Have you come home from a day of cases or classes feeling exhausted? Are you consistently dealing with distressing events daily? The client who demands “extras” or special treatment; the emotionally distraught family whose dog has bitten their child; having to advise a client that their dog just isn’t safe to continue life with their family; or the emotional blackmail from a client who says if you can’t solve the behavior problem they’ll get rid of the pet. Onto those professional stressors, tack on our own personal ones. Your spouse or partner complaining about your erratic and/or long work hours, financial woes, children who aren’t doing well in school, or aging parents who need more care. Top it off with the unexpected curve balls life throws at us such as health challenges, deaths of friends or family, or unexpected expenses and it’s no wonder we start to lose patience with our clients’ demands or even reasonable requests. Keep in mind that your clients may be facing the same challenges you are in addition to their worries about their pet. We need to try to see things from their perspective as well. While we may struggle to maintain our sanity in the face of these stressors, we may see others always with a smile on their face, seemingly unperturbed by whatever life throws at them, and with the patience of Jobe. Is this a façade, or what is the formula some folks seem to have developed that allows them to cope with these life stressors? While neither we nor our special guest claim to be mental health professionals, we’ve all developed a number of successful strategies to cope with the difficulties of the service field we’ve chosen. We welcome Laura Monaco Torelli for this discussion of “Taking Care of Yourself and Your Clients”.

Sponsor:Behavior Edcuation Network
Speaker(s):Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D., CAAB and Dan Estep, Ph.D., CAAB and Laura Monaco Torelli, Karen Pryor Academy

Contact: Tracey Metzler
 Email: info@animalbehaviorassociates.com
 Phone: 303-932-9095
 Web: http://www.behavioreducationnetwork.com/