EVANSTON — When Cheryl Sherman was 14 years old, she lost a dear friend — her dog, Whiskers. Her grief remained with her through her adult life and just recently she was able to talk about the death of Whiskers.

Her strong attachment to animals of all kinds and her understanding of how people feel at the loss of a pet influenced her to focus on becoming an animal chaplain or, as she calls it, an interspecies chaplain.

Rev. Sherman, who lives in Evanston, earned a master’s degree in pastoral and spiritual care degree from Iliff School of Theology in Denver. She completed her internship at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.

“During that internship, I recognized that people were able to express their anger about their situation with a stranger more than they could with family and loved ones,” Sherman said. “It is safer to share some feelings honestly with someone with whom you are not emotionally involved.”

As an animal chaplain, Sherman will provide support for both animals and humans by using the tools of deep listening and caring companionship. She will officiate similar services as those when one loses any loved one: graveside services, a celebration of the life of the deceased, memorial services and other rituals of healing.

Recently, Sherman officiated at a graveside service for a local family’s pet to honor the life of the pet and give healing to the family.

“I get upset when people say, ‘Oh, it’s just a dog or cat,’” Sherman said. “It’s not just a pet, they become family. There is joy and sorrow both with loving animals, as with humans. Last year, when all the antelope were dying of starvation and their dead bodies were all around the town, I grieved, and my teacher at the seminary helped me deal with that. I want to help others deal with the loss of beloved animals.”

Sherman said senior citizens often cannot afford veterinary care for their animals and often have no transportation to take their pet to the vet. As part of her service, she will provide transportation for senior citizens, by appointment, to veterinarian appointments.

Veterinarians also suffer emotional trauma from having to euthanize animals in their care and they have a high suicide rate, Sherman said.

A study published in 2019, by the CDC National Center for Health Statistics showed between 1979 to 2015, nearly 400 veterinarians died by suicide. The results showed male veterinarians are twice as likely and female veterinarians are close to four times as likely than the general population to die by suicide.

Reasons cited are occupational stressors like burnout and compassion fatigue, though access to euthanasia drugs play a part. A study funded by pet food brand Royal Canin, showed nearly 70% of veterinarians have had a colleague or peer die by suicide and close to 60% have experienced work-related stress, anxiety or depression so severe as to require professional help.

Veterinarians often face an emotional dilemma when a pet owner cannot afford the medical costs to save their pet and ask the veterinarian to put their pet down. Veterinarians then face the personal dilemma of being in the profession to save animals rather than kill them and this can lead to emotional trauma.

In response to what Sherman sees as a real need in the community, she is starting a grief support group for those who grieve the death of animals. She said it doesn’t matter how long ago the loss occurred, “grief has no termination date.”

The first meeting of the animal grief support group, titled “Whiskers’ Heart,” will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church rectory at 937 Sage St. For more information, Rev. Sherman can be reached at 307-313-0964 or by email at whiskers.heart@gmail.com.