Pet Loss Workshop with Dr. Betty Carmack

2014 Workshop with Dr. Betty Carmack in green sweater

One of my goals is to collaborate with others who work with healing. It was a milestone when Dr. Betty Carmack, author and grief therapist, agreed to join me to create a workshop to benefit the Pets Unlimited shelter. Betty has worked as a nurse in pet loss counseling for over 20 years helping over 2,000 people anticipating or experiencing grief for the loss of their animal companions.
Last March we joined forces and held our first annual Pets Workshop with Pets Unlimited providing help and a great space. Working with people as they made boats in honor of their lost pets, being able to express their feelings in a very unique circle was so moving and meaningful that we did it again on March 8th.
I have a significant relationship to this pet shelter/veterinary clinic. We are clients and have a fantastic vet, Dr. Gervais, a woman of great vision.  She facilitated the path for Leo and I to design and paint a large tribute mural in the grand staircase. Pets names are painted into the mural on a regular basis as an on-going fund raiser for the shelter.
And I have a wonderful relationship with Betty. I met her the first time when we lost our Sulu kitty in 1998 and I needed consoling. She helped me again when we lost our Cato in 2000.  In 2011, we both attended  Dr. Lyn Prashant's "Degriefing" for the Mourning Conference put on by the Jewish Healing Center. This gave me a chance to tell Betty about my brand new Spirit Boat Healing Workshops. We had just designed the first brochure and I was very excited to get this information into her hands.  That planted a seed and I began to brainstorm ways to work with Betty. The key connection was through Pets Unlimited since Betty is involved there as well as at the SPCA which has recently merged with Pets Unlimited.
My life with pets, vets and spirits has formed a

Painting Pet Name into Mural

Spirit Boat by Carol-Ann

cycle connecting my mural painting business, Ewing and Germano, with my new one as a Spiritboatist. In my desire to connect the key points of my life to create a new path, this one holds a lot of the right stuff.