We created held because love this big deserves better support.
About held
Held brings veterinary knowledge, lifelong social work, technology, and lived experience into one compassionate support network.
Held is beginning with a small group of pilot veterinary practices in the Omaha area. We’re offering complimentary support to pet parents while learning directly from families and veterinary teams about what’s most helpful.
We're Building in Nebraska
The Idea Came Together
Keryl brought more than 35 years of experience in mental health and grief support. Sara brought years of experience working alongside veterinary teams with their technology solutions. Together, they saw a way to support both pet parents and the teams caring for them.
During a visit with their longtime veterinarian, Dr. Kathy Knake, DVM, the idea came up: what if pet parents had more support through difficult diagnoses, end-of-life decisions, and loss?
It Started in an Exam Room
Keryl has spent more than 35 years supporting individuals and families through mental health, grief, loss, and life’s hardest transitions. As an LCSW and LMHP, her work has also included animal-assisted therapy, equine-assisted psychotherapy, and grief facilitation. A lifelong animal lover, Keryl understands firsthand how deeply pets become part of the family. Through Held, she brings that experience together to support pet parents with compassion, clarity, and care. P.S. She’s Sara’s mom.
CO-FOUNDER & THERAPIST
Keryl Mines, LCSW, LMHP
CO-FOUNDER
Sara has spent the last seven years of her career working alongside veterinary and animal welfare teams guiding the development of practice management software. Through that work, she saw how often veterinary professionals are asked to support families through much more than medical care. Loving animals since day one, the work behind Held is deeply personal. She's guiding Held to be a leading resource for people who love their animals like family. P.S. She's the daughter of Keryl.
Sara Steinkruger
The Beginning of Held
Meet the Team
Pet parent looking for support
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Veterinary practices interested in joining the pilot?
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A Life Built Around Caring for Others
Extensive grief and trauma training, including grief facilitator training through Ted E. Bear Hollow (now Collective for Hope) and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, with experience supporting local emergency medical teams after traumatic incidents
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Mental Health Practitioner (LMHP) with a Master of Social Work from the University of Nebraska at Omaha
Trained in equine assisted psychotherapy through EAGALA and completed additional training in animal assisted therapy
Founder of Spirit Horse Ranch, Inc., where she served for 25 years as Executive Director and psychotherapist providing equine-assisted psychotherapy
Meet Chance
Chance was a beloved member of Keryl and Sara’s family and a certified therapy dog through Domesti-PUPS. For many years, he joined Keryl at school several times a week, bringing comfort and smiles to hundreds of kids along the way.
Keryl Mines is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Mental Health Practitioner (LMHP) who has provided mental health services in the greater Omaha community for more than 35 years. Her work has included psychotherapy, school social work, grief and loss support, and equine-assisted psychotherapy.
CO-FOUNDER & THERAPIST
Keryl Mines, LCSW, LMHP
Keryl brings her professional experience in mental health, grief and loss, and the human-animal bond together in her work with pet parents. Her goal is to provide a compassionate, supportive space where people can feel heard, make difficult decisions with greater clarity, and navigate the grief that comes with loving an animal deeply.
Meet Nyxie
Nyxie was a wild girl. She was deeply loved and truly a once-in-a-lifetime kind of dog. She had a hard life before being adopted by Sara, but somehow that only seemed to make her heart bigger. Losing her is part of the story behind Held and continues to drive our work to support veterinary teams and the people who love their animals so much.
Co-Founder
Sara Steinkruger
Sara has spent the last seven years working alongside veterinary and animal welfare teams on the technology side of things. Every product she worked on had the same goal: make the day easier for the people doing the work. Sometimes that meant fewer clicks to schedule an appointment. Sometimes it meant AI helping write SOAP notes. But even when the technology helped, it never felt like it was solving the whole problem.
Sara still always saw how veterinary teams were carrying an incredible amount of emotional weight for the pets and the pet parents they care for. So when Sara’s mom and Dr. Kathy brought up the idea behind Held, she knew it was something worth building.
Seven years working in veterinary and animal welfare technology, always with the same goal: make things better for the animals and for the people who love and care for them.
Whether it was helping clinics schedule appointments more easily or bringing AI into the exam room, the goal was never just better technology. It was better care for animals and a better experience for the people around them.
Sara has spent the last seven years working alongside veterinary and animal welfare teams on the technology side of things. Every product she worked on had the same goal: make the day easier for the people doing the work. Sometimes that meant fewer clicks to schedule an appointment. Sometimes it meant AI helping write SOAP notes. But even when the technology helped, it never felt like it was solving the whole problem.
Sara still always saw how veterinary teams were carrying an incredible amount of emotional weight for the pets and the pet parents they care for. So when Sara’s mom and Dr. Kathy brought up the idea behind Held, she knew it was something worth building.
Veterinary practices interested in joining the pilot?
Click here
Pet parent looking for support
Click here
It's Always Been About the Animals & the People Who Love Them
She grew up surrounded by cats, horses, dogs, and the occasional chicken on an acreage outside Omaha and knows all too well how they become woven into our lives and families. Through Held, she is bringing together her experience in the veterinary industry and her personal connection to animals to build a resource for people who love their pets like family.
For veterinary practices
Care for the people
who love your patients.
who love your patients.
Give families meaningful support without adding another task to your team. Refer in seconds. We handle the rest.
One simple referral connects your client to a real person who will reach out, listen, and guide them through what comes next.
“Would it help to have someone by your side through this?”
Near-zero work for your team
Join the provider network
Join a network of professionals who understand that the human–animal bond deserves real care. Choose when you’re available and support families who need you.
For counselors & social workers
Turn your compassion into meaningful work.
Join a network of professionals who understand that the human–animal bond deserves real care. Choose when you’re available to support individuals and families who need you.