Episode #37
Animal rescue burnout | The signs of compassion fatigue rescue workers miss | Jessica Dolce
Most people arrive in animal welfare believing that if they work hard enough they can save everybody. Jessica Dolce spent 20 years working with dogs, from dog walking in Philadelphia to animal sheltering in Maine, before her own burnout sent her looking for the language to describe what was happening to her. She now teaches that language for a living, as a Certified Compassion Fatigue and Grief Educator, an instructor in the Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida, and the person behind The Compassion in Balance Program. Her training sits on a Master of Science in Adult and Higher Education alongside certificates in pet loss support, QPR suicide gatekeeper training and mental health first aid, and the organisations she works with range from private rescues to the ASPCA, Animals Asia, Humane World, the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and hundreds of animal shelters worldwide. Our conversation covers why the choice between looking after yourself and looking after the animals is a false one, what compassion fatigue actually is and why almost everyone uses the term slightly wrong, how moral injury builds quietly in shelter work, and what people who spend their days examining evidence of cruelty do to stay well enough to keep going. At home in the U.S. there are two dogs, Billy and Turtle, two cats, Hazel and Bear, and four naughty ducks. Links https://jessicadolce.com The Compassion in Balance Program Building Compassionate Badassery Boundaries , self-study Compassion Fatigue Strategies , starts 26 October 2026 Also mentioned: Jessica's Dogs in Need of Space project, Patricia McConnell's The Other End of the Leash, and Dr Jamie McNally's paper on moral injury in animal shelter workers.
