Animal welfare organizations can achieve better outcomes for animals through cooperation with social workers. This presentation will discuss the ways in which animal shelters and social workers can work together to help keep animals with families, and improve care of animals in the shelter by building compassion resilience among animal care workers. While animal shelters specialize in the care and placement of animals, social workers have a unique skill set in connecting people with the resources to achieve and maintain healthy families and communities. As the wellbeing of people and their animals are intertwined, applying the combined expertise of animal shelters and social workers can lead to better outcomes for people and their animals. Social workers also have the opportunity for a unique role in shelters to support staff with their experiences of workplace stress, and compassion fatigue. This presentation will draw from student experiences during the first Master of Social Work field practicum placement in Canada, as part of a novel collaboration between the University of Regina and the Regina Humane Society. It will highlight the benefits of collaboration between animal shelters and social workers, and will include practical strategies that can be implemented immediately to support compassion resilience among animal care workers.

Key Learnings :

1. Participants will learn how social workers can complement the work of animal shelters in the community.
2. Participants will learn how social workers can positively impact the wellbeing of animal care workers, particularly with respect to compassion resilience.
3. Participants will learn practical, low-cost strategies to promote compassion resilience among animal care workers.