Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care

Compassion Fatigue info & resources to support those who work & volunteer in animal care. #veterinary #DVM #animalshelter #humane #burnout #SelfCare #resilience

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

I needed this reminder. Thought you might as well.

[GS @CompanioningGS]

Today would've been another anniversary of moving into a beautiful office, but I had to close my "non-essential" business when the pandemic hit.

Today I'm grieving the non-human losses we've all suffered this past year.

(I've grieved the human losses every day.)

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

This concept also explains why those in helping professions and volunteer positions sometimes turn against each other, against others in the world, or against the world itself.

That seems easier than looking inside at our own longstanding pain to heal it.

#CompassionFatigue.

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

This idea is often difficult to accept because we want to push away any knowledge about the parts of ourself we find distasteful.

That last sentence is the kernel:

"If you don't start [internally] you will never have true compassion."
–Helen Luke

[Béa Gonzalez (sophiacycles) @SophiaCycles]

The feeling of wishing to save the world comes very often out of a wish to escape from having compassion on your own darkness, for what is inside yourself. If you don’t start there you will never have true compassion.~Helen Luke, The Way of Woman

[billy chapata. @iambrillyant]

i hope you never feel guilt for exercising your boundaries even if they don’t understand why. even if your answers or actions don’t appease their ego. even if they view it as malicious without having a scope into your inner world. you have a responsibility to honor yourself.

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

I'm not saying this applies to everyone in a position to get Compassion Fatigue. But it's worth a read to see if it applies to you.

[Kate Kelly @Kate_Kelly_Esq]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but hyper-independence is the result of trauma.

"I don't need *anybody* & must do everything myself" really means, "My ability to trust has been injured by people systemically letting me down and failing me."

You do need people. We all do.

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

Pass the word.

“Fipronil is one of the most commonly used flea products and recent studies have shown it degrades to compounds that are more toxic to most insects than fipronil itself,” said Rosemary Perkins at the University of Sussex, who led the study.

[Damian Carrington @dpcarrington]

Pet flea treatments poisoning rivers across England, @DaveGoulson et al find

- discovery ‘extremely concerning’ for water insects, and fish and birds that depend on them

- one toxic chemical was 38 times above the safety limit

Story by me
https://t.co/uY7QXUGjgJ

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

This might be an excellent day to notice how tension lives in your body. You can use this information later to help yourself recognize its subtle forms and to cue actions you can take to make your life easier/better.

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

Know any teachers/educators?

Can you imagine what they're going through right now as they navigate learning to teach online and/or in "socially distanced" classrooms — *while* they care for over-stressed students *and* teach the curriculum?

Please RT this or the original tweet.

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

Here's a useful concept (see the short thread).

How might you incorporate something similar into your life?

[مريم حسنا @Maryamhasnaa]

The more you listen to what your body is asking for and respond with the appropriate level of care, the more you develop of sense of trust and safety within yourself. As you show up more for yourself, you have the ability to show up as a resource for others.

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

This is true both for global/national struggles and for the care you give animals and their people right in your own community.

Press forward. Do not dash yourself against it.

[The CryptoNaturalist (Jarod K. Anderson) @CryptoNature]

It is noble to lend some of your finite energy to the global/national struggles of our moment.
It is also true that you don't own these problems alone.
Humanity is a great stone. Rest your fingertips against it and press toward justice. Do not dash your body against the rock.

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

(I would change the emoji at the end to a relaxed face, but otherwise, right on!)

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

This is running underneath all you give to the animals and people you care for.

Please take good care of yourself.

[Sarah Noll Wilson @sarahnollwilson]

To be human in a pandemic – A thread

Over the past 48 hours I heard from numerous clients, colleagues, and friends sharing similar messages of fatigue, stress, and burnout. “You don’t need to respond Sarah, I just need to share this…” is how many of those messages started. 1/

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

This can be difficult when you first start, but it's healthy on so many levels!

#SelfCare #SelfRespect

[WeRateDogs @dog_rates]

h*ck it, thread of black-owned dog businesses that deserve a fat slice of that $100 billion we’re estimated to spend on our pets this year...
https://t.co/wUAg85c0fr

[Surviving & Thriving in Animal Care @VetCF]

You do this every day.

Thank you.

[SaltAndSageBooks @saltandsagebook]

“Holding that soft space open in our hearts is hard work, but it is deeply, deeply important.” ❤️
#WritingCommunity