How the Association was founded

The creation of the Association of Pet Bereavement Counsellors was a passion of renowned pet bereavement counsellor Dawn Murray (BCAh) for many years. Independent pet bereavement counsellors offer clients support throughout the country with varying levels of qualifications, experience, and standards. Many of these counsellors do not know each other; therefore, there is a lack of peer support, and neither do they necessarily know or understand the qualifications or standards being applied apart from their own. It became apparent to Dawn that for pet bereavement counselling to be recognised as valuable support to clients, it needed to be put on a more professional footing.

Dawn assembled a core group of qualified accredited pet bereavement counsellors to form the Association, Niall Morton, Kirsty Godsell & Carrie Kearns were integral in the set up of the Association and continue to participate in events. During meetings of this group in 2023, it was agreed that a fully recognised Association would be developed for which strict membership criteria would be enforced. These criteria should include holding a pet bereavement counselling qualification, completing a specific assessment to become an accredited member and committing to adhering to the Association's Code of Ethics and Professional Standards, so the Association was founded.