This Too Is Rescue: Moral Injury and Staying Human in Animal Care

This is Part 1 Finding Your Frequency , a three-part series about the parts of ourselves this work buries, and how we go back for them. Referenced in this episode: The Seven Frequencies of Communication by Erwin Raphael McManus; Internal Family Systems (parts work) by Richard Schwartz. This episode also lives as a written essay on my Substack, Human + Animal . Listen or read — whichever one reache...

In nature, mobbing protects the vulnerable. In our workplaces, it can destroy them. In this episode, Dr. Jamie McNally discusses the difference between bullying and mobbing in animal care. Disclaimer: This program, including all podcast content and any related materials, is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, psychological services, or any form of medical or mental health treatment. While th...

This brief episode is a reminder that none of us have mastery over this space. It is vast and complex, and we are all still learning. It's also an invitation to reach out. This topic is massive and the best way to explore it is to ensure we are having this conversation together. The language of moral injury, is never about just one person talking, so if you have something you want to explore o...

We talk a lot about toxic workplaces, toxic people, and how to protect ourselves from harm. But what happens when we realize the person causing harm might be us? In this episode, Dr. Jamie McNally explores how most workplace bullying doesn't come from people who intend to cause harm or find pleasure in it; it comes from people who engage in harmful behaviors unintentionally, and that means we...

In animal care, we ask people to speak up for animals who cannot speak for themselves. But what happens when people don't feel safe enough to speak up at all? Psychological safety, a term coined by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, refers to a shared belief within a team that it is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. It means you can ask questions, admit mistakes, raise concerns, and offer idea...

Animal care work is bigger than you think. And to engage ethically with it, we need to begin having some hard conversations. Disclaimer: This program, including all podcast content and any related materials, is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, psychological services, or any form of medical or mental health treatment. While the host of this podcast is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC...

This week we're talking about what happens after the decision to be brave, and how every version of who you're becoming depends on what you choose today. The future you is real. And they're counting on you. Today. Disclaimer: This program, including all podcast content and any related materials, is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, psychological services, or any form of medical...

In animal care work, we face constant ethical challenges. We see wrongdoing. We sense when something isn't right. We know things should be different. The gap isn't usually in our knowing. The gap is in our doing. Moral courage is the bridge between the two. In this episode, Dr. Jamie McNally explores moral courage and the willingness to stand up for and act according to your ethical belief...

In animal care work, so many things can silence us. Moral injury. Burnout. Trauma. Organizational cultures that punish speaking up. Public scorn. Life transitions that require all our internal resources. But sometimes, the most important uses of voice are invisible. If you've tried to create change from within systems that resist it, if some of the most important uses of your voice have never...

When people exit animal care work, they often just... disappear. They're not asked to mentor. They're not invited to share what they've learned. In this episode, Dr. Jamie McNally suggests something is needed and currently missing in modern animal care work: the role of the elder. Inspired by land-based cultures and ancestral traditions, she makes the case that those who have exited ca...

This episode is for the 41.7%. In Dr. Jamie McNally's research on moral injury in animal care workers, nearly half of respondents agreed that they think a lot about leaving their animal care role. If that's you, if you're wrestling with whether to stay or go, if you're wondering who you are without this work, if you're grieving something you haven't even left yet, then this...

Last week, we talked about how burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury aren't just conditions to manage, but are liminal spaces themselves, calling you toward transformation. This week we talk more about this part of enduring animal care, and we also introduce a second aspect of enduring: external change by pivoting. This episode goes deeper into these two types of transformation you mig...

You've made it through the transformation of becoming an animal care worker. You've found your place, your people, your purpose. But then something shifts. The weight accumulates. The passion transforms into something heavier. You're not the same person who started this work anymore, and nobody really prepared you for this or told you what to do next. In this episode, we explore the enduring phase...

This week, we continue to explore the phase of life where we enter into animal care work. But unlike last week's episode, where we explored some of the potential challenges of beginning, this week we are focused on the magic that is tucked into this work and our entering into it. In this episode, we talk about why this work is so powerful, finding moments of awe, and remembering (if you've...

In Extremely Human Animal Care, one of the important factors we examine relates to identity. In animal care, we experience identity shifts when we enter the work, at defining moments while we endure, and again if we ever choose to leave this work. This short series examines these transition points, beginning with entering the work. In this episode, I share some of my own experiences and challenges...

This episode kicks off a series where we explore the three major identity transformations most animal care workers experience: entering the field for the first time, enduring defining moments that shatter our understanding of the work, and exiting when we feel staying means losing ourselves. Drawing on research in moral injury, organizational psychology, and anthropology, Dr. Jamie McNally guides...

This season 2 kick-off episode is about stepping through into new beginnings. Last year was full of transformation, growth, and an evolution of this work. That journey has resulted in the development of three foundational frameworks that will be guiding this podcast, and all of Fortifyu's work in 2026 and beyond: 1. Extremely Human Animal Care 2. Unashamedly Force-Free with Human and Non-Human...

In Episode 1, I told you we'd explore why the most compassionate people leave animal care work. By Episode 9, I'd nearly become one of them. This is the Season 1 finale of This Too Is Rescue. In this episode, I share what happened over the past few months: the silence, the struggle, and the realignment. I talk about living the moral injury we've been discussing all season, why individu...

In this third installment of our three-part series on moral emotions, we turn our focus outward. This episode explores other-condemning and other-praising moral emotions that arise when we evaluate the ethical behaviors of others. Disclaimer: This program, including all podcast content and any related materials, is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, psychological services, or any form of me...

In this second installment of our three-part series on moral emotions, we turn inward. This episode explores guilt and shame, the self-focused moral emotions that arise when we judge ourselves to have violated our own moral code or the ethical expectations of our community. Drawing on research from both military and animal care settings, we look at how guilt and shame shape our identities, influen...

This episode begins a three-part series where we introduce an exciting and important topic: moral emotions. Part 1 introduces the topic of emotions generally so that we can understand the importance they play in animal care...and in life. This episode guides us through the basics of emotional intelligence, the “wise mind” from DBT, and practical tools like the Feelings Wheel to expand our emotiona...

In this episode of This Too Is Rescue , we walk through a single work day with “Alex”, a fictional shelter worker built from the real stories of animal care professionals. Through Alex’s experiences, we will briefly introduce and highlight the difference between four overlapping but distinct struggles in animal care: burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and moral injury . These...

In this episode of This Too Is Rescue , we explore Potentially Morally Injurious Events (PMIEs): the defining moments in animal care work that violate our deepest values, whether by our own hand, someone else’s, or through a specific type of violation related to broken trust. We name the types of moral transgressions that can leave invisible wounds and that have the potential to lead to moral inju...

In this episode, we begin to name the invisible weight many animal welfare professionals carry: the burden of moral stress and moral injury. These are real, cumulative, and deeply impactful experiences that arise when we’re forced to act (or are prevented from acting) in ways that violate our core values. We introduce a foundational framework for understanding how this kind of harm affects every d...

In this episode of This Too Is Rescue , we take a deeper look at what it really means to "submit to the work" in animal care, not just as a job or a volunteer opportunity, but as a calling shaped by the values that led us here in the first place. We talk about how, in the grind and heartbreak of this field, our personal values can become blurred or buried. And yet, those same values are...