Good communication skills improve our ability to provide better care for our clients and their pets. The Circle of Care embodies all aspects of veterinary medicine and client/patient support. Communication helps to weave together that Circle of Care, it can build a tapestry of collaboration or it can be snagged and uneven, leading to disastrous interactions. Thankfully, there are tools to help weave communication more effectively and elegantly. This is especially important when helping families in grief. Join us as we build a communication tool box including: Dr. Wolfelt’s Companioning Philosophy, Transactional Analysis, and simple ways to create a safe environment for communication and care. While the focus of this lecture will be on communication as it pertains to hospice and palliative care medicine, many of the tactics will be applicable to all areas of veterinary medicine.