JSA Psychotherapy sponsors local documentary filmmaker

This month, JSA have taken part in supporting the launch of a local filmmaker’s attempt to raise awareness for people suffering from an often overlooked form of grief.

A career social researcher, Dr Rowenna Baldwin decided that the realm of academia limited the audience that her work exploring social issues could reach. As such, she made the decision to retrain as documentary filmmaker with the goal of providing greater visibility for under-represented topics. As part of her MA with the Northern Film School, she directed Goodnight, Friend to address the impact of pet bereavement. The film sheds light on the unresolved trauma and grief that many suffer from losing a pet and the dismissal that is met when attempting to reach out for support.

As part of the production process, Rowenna partnered with Stanley House veterinary practice in Colne to find people willing to appear in the film and share their stories. The Samaritans and Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Service also became involved. The topic of the film was very important to these charities as in many cases, the loss of a pet can also mean the loss of a vital life-line for particularly vulnerable individuals.

Julie, speaking in the focus group

Part of the film covers a focus group facilitated by Stanley House for those who were willing to share their experiences of pet bereavement. JSA Psychotherapy became involved with the project when Julie Stirpe offered to take part in the focus group, offering a clinical therapeutic perspective on grief and its associated mental illnesses. Julie also contributed her own stories of the many animal companions in her life, most significantly the passing of her horse Bruce Almighty in October 2016.

The most pervasive sense of grief is one that arises from feelings of guilt when an owner faces the decision to put their pet to sleep. In an interview with JSA, Rowenna stated “It’s ok for people to feel that guilt but they shouldn’t have to, because they’ve made the best decision for their pet.”

Following the completion of the film, JSA offered to become one of several organisations sponsoring Goodnight, Friend’s publication. This has helped Rowenna with the financial support necessary in the early stages of the film’s distribution. Rowenna’s documentary has so far been accepted to several film festivals, including the Dog Film Festival in New York as well as several others in the UK.

Earlier this week, the film’s debut public screening took place at Nelson’s ACE centre. The premiere was accompanied with presentations from Stanley House and the Blue Cross. Robin Hargreaves of Stanley House concluded his speech with the encouraging sentiment that the pain we associate with mourning a pet we’ve had to say goodbye to needn’t be a completely negative feeling. “The pain of illness” he says, “leaves the pet in peace and is taken on by its owner as grief. It’s a final kindness”.

Julie with Rowenna (left), Robin Hargreaves of Stanley House vets (centre right) and representatives from the Samaritans.

Speaking at the event, Rowenna explained that she had to keep the edit to a 20 minute maximum runtime. This meant that she could only include a few of the bereavement experiences that the volunteers shared with her. For her next project, she hopes to publish more of these stories, potentially online. In the meantime, she has set up a pet remembrance network on Facebook for those who have lost pets to be able to share their memories. Rowenna offered the following insights into her intent for the project;

“I wanted the film to have an impact, however small. I’m a bit of an idealist to be honest, but I’d like people to be comforted, or feel that they’ve got more information about what they can do if they are struggling to deal with their grief. It might help someone watching to think about what they’ve been through or perhaps something they think they’re about to go through if they’ve got an elderly pet.”