Maddie’s Insights: Helping the helpers - Improving Shelter Staff Well-Being
Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 12pm-1pm Pacific
Shelters and rescue groups have shown great resilience, finding innovative ways to save animals despite major challenges. However, many workers face burnout and compassion fatigue, leading some to leave the field.
In 2023, Best Friends conducted the largest U.S. survey on shelter staff well-being. Nearly half of respondents reported high compassion satisfaction, and most plan to stay in their roles. Yet, over half showed high burnout, and over 90% had high compassion fatigue, raising concerns about staff well-being and the sustainability of lifesaving efforts.
This presentation will focus on positive solutions and how shelters can learn from veterinary well-being practices to support staff and volunteers.
Have questions or comments about this topic? Engage with our guest speaker on this Maddie's Pet Forum discussion thread. https://maddies.fund/MIwebcast03132025
Register for Maddie's Insights
Can't attend live? Register anyway and you will get a link to the recording after the webcast.
This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval.
Guest Speakers:
Dr. Amanda Weiss, PsyD
Dr. Amanda Weiss is a licensed clinical psychologist who received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology (PsyD) from the American School of Professional Psychology - Washington, DC in 2014. She has a research background in suicide bereavement and has worked in private practice, community mental health, and hospital settings in Virginia, Washington DC, and Florida. Dr. Weiss currently maintains a private practice specializing in grief, traumatic loss, pet bereavement, mood and anxiety disorders, mental health in veterinary medicine and animal welfare, and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy. Through Not One More Vet’s Veterinary Mental Health Support program, she provides individual and group support services as well as psychoeducational presentations and workshops to veterinary medicine professionals. Dr. Weiss also works at the Faulk Center for Counseling as a clinical program manager and supervises graduate students, interns, and postdoctoral residents.
Peter J. Wolf, Research and Policy Analyst, Best Friends Animal Society
Peter J. Wolf is the research and policy analyst for Best Friends, a leader in the development and operation of community cat programs. Peter's role involves the analysis of science and public policy related to community cat issues, a topic he's been researching and writing about for nearly seven years.
Peter holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in industrial design. His professional experience has focused on the acquisition, analysis, and synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data. As a lecturer in The Design School at Arizona State University, Peter taught courses in product design, visual communication design, design thinking and qualitative research methods.
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