. Two sides of pet loss in veterinary practice.
A CPD course for veterinarians, veterinary nurses, technicians, receptionists and practice managers
Short by design. Packed with practical tools you can use straight away.
6 self-paced modules · About 75 minutes · 1 AVA VetEd point · 1.25 AVNAT CPD points · Certificate
Founding pricing from $79 · Individual and team access available
✓ Understand how grief can present before and after a pet dies
✓ Use clear, supportive language for difficult news and euthanasia decisions
✓ Help grieving clients feel heard and understood when others dismiss their grief
✓ Offer free pet-loss support after the appointment
For you and your team
✓ Feel better prepared when a grieving client becomes angry or blaming, while knowing disrespect is not acceptable
✓ Close difficult conversations with care when the next appointment is waiting
✓ Use strategies between appointments and after hard interactions
✓ Recognise when the emotional load is building, including compassion fatigue and burnout, and know where to get support
Recognised professional development
100% money-back guarantee
Watch: Ann at The VET Expo
Useful across the whole practice
A family needs more time to talk through a euthanasia decision. A distressed owner phones reception after their pet is suddenly injured or unwell. Another grieving client directs their anger or blame at a member of the team.
Meanwhile, there are more patients to see, calls to answer and a practice to keep running. There isn't always time to recover from one hard appointment before the next begins.
That's why the course is built for the whole team: veterinarians, veterinary nurses, technicians, receptionists and practice managers.
Learning that fits around your practice
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About 75 minutes, in six short, self-paced modules.
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Team members can complete it at different times.
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Each learner receives their own certificate and eligible CPD points on successful completion.
Practical tools to support your clients.
Practical support for you and your team.
Supporting grieving pet owners
✓ What to say when a family is facing a euthanasia decision or is overwhelmed.
✓ How to respond to guilt and regret without minimising a client's feelings.
✓ Common phrases that can unintentionally make grief harder, and what to say instead.
✓ Helping clients feel heard and understood especially when others may have dismissed their grief.
✓ Recognising when a client needs additional support and offering free pet-loss resources.
Supporting your veterinary team
✓ Responding to client anger or blame with compassion, without accepting disrespect.
✓ Closing a conversation with care when another appointment is waiting.
✓ Using practical strategies between appointments and after hard interactions.
✓ Maintaining compassionate boundaries, so you can keep caring without carrying it all home.
✓ Recognising when the emotional load is building, including signs of compassion fatigue and burnout, and knowing where to turn for support.
A few examples from the course
Practical examples of what to say, how to respond and when to set boundaries.
When difficult news has just been given:
“I can see how much you love [pet's name]. This is really hard news to hear.”
When time is short:
“I have to see my next patient, but I want to make sure you have some support when you leave.”
When anger or blame arises:
Acknowledge the client's distress without agreeing with an accusation. Keep your response clear and set a boundary if the client becomes disrespectful.
No single response will suit every client or situation. The course helps your team feel more prepared for the conversations they're already having.
Free for you and your team: What to Say and What to Avoid
A printable two-page guide for the consult room, front desk or staff room. Practical words for difficult conversations with grieving clients, and what to leave unsaid.
Download the guideWhat you'll cover
Six short modules to help your team support grieving pet owners before and after a pet dies, while also managing the emotional load this work can place on veterinary professionals.
Module 1 · Foundations of Pet Loss in Veterinary Practice
- Why pet loss can affect owners so deeply
- Anticipatory grief while a pet is ageing or seriously unwell
- The emotional demands placed on veterinary teams
- How your words and actions can shape a client’s experience
Module 2 · Understanding Grief in the Veterinary Setting
- How grief can look different from one client to another
- Why grief doesn’t follow a predictable sequence
- Why intense reactions are often about the client’s distress, not you
- Why pet loss can be dismissed or misunderstood by others
- Understanding the difference between guilt and regret
Module 3 · What to Say and What to Avoid
- Practical words for difficult news, distress, euthanasia conversations and guilt
- What can unintentionally make a grieving client feel worse
- What to say when a client is overwhelmed
- What to say when you don’t know what to say
- How to respond with care when time is limited
Module 4 · Supporting Difficult Decisions (Euthanasia Conversations)
- Why euthanasia decisions can bring guilt, doubt and distress
- Supporting clients without reinforcing guilt or self-blame
- Responding when a grieving client becomes angry or blaming
- Acknowledging distress without accepting accusations or disrespect
- How the veterinarian and wider team can support the client through the decision
Module 5 · Supporting Yourself
- Recognising when the emotional load of the work is building
- Early signs of compassion fatigue and burnout
- Maintaining clear and compassionate boundaries
- Quick ways to reset between appointments and after a difficult interaction
- Remembering the many grateful clients when one angry voice stays with you
- Closing a difficult conversation with care when time is short
- Knowing where to turn for further support
Module 6 · Bringing It All Together
- How to use the course tools during a normal veterinary day
- Quick-reference responses for grief, guilt, distress and euthanasia conversations
- Building confidence from what you already do
- Looking after yourself as part of the work, not separate from it
- Free follow-up support your team can offer grieving clients after they leave the clinic
Course Resources
- What to Say and What to Avoid: printable two-page guide for consult rooms, reception or staff areas
- Support Resources: pet-loss and wellbeing support for clients and veterinary teams
- 6-Step Pet Loss Support Pathway Flyer: free follow-up support to offer grieving clients
- Reference List: the research and sources behind the course
What's Included
Six short modules
Learn anywhere
Module quizzes
Certificate on successful completion
Recognised CPD
Practical communication resources
Support for the emotional load
A 30-second reset after anger or blame
Free support for grieving clients
Short by Design
Veterinary teams are busy, so the course has been deliberately kept concise. In about 75 minutes, across six short modules, you’ll work through practical language, real veterinary situations and tools you can use straight away.
You can pause and return whenever time allows, and each team member completes it at their own pace. It also comes with a 100% Money-Back Guarantee.
View Course Options
Each learner receives an individual login and certificate, and completes the course at their own pace.
All packages include the course resources and free pet-loss support resources to offer grieving clients.
All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST.
Need approval first? Download a one-page summary to share with your practice manager.
More than 10 learners or more than one location?
Tell us a little about your organisation and we can discuss the right option for your team.
Enquire About Group Pricing
100% Money-Back Guarantee
We'd like you to feel confident choosing the course. If, after completing it, you feel it wasn’t the right fit for you or your team, contact us within 14 days of completion for a full refund.
What this can look like on an ordinary day
The course is designed to give your team something practical to draw on as the day unfolds.
- A client arrives visibly anxious. You recognise their distress and adjust how you communicate.
- Difficult news needs to be discussed. You have practical words to use.
- A client becomes upset. You acknowledge their distress and keep the conversation clear and steady.
- A client directs anger or blame at you. You acknowledge their distress without accepting blame or disrespect.
- A client faces a difficult euthanasia decision. You support them without reinforcing guilt or self-blame.
- Between appointments, you use Pause · Name it · Shift.
- After a hard interaction, you use a 30-second reset and remember the many grateful clients so one angry voice does not outweigh them.
- When the day ends, you set it down, and you know where to turn if the load is building.
Remember the grateful ones
When anger or blame lands on you, that can be the voice you remember. But it is only one voice.
For every client who is angry or blaming, there are many more who are deeply grateful for the care you gave their pet and the way you treated them during a very difficult time.
They may remember your kindness for years, even if you never hear from them again.
The course includes a simple way to bring those grateful clients back to mind when one hard interaction stays with you.
Ann Harris
Certified Grief Educator, author and pet owner
Founder, PerPETual Love
One shared approach across the whole practice
When several members of a veterinary team complete the course, everyone has access to the same grief education, practical language and communication tools.
This can help create a more consistent approach when supporting grieving pet owners, particularly when a client speaks with several people across the practice.
Everyone also learns strategies to help manage the emotional load of this work.
Veterinarians | Veterinary Nurses | Technicians | Receptionists | Practice Managers
Each team member completes the course individually and at their own pace.
Each learner receives their own certificate and eligible CPD points on successful completion.
Free follow-up support for grieving pet owners
The course also gives your practice something practical to offer clients after a pet dies.
PerPETual Love’s free 6-Step Pet Loss Support Pathway provides support and resources that pet owners can access in their own time.
Simply hand the flyer to the client. They choose whether to access the free support.
The Pathway includes a free e-Guide, supportive emails, ideas to honour their pet’s memory and a private support group.
More than 3,000 pet owners have accessed our free pet loss support resources.
See What Your Clients ReceiveRecognised professional development
The course has been approved for:
1 CPD point through AVA VetEd
1.25 CPD points through the Australian Veterinary Nurse and Technician Regulatory Council (AVNAT)
Each eligible learner receives their own CPD points and certificate on successful completion. The pass mark for the short course quizzes is 80%.
What Pet Owners Say About Our Free Support
These comments relate to PerPETual Love’s free pet loss support pathway and resources, not the CPD course.
“I finally feel understood and less alone.”
— Kelly L.
“Your emails and kind words are so incredibly comforting to me.”
— Gail
“Thank goodness for this group. You all make me feel surrounded by love.”
— Sandi
When I showed the flyer to a mobile vet whose work regularly includes at-home euthanasia, she asked for more copies.
Grounded in research, built for practice
The course draws on current grief and veterinary wellbeing research, with a practical focus on what helps clients feel supported, how to respond when emotions escalate, and how veterinary professionals can manage the emotional load of the work.
I know this from the client side
Over many years, and with many different animals, I’ve spent a lot of time on the client side of veterinary care.
I still remember the veterinary teams who supported me when my animals were ill, through difficult decisions and when they passed. I may not remember every word they said, but I remember their kindness, how I was treated and how I felt in their care.
That experience is a big part of why this course exists. It has been created with enormous respect for the whole veterinary team, with practical language and tools to support clients while also recognising the emotional load of this work.
Ann at The VET Expo Sydney
In September 2026, Ann presented at The VET Expo on both sides of pet loss in veterinary practice - supporting grieving pet owners, and recognising the emotional load this work can place on veterinary teams.
Click the video to watch presentation highlights
About Ann
Ann Harris is a Certified Grief Educator, author of PerPETual Love: Forever in Your Heart and founder of PerPETual Love.
She brings more than 35 years’ experience working with animals and their owners, together with specialised grief education and first-hand experience as a veterinary client when her animals have been seriously ill, when she has faced difficult decisions about their care, and after they have passed.
Ann supports grieving pet owners and veterinary teams with practical grief education, communication tools and resources.
In September 2026, Ann presented at The VET Expo Sydney on:
Looking After the People Who Look After the Animals: Supporting Grieving Pet Owners, While Looking After Yourself Too
Please note
Ann Harris is a Certified Grief Educator, not a counsellor or psychologist.
PerPETual Love provides education and support, not counselling, therapy or clinical care.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this carry CPD points?
How long does the course take?
Who is the course for?
Why is the course relevant to non-veterinarian team members?
Does everyone in the practice need to complete the course at the same time?
What is the money-back guarantee?
Does each learner receive their own certificate and CPD points?
What does the course include?
What is the pass mark?
Can our whole practice complete the course?
What support can we give grieving clients afterwards?
You can't take grief away. You can feel better prepared to stand beside it.
Practical tools for your clients. Practical support for you and your team.
6 short modules · About 75 minutes including quizzes · Self-paced · Founding pricing from $79
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