Recommended Local Therapists

Losing your pet, experiencing their decline, navigating end of life decisions, or having your companion animal die traumatically is devastating. I’m Rakefet Laviolette, a psychotherapist specializing in pet loss and grief. Together we will find ways to cope and move through the death of your beloved companion. We will work together to tenderly explore ways to go on cherishing this special relationship.

I have been a licensed psychotherapist since 2012, and I've been in the field of human service since 2001. I have counseled countless clients through losses of all kinds, helping them to grow through, into, and alongside the many complex feelings that come from absence. I have counseled many clients through the death of a pet, helping them to weave the love and experiences they shared with their beloved animal companions into their present and future lives. As a long-time dog parent myself, I know the unique bond that forms between a dog and a human, and dog and child, and a dog and a family. My little Izzy is a crazy girl, but it's hard to imagine our family without her. And we feel the loss of our Roxie and our Lucy with the sunrise and sunset of every day. Feel free to checkout my website, and reach out via email or text any time: www.rarebirdtherapy.com

My specialty is traumatic grief, trauma, depression, and anxiety. I do talk therapy as well as movement practice if I feel it is warranted. I take a holistic viewpoint on mental health. Where are your hormone levels? What tension do you have in your body? How much stress do you deal with on a daily basis? I try to encourage all of my clients to stay active because this alone can help alleviate some symptoms. There is not one size fits all in therapy, work with a therapist who knows this and can pivot. In a world full of invalidation, everyone wants to be validated.

I completed graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin in 2016. Since then I have worked in university, non profit, and private practice settings. I opened New Vision Counseling in Denver, Colorado in 2019 and expanded to Austin, TX in 2021. I have received formal training in grief and loss from the Center for Loss and Life Transitions in Ft. Collins, CO.

Karen has been a therapist in private practice in South Austin for 23 years. She understands the unique grief that comes with losing a pet, and has lived with at least one pet in her home for most of her 58 years

Jill Pressley is a licensed therapist with 18 years of experience supporting people experiencing grief. She understands the profound loss of a beloved pet and how this can be magnified by a lack of understanding about its significance and the expectation of being able to move on quickly.