I wanted to do something a little different for today’s blog. I am sorry for such a dark yet important topic. I promise there will be some nice photos sprinkled throughout to give you a serotonin boost. I should also note that this blog isn’t representative of any staff member here, just statistics I pulled from various government and academic sources.
As some of you may know, September is recognized at Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. It’s a month dedicated to raise awareness, promote hope, and normalize seeking help. The reason I want to post about such an important topic is to provide as much insight and resources as I can to all my fellow caregivers out there at other sanctuaries, zoos, clinics, and other facilities that house animals. But this is also for you, the reader, as well if hard times have bestowed upon you.
Mental health is not talked about in the open enough, I feel, and it should. Depression and suicide is high per capita in the animal welfare career field, particularly among veterinarians and veterinarian technicians, which can be anywhere from 2 to 5 times higher than other professions. Though no thorough study has been conducted to date, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest the rate over of those in animal caregiving/rescue is five times higher that other professions as well. That suggestion should be taken with a grain of salt though as those labeled “animal caregiving/rescue” included the professions of veterinary care, shelter workers, lab scientists, firefighters, law enforcement, zoo keepers, etc. Let this be my call there should be a proper study done on this topic focusing on the animal welfare profession.
Even though no official study has been done on the suicide rate of animal welfare workers, we do know things like compassion fatigue, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and moral injury contribute to burnout amongst caregivers, which then leads to mental health deterioration.
If there is one thing I do know without having to rely on government and academic statistics, is that burnout runs rampant amongst the caregiving community. Burnout in the sanctuary world is like an uncontained wildfire, it spreads at an accelerated rate and leaves ghostly shells of things that were once vibrant. Many of the the facilities in the sanctuary world have been putting forth the effort to try to combat this fire, but it’s still a little too early to see how efforts will play out.
I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but it took me a very long time to admit and acknowledge my burnout. For some, burnout could be caused by things that just keep piling up without trying to acknowledge and work with them. For others it could be a single event that sparks that match. I know for myself, it was when we lost Jody.
For me, Jody’s passing, and subsequently Nutmeg’s passing, were the things that triggered the PTSD that led to my burnout. And yes, as combat Marine veteran, I can and will say PTSD is not exclusive to combat. Really it can be any event that takes you down that rabbit hole and nobody is immune to it. In my time, I have learned there is no cure to PTSD or burnout, but there are ways to cope with it and make sure it doesn’t consume you.
I guess this next part is for any animal caregiver out there whom may read this:
To my fellow caregivers out there, far and wide, I will not claim to be a trained professional in the subject but merely letting you know what helped me to get the burnout monkey off my back. These are the guides I follow:
Be the caregiver you want to be
Remember when you were hired you were taught how to perform the tasks to be a caregiver, but you weren’t taught what kind of caregiver you want to be. You took on this job for a reason. If you get bogged down with everything that isn’t the reason you came onboard, then remember why you came onboard. Though we each have our own way of doing things and our own focuses, circle back to why you wanted to work with the species you work with. For me, even though I have other duties outside of the caregiving, it’s the caregiving aspect that has the most direct impact in their day-to-day lives. Knowing that they’ll have a clean space, as much space as they can have, full bellies, and stimulated minds at the end of the day is what makes me happy.
Talk to each other
You are not alone. There’s a chance your fellow caregivers, whether the ones you work with or ones at another facilitiy. Reach out to each other. Talk to each other. I can’t guarantee results, but you can reach out to me if you aren’t comfortable with someone you work directly with. I’ll at least try to point you in the right direction.
If you are feeling down or are going through a crisis, then please reach out to any of the resources available. Dial the number 988 if you need someone to talk to right away. There are trained professionals that can help you. Or you can go to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to find the resource that is right for you. And just remember, you matter!
And now a series of Burrito playing with Caregiver Ellen!
I didn’t know you were a Marine, Chad. Thank you for your service! The residents of CSNW are very fortunate to have you and the rest of the caregivers and volunteers that care for them.
A snake at the lunch forage! :frowning: I *thought* I heard Annie screaming here in RI!
Thank you, Chad, for a very necessary post. There are all kinds of caregivers, but not all are told about the resources available, the way some professionals are. I’ve been wary in the past of co-opting that name, PTSD, bc I had a father who served in Korea and a much older brother who volunteered for Nam (thankfully turned down, I don’t think he would have made it back), another relative who did 4 tours between 9/11 and 6yrs ago, when he retired (bc once a Marine, always a Marine, right?) and my father was a firefighter. I was told that it’s certainly valid to use it, and not to minimize my problems.
You here in blogland are my happy place every day, when I can forget the world for 10 minutes. Thanks to all of you, caregivers and readers alike, for making it such a pleasant place, not just for the chimpy people, but for all of us.
Thank you for addressing this issue. So many people are suffering in silence, not being able to talk about it or just afraid to talk about their mental and emotional pain.
People are often unkind to each other, unaware of what that person is experiencing within. This is a big problem on our society. Thank you Chad for your sharing your insights.?
Thank you for addressing this issue. So many people are suffering in silence, not being able to talk about it or just afraid to talk about their mental and emotional pain.
People are often so unkind to each other, unaware or uncaring of what that person is experiencing within. This is a big problem in our society. Thank you Chad for sharing your insights.?
I stepped back from the blog for awhile because my life was so stressful that I let some things fall by the wayside.
In the last two years I lost both of my parents and both of my dogs. As a primary caregiver for years I can understand the human side of caregiving. I think my burnout was having to euthanize my dog after everything else was over. At seventeen she was suffering from dementia and it was just one goodbye too many.
For all the different caregivers out there my thoughts are with you. As
Linda C said, find your happy place. It may be hard to find but it’s out there somewhere.
Thank you, Chad for addressing mental health. Sometimes it can be overwhelming when people can’t freely express they have a problem. It is always good to reach out to someone just to say what you are feeling. That includes chimp friends who’ve all had their troubles too. They’ll listen.
Chad, thank you for this blog. I think a lot of people tend to minimize their own trauma; ” the other folks have been through much worse” We need to be kind to others and ourselves. This blog reminds me every evening that there is a place where chimp people are loved and cared for. They never have to worry where their next sweet potato or watermelon bowl is coming from and that fills me with peace.
Thanks Chad for exposing the difficult mental health aspect for animal caregivers. Of course it must be difficult to deal with the grief associated with losing animals we have nutured or simply have known through your profession. Btw, just so everyone understands and knows, once a Marine, they are Marines forever. I know because I married one and understand the respect for his beloved Corps.
Thank you, Chad
:purple_heart: Thank you Chad for writing this heart felt blog and thank you for your service.:purple_heart:
Thank you Chad for your thoughtful blog.
Losing Jody and Nutmeg was hard for everyone, and for you caregivers, It must have been awful sad, and yet so amazing that you were there for them everyday.
For me working in dog and cat rescue, I know one of the things that saves me is concentrating on everyone else that still needs me to keep it together. I really don’t know how people cope when they lose their one and only.
And it helps to laugh. My dogs and cat’s do really crack me up, also I seem to always be fostering some cute kittens after I have again lost an older/sick love of my life, and it’s really hard to stay sad with a cute kitten around. my advise is to foster ! And speaking of laughing, the Chimps here really make me laugh a lot. Burrito, and even Jamie (maybe because she’s usually so serious) like when she does that hand clap to race the Gator. And even Jody, being the Pumpkin theif.:revolving_hearts:
Thief
Thank you, Chad for “Reaching Out”.Beautifully written and expressed from your heart. Depression and burn doesn’t differentiate and can strike us at any time. I am a carer for my partner of 50 years and it is hard some days, but I find strength in the late Elizabeth Kubler-Ross autobiography “The Wheel of Life”. Bless you for sharing your journey with us all. You are a champion.
Thank you for sharing this, Chad. It’s so, so, so important to talk about this sort of thing. I hope all of the caregivers and volunteers know how loved and valued they are and how much their work means to those who call CSNW home.
I wish that I had words to console you, Chad. Even in the midst of Life, we are surrounded by death. Every day when I tune into the CSNW website, I gird myself for difficult news. Our simian and bovine friends do not live as long as humans, nor can they as easily articulate their ailments. If the physical absence of Jody and Nutmeg remains a source of grief for those of us who support the mission of the Sanctuary from afar and follow its blog, I can only imagine what you and your colleagues (to say nothing of people like Annie and Meredith) experienced and the loss which you continue to feel.
The work of the Sanctuary is an act of defiance against the Culture of Destruction which manifests from the Anthroposphere. Your work is heroic, rescuing chimpanzees and cattle from death and allowing them not merely to exist but to live. You don’t just provide shelter and sustenance to Burrito, but you play with him. I understand that the chimpanzees need each other more than they need their human caregivers, and yet, Burrito exults in your presence. You are his dear friend.
Before I wrote this message, I learned that the spouse of a friend of mine died of metastatic melanoma. She was 46 years of age. She leaves behind her spouse and their five cats and five dogs, all of whom they rescued to give them a loving home. The quantity of one’s life does not necessary corollate with the quality of how one spends one’s time to live. To Chad, and to all of the caregivers who care for the residents of this mountainside sanctuary, please know that your labor is not in vain but, rather, a sign of grace and courage, heroism in defiance of the status quo.
And, you have the privilege of getting Burrito to laugh.
So much has already been said here. I ditto all of it.. As many of you know, my niece passed away in January and my sister is still absolutely so bereft we are getting her mental health help. Eventually they suggested Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). When I read about it, I learned it was used for PTSD. And it clicked. Yes my sister experienced emotional TRAUMA. Just thought I would mention that if perhaps it may help some of you. sometimes it’s hard to realize that you do indeed need help. As Chad said there is a lot of help out there. It certainly isn’t once size fits all.
Sometimes you may just need a nice walk in the forest. Or a long walk on the beach. The silence of nature is very healing. Though nature can be noisy! sometimes you may need a lot more than that. There’s a whole range of emotions and there’s a whole range of help.
Love you!!
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Oh Cad, I am moved by your open honesty. Conversation is a first step and not always an easy one. Thank you for sharing your personal experiences and in doing so, making every reader rethink the emotional weight caregivers carry on a daily basis. We always see the uplifting aspects of being a caregiver in animal welfare. But this is not always so. Working in animal welfare involves an unexplainable emotional connection and a determination to do anything and everything in your power to improve the quality of life for the animals you care for. This description oversimplifies the experience, but it needs to be better understood. Those who work in animal welfare are highly underrated.
I am certain, knowing how acutely aware chimpanzees are to sensing anxiety and emotions and what’s going on around them, that working at CSNW you have to disconnect from your personal feelings and enter the property calm, level, and happy to begin each new day. It’s not easy. Doing this was one of the first tidbits of advice I was given when I first volunteered at the shelter I still call my home away from home. Like most in animal welfare, I approach life heart first, mind second. So it was hard for me to stop my emotions from taking over, this applied to past shelters I worked with. But dogs, like chimpanzees, can sense you coming before they actually see you. Not only do they sense your approach, dogs smell you coming. Every negative emotion you’re feeling becomes known to them and adds to their anxiety. And when you live with barriers that you yourself are not free to remove, when you have no true agency, there is always a slight underlying anxiety already in place for many dogs. Entering their spaces respectfully with no negative energy is so important. This can take time to master.
More specifically, is hard to look a shelter dog in the eye and smile with true happiness when you know this dear friend is going be euthanized at the end of the day. I don’t know if I like admitting this, but I’ve become good at this deception. I show up to spend the last day with my beloved friends, right up to walking them into the car before they leave the shelter property with a staff member. It is a gift to give them a “normal” comforting day full of love and favorite things knowing, gut wrenchingly, that it’s their last.
Yes, I know that burnout feeling, the compassion fatigue, the put on brave face around the dogs and cry all the home experience. Thanks for sharing your personal experience, Chad. Jody. Nutmeg. Sigh. On this topic and your incredible fortune in knowing, loving, and losing them, I have no brave face mask. Just an ache in my heart and deepest respect and appreciation for all you do. You wouldn’t be so amazing at what you do if you didn’t hurt so deeply. Keep the compassion conversation alive. Fight. In doing so, you’ll reach others and there is power in numbers. Together, let Congress hear you roar to change the weaknesses and strengthen what must be improved upon.
athkeen, i hope you ca. advocate in your area for No-Kill animal shelters.
(TMI warning and not to be read unless someone is really curious about No-kill shelters, as I do not want to diminish the importance of Chad’s message) 🙂
Hi Gaynell, actually in my area shelters are all No-kill shelters. But the sad truth is, even in a No-kill shelter dogs are euthanized. Sometimes due to old age because an old dog in a shelter cannot always treated exactly the same as an old dog who is a pet. A shelter environment cannot offer the best of accommodations, although my shelter is pretty exceptional and (like CSNW) goes above and beyond for elderly dogs. Sadly, policies sometimes bend towards the belief that the kindest thing you can do is euthanize an elderly dog before they truly start suffering and you have panic situation on your hands. The other reality is, when you pull dogs from other shelters, you might have dogs with serious health problems that go totally undetected in the shelter they came from. (it’s a matter of finance) Again, the shelter I work with goes above and beyond when it comes to giving special care for special-needs dogs. But sometimes even with the best of care, a dog is not going to make it and they too are euthanized. And then there is the rare instance when you have a dog with a bite history. Usually these dogs euthanized. Some No-kill shelters taken in dogs with bite histories because the reason a dog may bite can vary greatly and oftentimes may not be the dogs fault. We do our best to understand “why” the dog may have bitten someone. If a child grabs a food bowl away from a dog who is eating, and the child receives a non-serious bite—that’s a trainable dog— but sadly you have a dog that is aggressive (a word I don’t like to use) and they have a bite history. Responsible shelters, No-kill or not, cannot adopt out dogs with a serious bite history. The risk is too great to families and the public. If we pull a dog from another shelter and later find this out or see this behavior in the dog who is not trainable then the dog will be euthanized.
No-kill means you do not kill for space. You can look up the definition and see how it means a shelter takes in only good, desirable, adoptable dogs. But a lot of dogs are adoptable, but do not fit this mold. So you take a gamble, hoping you can rehabilitate them in your care. Most times you can, but not always. Every once in a while, a sad reality rears its ugly head and forces staff to make the gut-wrenching decision to put down an animal that most of the time, in front of us, behaves like a good dog. 🙁
My Shelter has a mantra—all dogs are individuals. asks everyone not to judge a dog by the breed. But still, there are imperfect outcomes.
:broken_heart:
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I meant to post a “heart” emoji but it showed up as a “question mark” – no questions, just love for Chad’s vulnerabilty and for all caregivers. xo