Kari Lorrayne Hayden is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker Associate in the State of Washington. Kari holds a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development with formal minors in Psychology and Aging from Washington State University. During her time at Washington State University, she also obtained a Certificate in Gerontology. She graduated in 2007. She went on to obtain her Master’s in Clinical Social Work from Boston University School of Social Work in 2017. Currently, she is a Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Social Work through the University of Kentucky.
Making the change from human medicine to veterinary medicine, Kari currently practices social work with BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospitals as a Regional Veterinary Social Worker. In her role, she supports 19 specialty and emergency pet hospitals across seven states in the Western U.S. As a veterinary social worker, she specializes in supporting veterinary staff around mental health, wellbeing, and occupational stressors unique to veterinary medicine.
Her research interest and capstone project focus are about defining secondary traumatic stress in pet hospice veterinary support staff and implementing mitigation protocols to address this risk to mental health. She is passionate about providing resources and psychoeducation to client support staff in pet hospice and to client care teams throughout veterinary medicine.
She is a member of the Phi Alpha National Honor Society through the University of Kentucky. Phi Alpha recognizes social workers with excellence in academics and overall achievement in social work. Kari hopes to publish portions of her capstone products upon graduation with her Doctorate in Clinical Social Work in May of 2023.