Human–Animal Relationships and Social Work: Opportunities Beyond the Veterinary Environment

Abstract

A species-spanning approach that incorporates clients' relationships with their companion animals into family genograms, schools of social work curricula, continuing education, interviews, assessments, and interventions offers increased career opportunities, professional and personal growth and development, and a more comprehensive resolution of clients' issues, social justice concerns, and the prevention of family violence. This article identifies six reasons why social workers should be cognizant of human-animal relationships and introduces nine ways, with action steps, in which social workers can include these relationships into training and practice outside the more developed field of veterinary social work. These venues include: agencies working in child protection and child sexual abuse; children's advocacy centers and courthouse facility dogs; animal shelters; domestic violence shelters; public policy advocacy; clinical practice; agencies working with older and disabled populations; veterinary sentinels for intimate partner violence; and pet support services for homeless populations. Such attention to the human-animal bond can utilize social workers' problem-solving skills to improve delivery of services, identify clients' risk and resiliency factors, enhance social and environmental justice, expand academic inquiry, and increase attention to all of the vulnerable members of families and communities.

Animal Assisted Intervention at The Nelson ARK: A social work placement reflection

“…Links to theory are signposted in relation to a strengths-based approach, NVC and, as Adamson and Darroch (2016) have discussed, a version of attachment theory. Other literature emphasises the presence of animals in the ecologies of the individuals and families who social workers work alongside (Adamson & Darroch, 2016;Arkow, 2020;Evans & Gray, 2012;Risley-Curtiss, 2010;Walker et al, 2015). Moreover, given that attention to recognising the sentience and protection of animals presents as part of the updated Aotearoa VIEWPOINT New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) Code of Ethics (2019), we may also be moved to acknowledge more fully the contributions of animals to social work practicum and their capacity to shape and strengthen social work practice.…”

“…The inclusion of animals as part of the social work curricula is an exception rather than a standard component of the student learning experience (Adamson & Darroch, 2016). Bretzlaff-Holstein 2018indicates that attention to animals in social work practice and education is limited and has largely focused on the social and therapeutic benefits of the human-animal bond/partnerships (Risley-Curtiss, 2010), the relationship between animal cruelty and family violence (Adamson & Darroch, 2016;Walker, Aimers, & Perry, 2015), how animals feature in the context of disasters (see Adamson & Darroch, 2016) and attention to grief and loss (see Arkow, 2020). Chalmers, Dell, Dixon, Dowling, and Hanrahan (2020) argue that, while attention to human-animal relations is gaining traction for social work educators, researchers and practitioners, there is not yet the education and training in place to support this growing area of interest.…”

“…Arkow (2020) contends that including relevant material into coursework and field placements can open up research, education and practice opportunities and enrich personal and professional development. This will enable social workers to respond more effectively to human clients, the wider community and to the non-human members of these collectives (Arkow, 2020). Like many other tertiary degrees, the NMIT BSW programme does not offer a course or specific lectures dedicated to equipping social work students to work with animals as part of their practicum or subsequent social work practice.…”

Animal abuse and family violence: Reflections from workshopping with veterinary students

“…Interprofessional collaborations are bolstered through the ability of social workers and academics to analyse, develop and utilise their collaborative skills to empower interprofessional teams. Social work's knowledge and expertise in detecting and dealing with interpersonal violence can work collaboratively with veterinary professionals to include the HAB through an interdisciplinary approach to practice (Arkow, 2020…”

Enfrentamento da violência doméstica e maus-tratos aos animais em tempo de COVID-19

“…O abuso de animais é um importante indicador de violência doméstica e comportamento criminoso (LOOKWOOD, 2000;MONSALVE et al, 2017). Desta forma, a detecção de maus-tratos aos animais é de grande importância, não só para a proteção de seres sencientes, mas também para a realização de intervenções que visam melhorar a qualidade de vida das famílias vulneráveis (MONSALVE et al, 2017) e diminuir os níveis de violência na sociedade (BENETATO; REISMAN; MCCOBB, 2011) O sistema jurídico geralmente ignora a relação humano-animal (ARKOW, 2020), e os casos de maus-tratos e outros tipos de delitos contra os animais são frequentemente banalizados e tratados como crimes menores e independentes dos delitos contra as pessoas (RANDALL, 2008;ARKOW, 2020).…”