Always in My Heart: Coping Creatively with Pet Loss

Research shows that losing a pet can be more painful than losing a human family member. Yet little is known about this experience. This book explores this phenomenon and provides tips and strategies for navigating the lifelong journey of grief and healing we undertake after losing a beloved pet.

Most books about pet loss focus on the short-term challenges of grief. Always in My Heart takes a long-term perspective, offering rare insights into the challenges and personal growth many people experience months and years after saying goodbye to a special pet. You’ll discover:

• Intimate stories about pets that reveal lessons learned by others on this journey.
• An honest discussion of death and the intense feelings of helplessness, guilt, anger, and sorrow that often follow.
• Creative ways to cope with grief, including activities that will help you find meaning in your loss and honor your pet’s memory.
• A chance to reflect on lessons learned from your animals and how to incorporate these lessons into your life.
• An exploration of the enduring quality of the human-animal bond.
• A vision of how the love you still feel for your lost pets can positively influence your life.

Whether you’re facing the imminent loss of a pet, grieving a recent loss, or revisiting a loss from years ago, Always in My Heart will help you reconnect with joyful memories and access the life-affirming wisdom that comes with time.

Always in My Heart is the second book in the Pet Chaplain® Learning Series, an award-winning, four-volume set that explores pet keeping and loss in the modern West and offers instruction in interfaith spiritual care for pet loss. The series is the brainchild of Rob Gierka, EdD, who founded Pet Chaplain, a community service and educational organization, in 2004. Packed with robust research, heart-touching pet stories, and interactive learning resources, the series is well suited to self-study and book discussion groups. Visit petchaplain.com to learn more.

Rob Gierka, EdD, is an expert in the human-animal bond and pet loss, with extensive experience as a veterinary chaplain, community pet chaplain, and chaplaincy educator. He offers a wealth of scholarship across diverse fields, from existential psychology to human-animal studies, along with practical expertise in the emerging field of veterinary chaplaincy. Rob holds a doctoral degree in professional and continuing adult education from North Carolina State University (NCSU), with a research focus on the human-animal bond and pet loss. Rob's chaplaincy journey began in the 1990s, when he trained and worked as a hospital chaplain and as a community outreach minister for his church. In 2004, Rob expanded his chaplaincy work into the pet-keeping community by launching Pet Chaplain(R) (petchaplain.com). He gained hands-on veterinary experience serving as the on-call chaplain at NCSU's veterinary teaching hospital for nearly two years in the early 2000s. In 2006, he started a monthly pet loss support group in collaboration with the SPCA, which he continues to facilitate. The books in the Pet Chaplain Learning Series reflect Rob's scholarship and practical experience. They are based on the written lectures Rob and his coauthor Karen Duke co-developed for an online course in veterinary chaplaincy, which they co-facilitated for five years between 2018 and 2022. They welcomed students from around the world with diverse educational and professional backgrounds, marking a significant step toward developing this new and essential field of interfaith spiritual care.

Karen Duke earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Florida. She has been a professional writer and graphic designer since 1985. In 2013, she started co-facilitating a pet loss support group with her partner Rob Gierka, EdD, founder and president of Pet Chaplain(R), a community service and educational organization. A talented researcher and storyteller, Karen collaborated with Rob to develop and lead the first online course in veterinary chaplaincy from 2018 to 2022. That course is now the Pet Chaplain Learning Series, a distinctive educational resource for pet lovers and future veterinary chaplains.