Meet Christine Henry | Dr. Christine Henry, Licensed Psychologist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christine Henry and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christine, what is the most important factor behind your success?

I know it is a cheesy thing to say but when running your own business believing in yourself is key. Throughout my career as a psychologist people have given me strange looks when I talk about the importance of pets in people’s lives. Initially, the way that I dealt with that was to counter their beliefs with hard data. My dissertation was about the impact of attachment on grief symptoms following the death of a pet. My professors were skeptical that I would get enough data to complete the study as I needed 150 participants. I had some faith that “pet people” would want to have their stories heard and I was correct. In one week, I received over 7,500 online surveys back. I was emotionally moved by reading the stories of people thanking me for doing the research. They told me that they were ashamed of how attached they were to their pets and felt embarrassed grieving their death. The participants indicated that they finally had some validation that it was okay to mourn.

Later in my career, I wanted to have a therapy dog to be in the room with clients because I knew firsthand how healing animals can be. I again came across other therapists trying to discourage me from having a dog in the office. Some people did not see the value of having an animal in session and others were mainly concerned about liability. They felt that the risk was not worth the benefit. However, when Hurricane Harvey hit, the administration where I worked was finally open to me bringing my dog to campus to support the community. “Dogtor Murphy” started his first day of work the week after the Hurricane. We were working at the University of Houston Clear Lake at the time. We saw over 800 students, faculty, and staff that week. It was so amazing to see people who were walking around in a fog only to lift their heads and have huge smiles on their faces as they saw Murphy approach them with a wagging tail. He was even voted UHCL’s top ten most interesting people in 2017. We also volunteered in the community after the school shooting at Sante Fe where again Murphy and other therapy dogs brought some light to a really difficult situation. Students enjoyed having a break from everything to cuddle and get some love from a dog.

After working in college counseling centers for 10 years, we moved into private practice where again some therapists expressed doubt that anyone other than children would care to have a therapy dog present. However, every adult client that came to see me spoke about how excited they were about their therapist having a therapy dog. Dogtor Murphy has done some amazing work with my clients. I work with a lot of adults who have experienced trauma in their lives. Many times, I have heard clients say that they have difficulty receiving affection from people but get such comfort getting love from animals. Having Murphy by their side helped them process difficult topics with greater ease. They really have been able to progress faster in their therapy work in part because of the comfort Murphy brought to the therapy.

When the pandemic hit and we had to transfer to virtual therapy, I wondered how that would impact the clinical work with Murphy no longer being physically present with clients. To my surprise, my clients’ own pets were up for the job of being their therapy animals. Clients enjoyed being at home with their own pets as they worked through difficult issues in their sessions. Like clockwork their pets would let me know when their human was feeling strong emotions. A cat would hop up and put their butt to the camera or a dog would stop by and put their nose under their hand to be pet.

I have a psypact certification which allows me to see clients across state lines via telehealth. With the pandemic I started to get new clients from across the country who would never meet Murphy. That is when I realized that people were coming to see me for therapy because I was a “pet person” and they felt that they could trust me. It was then that I regained my confidence to branch out and start my own practice, “Therapy for Pet People.” My practice is exclusively telehealth which Murphy is not too happy about. However, we plan on getting back out into the community to do volunteer work which hopefully will make up for us not seeing clients in person. I specialize in working with adults who have experienced trauma, grief, pet loss, spiritual abuse, and are neurodivergent (adhd/autistic).

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

During these last 6 years, working with “pet people” in therapy, I have realized that a large percentage of my caseload was neurodivergent. Clients came to therapy to process trauma or grief and after putting in a ton of work into their therapy still had some interpersonal struggles. I was fortunate to work with Dr. Julia Strait who specialized in testing adults who are ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or autistic. After completing a full neuropsychological battery and receiving a diagnosis, my clients began to understand why they still had some difficulties in various areas of their lives. For most people this diagnosis was difficult to process. They often felt it was impossible for someone in their 30’s or 40’s to be autistic but not know. Many had considered themselves to be a “highly sensitive person.” They would feel emotions that others around them experience and were highly empathetic. Because of these traits they never considered autism because there is a misconception that if you are autistic you struggle to empathize with others. Often clients had suspicions that a family member was neurodivergent or they had a family member formally diagnosed, however, but they never considered it for themselves. Research from the United Kingdom, Austialia, and Ireland is showing us how different autism and ADHD can look in women, non-binary, and LBGTQIA individuals. I have written a blog explaining how it looks different if you would like more information.  Here is a link to it: https://therapyforpetpeople.com/blog/maybeitsnotjusttrauma  This latest research explains why so many people have been missed and are just now getting diagnosed as adults.

Going back to my clients, after the shock wore off, having this knowledge significantly improved their lives. Many were actually able to terminate therapy because they were doing so well. These were clients who have been in therapy for trauma on and off their whole lives. Since gaining a better understanding of who they are, they are able to make their environment fit them instead of struggling to make themselves fit into the environment. It has been an honor to explore this new identity with clients and see such drastic changes in their lives. It is important for clients who are wondering if they may be neurodivergent to find a therapist who identifies as neurodiverse affirming and has up to date knowledge on how ADHD and autism presents in adults to help explore this possibility.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

If a friend was coming to visit Houston, I would take them on a tour of all the amazing museums that the city has to offer as well as go to the zoo. My favorite thing to see at the zoo is the Elephants. I have such respect for them and the bonds they have with each other. I am particularly fascinated with their expressions and understanding of grief. I am sure that we would take a few of my 5 dogs to a dog park and enjoy seeing them play with other dogs. Lastly, I’m a homebody and if someone is a close friend of mine, they most likely are as well. We would spend time baking in the kitchen and watching movies together as we reconnect. It is nice to have friends that you do not feel you have to impress them. You can just sit and enjoy each other’s company and be yourself.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

My colleagues Dr. Kimberly James, Dr. Scott Creighton, Dr. Jennifer McAdams, and Dr. Julia Strait have also been super supportive of me and my therapy dog “Dogtor Murphy.” They have encouraged me every step of the way in how therapeutic animals can be in clinical practice. Whenever I would start listening to the therapists discouraging me, they would remind me of how important the work was that I was doing. It also warmed my heart to see Dr. James and Dr. Creighton smile when Murphy would give them love in the office. Murphy hasn’t just been a therapy dog to clients, he provides support to other therapists around him as well.

It has also been amazing to have Dr. Strait and Dr. McAdams to “nerd out” with learning about neurodiversity. It was nice to have colleagues who were exploring this not just for our clients, but getting information to better understand our own neurodivergence as well. It’s been great bouncing ideas off of them and sharing resources along the way. This is another reason why I feel so passionately about how important group therapy can be for people. It is a priceless experience to be with others who are going through similar things that you are at the same time.

Lastly, my dog Murphy deserves the biggest shout-out. He has really been my sidekick in getting my own practice off the ground. Don’t get me wrong, my family also provides a lot of support as well. Without my sister’s ability to be organized I would never have been able to do the small, detailed tasks of starting a business. Murphy has been silently by my side giving me constant comfort throughout the daunting task of breaking out on my own

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Website: www.therapyforpetpeople.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapyforpetpeople/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-henry-772696239/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Therapyforpetpeople

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDhq8GOhiQAH_oU1_GF6Xjg

Image Credits
Melissa Bennett (Right Time Branding)