Smiles Dog Training

The people who care for animals in shelters and rescues experience post-traumatic stress at rates five times higher than the general workforce — and yet, almost no research has looked at how to support them.

A new pilot study published in Human-Animal Interactions by Dr. Melissa Trevathan-Minnis and colleagues set out to change that. They evaluated a 10-week virtual support group designed specifically for animal shelter and rescue workers and volunteers — and the results are striking.

What they found:
🐾 Significant reductions in grief vulnerability, perceived stress, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress
🐾 Significant improvements in overall mental health
🐾 100% of participants said they would recommend the group to a colleague

But the qualitative findings are where it really lands. Participants described what the group gave them:

- A like-minded community across geographic lines
- Validation for grief that often goes unrecognized in this work
- Tools for boundary-setting and self-care
- A renewed connection to purpose
- Permission to step back without shame

The "caring-killing paradox," disenfranchised grief, moral stress — these aren't abstract concepts for shelter and rescue workers. They're daily realities, and they're driving high rates of turnover (around 28% nationally, compared to 3.3% in the general workforce).

This study offers something rare: an evidence-based, scalable, low-cost intervention model for a population that has been overlooked for too long.

📖 Read the open-access study:

Trevathan-Minnis, M., Morris, N., Johnson Binder, A., & Pelar, C. (2026). Assessing the impact of a support group on people who work and volunteer in animal rescues and shelters: A pilot study. Human-Animal Interactions, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2026.0022

💬 If you work or volunteer in animal welfare — what kinds of support have meant the most to you?

The long and short of it is that I have spent most of 2026 battling health issues (my own, my family, and Tidus too), burnout, grief in its many forms, and compassion fatigue. All while this ::waves at the US facism rolling ahead:: is happening.

It has made me a very inefficient professional, and I just wanted to thank everyone for their patience and flexibility while I get things sorted. I am reevaluating my capacity and boundaries around my business, as well as my role in the pet professional community, going forward.