Approaches to Treatment

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In addition to her clinical training and 20-plus years of clinical practice, Dr Curotto has competencies and/or expertise in the following therapeutic approaches. These approaches can be tailored to your specific needs and preferences, helping you navigate the unique challenges of coping with the loss of a beloved pet and ultimately find healing/growth, acceptance, and love again.

Traditional grief counseling involves providing a safe space for individuals to express their feelings and work through and grow around their grief, often through talk therapy.  As a pet loss specialist and grief educator, I can offer a comprehensive and compassionate approach to helping you understand and navigate your feelings and identify a path forward. 

We use evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), to help clients address their symptoms and develop long-term coping skills.   CBT allows individuals to identify and modify negative thought patterns and behaviors associated with pet loss to promote healthier coping strategies.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of psychotherapy that helps people process traumatic memories and other distressing experiences. It's based on the idea that traumatic memories can get "stuck" in the brain, causing emotional and psychological difficulties. EMDR aims to change the way the brain stores these memories.  

Dr Nancy Curotto is a certified EMDR psychologist (Standard Protocol, Early Intervention Protocols including Group-Traumatic Events Protocol [G-TEP], Recent Traumatic Events Protocol [R-TEP], and the Expanded Traumatic Events Protocol [E-TEP]) and can tailor your virtual sessions to your needs using a virtual platform: Remote EMDR https://www.remotemdr.com  to facilitate constructive healing/growth. 

EMDR for pet loss focuses on resolving traumatic memories (sudden or painful decisions like hospice and euthanasia) and the emotional distress that can come with grieving the loss of a beloved pet. EMDR can help you process and grow around these difficult emotions. 

Here's how EMDR can support pet loss grief.

1. Addressing Unresolved Trauma: Pet loss, especially in unexpected circumstances, can leave a person with unresolved trauma. EMDR allows the person to process these traumatic memories and emotions more healthily, reducing the emotional burden.

2. Accessing Core Grief: For many, pet loss can bring up guilt, helplessness, or deep sorrow. EMDR helps access and process these core emotions, allowing individuals to experience relief from their emotional distress.

3. Targeting Specific Disturbing Images or Beliefs: EMDR can help individuals reprocess specific memories, like the last moments with their pet or disturbing images surrounding the pet's death. Reducing the emotional charge tied to these memories allows for more peaceful/treasured memories and reduced guilt or regret.

4. Facilitating Growth and Acceptance: EMDR can help shift negative beliefs about yourself in relation to the pet's death (e.g., "I should have done more" or "It's my fault") to healthier beliefs (e.g., "I gave my pet a good life"). This reprocessing can foster growth and acceptance.

5. Restoring Positive Memories: By reducing the negative emotional charge around the loss, help individuals reconnect with positive memories of their pets, helping them remember the joy and companionship rather than solely the pain of the loss 

Concurrent/simultaneous pet loss-focused EMDR can be a powerful therapeutic approach for couples who engage in therapy to address pet loss's shared and individual impacts.

Here are some key benefits that couples may gain from participating in this process together:

1. Strengthened Emotional Bond

· Couples often experience the loss of a pet differently, however by processing their grief side by side, they can create a shared understanding and emotional intimacy. EMDR can help both partners understand the depth of each other's Grief, creating an empathetic connection that strengthens the relationship.

2. Improved Communication

· EMDR can help process emotions that are difficult to express in words. As each person works through their Grief, they can better articulate their feelings, which fosters open and healthy communication. This helps avoid misunderstandings or feelings of isolation within the relationship.

3. Processing Shared Trauma

· Losing a pet can be traumatic, especially if the pet was a long-time companion. Couples may share this trauma and process it in different ways. EMDR provides a space where they can both work through their trauma together, reducing the emotional toll that unresolved Grief can take on their relationship.

4. Reducing Unspoken Tensions

· Grief can sometimes lead to tension within a relationship, mainly when partners cope differently. One partner may seem to move on quickly, while the other may struggle for longer, causing frustration or resentment. EMDR can help to reduce these unspoken tensions by giving both partners the tools to heal/grow at their own pace and in the context of a shared healing/growing process.

5. Supporting Each Other's Healing Participating in EMDR allows each partner to witness the other's grieving/healing process. This can create a sense of mutual support, as both individuals can better understand each other's feelings and needs during this difficult time.

6. Resilience Building

· Working/growing through Grief in a structured and supportive way, such as with EMDR, can enhance the couple's couple's coping with future losses or stresses. The skills and emotional resilience they develop during this process can strengthen their relationship for other challenges they may face together.

7. Personal Healing in a Shared Space

· While each individual may have their journey through Grief, concurrent/simultaneous EMDR allows them to do so in a way that does not isolate one another. Each person can process their feelings but in the presence of their partner, promoting a sense of being "together" in Grief."

8. Reduced Grief-Related Symptoms

· EMDR is effective in reducing symptoms of Grief, anxiety, depression, and trauma. When couples go through this process together, they may notice a reduction in grief-related symptoms not just individually but also within the dynamics of their relationship. This can lead to a more peaceful and supportive home environment as both partners heal/grow.

Participating in support groups with others who have experienced pet loss can provide a sense of community and validation for one's feelings. Peer support groups offer and provide support between people who share everyday experiences, including those who have experienced loss or grief, and have been shown to reduce grief symptoms and increase well-being and personal growth among the bereaved. There are also benefits to peer support groups, including increased personal growth and positive meaning in life. Internet-based peer support programs are a growing trend that is partly beneficial due to their accessibility.

SFBT focuses on identifying practical solutions and coping strategies to help individuals adjust to life without their pets and move forward in a positive way.

Our stress management sessions are designed to teach clients practical skills and strategies to manage stress more effectively. We help clients identify the sources of their stress and develop coping mechanisms to reduce its impact on their daily lives.