Rehabilitation Counseling Graduate Detoured from Plan to be a Veterinarian

With a love of animals and science, Deanna Bullock’s career path as a veterinarian seemed set. But after taking an animal therapy course, she realized that what she really wanted was to work with animals to help heal people.

“This instructor talked about how she uses horses to work with The Wounded Warriors Project to manage PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) symptoms. I left that class and decided, this is what I need to do,” said Deanna.

She graduates in May with her M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling and a long-range plan to work in animal assisted therapy.

Though the pandemic limited her options for clinical rotations, she said she worked at an agency where she was able to use a trauma-informed approach while counseling people with substance abuse and co-occurring mental illnesses.

“Although Deanna had no previous experience in counseling, she demonstrated excellence in delivering counseling services and has already been hired by the agency where she completed her clinical experience,” said Associate Professor and Program Director Janice Oursler.

Deanna had started out as a chemistry major at another college, and transferred to Rutgers to enroll in the Animal Science undergraduate program having decided she really didn’t like chemistry

“What made me happy was working with animals,” she said.

She went to Belize to learn about being a large animal veterinarian, working with cows, sheep, pigs and goats, and then did an internship with wildlife and conservation. While she enjoyed it, she still didn’t feel passionate about the work.

When she took the animal therapy class, she was captivated by the curriculum, where she learned that being with horses calmed the anxieties of traumatized veterans – but did not result in any distress to the therapy horses.

After completing her undergraduate degree, she applied to Rutgers School of Health Professions, saying she really liked Rutgers and wanted to continue to learn at the university.

While in the rehabilitation counseling program, she sought out a role as a research assistant with Weili Lu, associate professor and researcher, co-authoring several published papers, including one on how students with disabilities adapt to college, and helped to write a successful grant application.

She joined the American Counseling Association’s Human-Animal Interactions in Counseling interest network and helps to educate others on the practice of animal-assisted interventions.

She graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and received an academic excellence award.

Her goal is to become a licensed professional counselor once she earns the requisite hours and then work with therapy animals in her own practice.

“That’s the big finish line,” she said.