Dr. Jess McAfee

One of their very first mentors commented "You are good at death." Jess graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Animal Science in 1999 and was declined admission to veterinary school at that time. They took a job in a corporate veterinary clinic working all aspects of the job from kennel assistant to hospital director. After the birth of their first child in 2004, and subsequently experiencing the loss of a pregnancy in 2005, they returned to pursuing a career as a veterinarian. After welcoming their second child into the world in 2007, Jess graduated from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine at the top of their class in 2010. They returned to the corporate veterinary world and quickly burned out in the frantic pace of general practice. After experiencing several significant losses of family members, both two and four legged, as well as recovering from severe mental health issues, they finally found their true life passion in death, and started an in-home end of life practice in 2016. Jess earned their Hospice and Palliative Care certification in 2018 - part of the second graduating class from the International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care. Since then, they have been providing tailored in-home care for senior pets and their families and helping those with terminal conditions live full and happy days until ultimately helping them transition as peacefully as possible. Peaceful Pet Transitions has grown to a four doctor practice serving the greater Seattle and Tacoma areas in Washington state. Always the student, Jess has become increasingly interested in human death doula work, particularly MAID services, as well as facilitating yoga and meditation to people of all body types. They are a Death School graduate, and are working on a year-long facilitation training program through Hridaya Northwest's inaugural class.