About BLUE dog Counseling | Grief-Informed Veterinary Consulting

Specialized support for pet loss and the animal care workplace

The grief, stress, and complex decisions that come with the human-animal bond are rarely addressed, whether you are an individual navigating the loss of an animal family member or a professional doing this work every day.

BLUE dog was founded specifically to address that gap. We provide grief-informed consulting, training, and clinical services drawn from deep expertise in the human-animal bond, animal loss, and the animal care workplace.

That expertise serves both the individuals living through loss and the professionals whose work puts them in contact with animal death and client grief repeatedly.

Founder

Cōlleen O'Brien, LMSW

Cōlleen has provided pet loss and grief counseling through BLUE dog since 2009. Over time, animal care professionals also began coming to her as clients, and a consistent story emerged: people deeply committed to animals were carrying significant occupational stress with too few places to talk honestly about it. Moral stress, secondary traumatic stress, and the emotional complexity of euthanasia and other difficult decisions were rarely addressed in mainstream mental health training or workplace support. That gap became the foundation for BLUE dog's support services including consulting and training with veterinary and animal welfare professionals.

Since 2010, Cōlleen has facilitated the pet loss support group at the Humane Society of Huron Valley. More than fifteen years of sitting with people navigating the loss of an animal has deepened her understanding of grief, the human-animal bond, and the experiences of the professionals who care for animals and support the people who love them.

Cōlleen's connection to this work is personal as well as professional. She has shared her life with her beloved chihuahuas and navigated complex illness and medical decisions alongside them. Those experiences, together with her clinical training and years of work with animal people, shape an approach grounded in the realities of loving, losing, and caring deeply for animals.

Our approach

We start from a place of understanding

Animal care professionals arrive to each project with the significance of their work and their relationship to the animals in their care already understood. Our consulting and clinical services start from that foundation.

We are evidence-based

All consulting and training is grounded in clinical best practices in grief, trauma, and human-animal bond research, developed specifically for animal care settings.

Support at every level

From individual animal care providers to veterinary staff and shelter leadership, effective support requires addressing both the people doing the work and the conditions of the workplace.

Credentials and qualifications

BLUE dog's services are provided by clinically trained professionals with specialized expertise in grief, trauma, and the human-animal bond. Our consulting draws on evidence-based models from clinical social work and grief theory applied specifically to animal care settings.

Cōlleen O'Brien

LMSW (Clinical and Macro), VSW

Veterinary Social Worker

Pet loss and grief counseling practice since 2009. Facilitator, HSHV Pet Loss Support Group since 2010.

Professional associations

National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
International Association of Veterinary Social Work (IAVSW)
Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement (APLB)

Areas of clinical expertise

Grief and bereavement
Human-animal bond
Secondary traumatic stress
Moral stress and moral injury
Veterinary and animal welfare settings
Consulting

About BLUE dog