Kate Drescher has been a licensed clinical psychologist for over 20 years and has spent the last seven studying the mutual benefits of the bond between non-human animals and their human counterparts in promoting wellness.
She is the Staff Psychologist at Vail Mountain School located in the heart of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains where she is joined by her canine partner, Beignet, to support students’ social, emotional, and academic needs.
Kate’s desire to explore the field of animal law developed through her graduate studies at the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver. That training focused on the ethics of interspecies collaboration including the necessity of treating animal partners as equals, and the importance of safeguarding animals’ physical and emotional well-being.
However, her interest in animal welfare predates her graduate training. Since early childhood, Kate felt a deep connection to animals (all species) and while she did not know what animal sentience was at the time, she intuitively knew animals were thinking, feeling, and sensing beings.
Kate recognizes speciesism has created a dangerous hierarchy relegating non-human animals to a lower status, thereby allowing them to be oppressed and exploited for human gain. She believes human beings now have an opportunity and an ethical (and legal) responsibility to change this way of thinking, being, and living for the benefit of all.
The breadth and depth of the online Animal Law MSL program inspired Kate to submit her application to the Center for Animal Law Studies. She hopes the knowledge she gains through the program will allow her to support the work of organizations and agencies (in the public and private sectors) seeking to honor, educate, elevate, and protect animals.
Center for Animal Law Studies is located in Wood Hall on the Law Campus.
MSC: 51
email cals@lclark.edu
voice 503-768-6960
Center for Animal Law Studies
Lewis & Clark Law School
10101 S. Terwilliger Boulevard MSC 51
Portland OR 97219