Independent Study Project Raises Awareness about Veterinary Social Work

King’s Master of Social Work Student, Sarika Singodia, is bringing new awareness to the little-known discipline of veterinary social work through her Independent Study project, Recognizing the Human-Animal Bond through Veterinary Social Work.

The project looks at the four core areas of veterinary social work: compassion fatigue and conflict management among people working with animals, animal-related loss and grief, animal-assisted interventions, and the link between animal and human violence. “I also included a section on the concept of One Health, which is an interdisciplinary approach to supporting the health of people, animals, and the environment,” says Singodia. “Lastly, I had a section on how the human-animal bond can be considered within multiple areas of social work practice.”

“Ultimately, my goal is to introduce more social work students and social workers to this area of practice,” she says. “In terms of helping people in general, I hope my work can shed light on how important animals are in our society and how there is a need to consider the human-animal bond in all social work interventions.”

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The syllabus for the 12-week Independent Study project was developed under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Baird. “If a social work student is interested in learning about a topic that is not covered in the curriculum, they may seek permission to create their own course on the topic,” explains Singodia, who also consulted with Sarah Bernardi, a veterinary social worker at the Ontario Veterinary College.

Singodia presented her learnings to King’s students and staff in October 2023, and her work was featured in this year’s Inspiring Minds showcase at Western University, which seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research. “Sarika’s Independent Study research highlights some important gaps and areas of further growth to address in order to bring the human-animal bond more fully into our social work practice,” notes Dr. Baird.

A life-long animal lover, Singodia spent six years working as a lawyer before returning to the classroom at King’s. She is currently completing her social work practicum with King’s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization.

“I decided to pursue my MSW to combine with my legal background so I am better able to apply different perspectives to this work, such as anti-oppressive and critical race lenses,” she says. “This program also has courses on leadership and program evaluation which will give me skills to work towards my career goals.”

She says that the area of veterinary social work was a natural fit. “As I learned more about it, I saw connections with what I was doing as a lawyer. The violence link, which is the term used to describe the connection between animal abuse and violence towards people, is of particular interest to me,” she says. “Much of my legal work involved working with survivors of gender-based violence, and I would see this link with people who had companion animals.”

In the future, Singodia hopes to develop and coordinate community initiatives to support survivors of family violence with companion animals. She would also like to do counselling work with people who work with animals. “I have learned how animal service workers - veterinary staff, shelter staff, rescue workers, and even volunteers – can struggle with secondary traumatic stress from working with sick, injured, and abused animals.”

Dr. Baird says it was a pleasure to supervise Sarika as she developed her Independent Study course and built an in-depth understanding of veterinary social work. “In the process, I was delighted to develop a deeper appreciation of the human-animal bond and how this bond can be better incorporated into social work practice responses and future research.”

Nicole Laidler is a freelance reporter, copywriter and content creator, serving clients in London, Toronto and throughout Southwestern Ontario. She helps people grow their success, one word at a time.