1. Compassion Fatigue in the
Animal Care Community
Presented by:
Lauren Glickman, Executive Director of Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project and
Principal Consultant of FORAY Consulting & Associates
Hilary Anne Hager, Director, National Volunteer Center, HSUS and Associate
Consultant of FORAY Consulting & Associates
May 2013

2. Introductions

3. Today’s Agenda
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Introduction and Housekeeping
Why You Do What You Do
Compassion Fatigue and Trauma
Three Levels of Trauma Stewardship
Symptoms and Signs
Our Nervous System
Skills
Providing a Good Death
Self-Care Plan
Conclusion

4. A Few Requests
• Listening
 No side conversations
• Learning Partnership
 Participate and contribute
 Speak up if something isn’t working
• Respect
 Creating a safe space
 Anonymity vs. Confidentiality
 Cell phones off

5. A Word About Listening

6. Joy and Pain

7. Locus of Control
• External – the quality of your life is
determined by what happens around you,
the actions of others, or to chance factors
• Internal – the quality of your life is
determined by your behaviors and your
reactions to what happens around you

8. Compassion Fatigue
• Also known as:
 Secondary traumatic stress disorder, vicarious
traumatization, empathic strain and secondary trauma
• A holistic way of thinking about it:
 Trauma Stewardship – “refers to the entire conversation
about how we come to do this work, how we are affected
by it, and how we make sense of and learn from our
experiences.” - Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

9. Compassion Satisfaction
• Compassion satisfaction refers to
 the pleasure you derive from being able to do your
work well.
 positive feelings about your colleagues and their
efforts
 your ability to contribute to the work setting or
even the greater good of society.
 your feelings about your ability to be an effective
caregiver.

10. Break Time
15 Minutes
Worrying about
things we
cannot control
is our favorite
form of selfharassment.
~ Gavin de Becker

11. Levels of Trauma Stewardship
Individual
• The most profound influence on our ability to cope
• Think about –
 Your own history of hardship.
 The resources available to you in the past.
 What led you to this work? Consider your journey to the
seat you're in now.
 Do you identify with the trauma you see? Is this personal?

12. Levels of Trauma Stewardship
Organizational
• Make better
• Make worse
Societal
• Systemic isolation

13. High-Risk Factors
Exposure to:
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Abused animals
Limited financial resources—organization and client
Administrative policies
Poverty distress
Euthanasia
Distressed customers
The constant stream of demands
Uncertainty/Ambiguity
Volumes of distressed people in a short amount of time
Conflict within the workplace
Conflict in personal life
Stressed-out peers
Attrition
Constant change
Physical danger

14. The Signs
• Anger and cynicism
• It’s never enough
• Inability to empathize/Numbing
• Hyper-vigilance

15. The Signs
• Addiction
• Diminished creativity
• Minimizing
• Inability to embrace
complexity

16. The Signs
• Dissociative moments
• Grandiosity and inflated
sense of importance
• Sense of persecution
• Fear

17. The Signs
• Chronic exhaustion/physical ailments
• Inability to listen/deliberate avoidance
• Helplessness/Hopelessness
• Guilt

18. Discussion

19. Your Nervous System
• Sympathetic nervous system
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Reactive
Perceived threat (stress, anxiety)
Fight, flight or freeze (limited options)
Language is less available (less articulate)
Cortisol – stress hormone
• Parasympathetic nervous system
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Receptive
Calm (non-anxious)
Rest, relaxation (enjoyment)
Creative (many options)
Language is available (articulate)
Intentional
DHEA – happiness hormone

20. Stress-Related Hormones
Increased susceptibility to
illness and disease

21. Lunch
For things to change,
we must change.
For things to get better,
we must get better.
~ Heidi Wills

22. Complaining
• What do you love about complaining?
• What do you hate about complaining?
• Invitation

23. Triangulation

24. Being a Non-Anxious Presence
You influencing you
• Have thoughts on purpose
• Unclenching
• Engage cyclical breathing
• Recognize your stress cue
• Remember differentiation
• Be careful about sharing anxiety

25. Break Time
15 minutes
For things to change,
we must change.
For things to get better,
we must get better.
~ Heidi Wills

26. Self-Validation

27. The Ladder of Inference
(developed by Chris Argyris)
We begin with Real Data & Experience
(What is So)
We then Select Data & Experience that we
pay attention to.
To this Selected Data & Experience we
Affix Meaning. (Your Story)
We develop Assumptions, come to
Conclusions, and finally develop Beliefs.
Beliefs then form the basis of our Actions
which create additional Real Data &
Experience

28. If there were a magic pill…
…it would be gratitude.
• Articulate three skills you have that make you a valuable
member of your animal care team?
• What are three things you appreciate about the physical space
in which you work?
• What are three things you love about your home?
• Write down three compliments your best friends would give
you.
• Describe three ways you make life better for animals in your
community.

29. Providing a Good Death
• Framework
• We Thinking
• Your Self
• Structural Elements
• Tools
• Honoring the Moment

30. Self-Care Plan

31. Closing the Day
• Share impressions
 One or two concepts from today that were
particularly resonant
 A commitment/declaration about your intention
 A request for support
 An acknowledgment
 Something else?

32. Thank you for the
work you do!
Lauren Glickman
206-696-0850
lauren@forayconsulting.com
Hilary Anne Hager
240-753-3387
hhager@humanesociety.org