May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Chris and Ari are very excited to be joined by Shannon McKinney and Hannah Fulmer from GRAZE (Growing Resiliency for Aquarium and Zoo Professionals)! After a bit of background about their histories in the animal care field and how it lead to the formation of GRAZE, Shannon and Hannah help us dig into a lot of great topics: the importance of taking responsibility for one's mental health, looking at the "other side of the coin" to talk about things like "post traumatic growth" and "compassion satisfaction," the important role that emotions (all 200 of them) play relating to behavior, why to avoid "shoulding on yourself," the differnence between managing emotions and being emotional, how strong relationships with an animal can hurt them in the long term, and the problem of equating your worth with your accomplishments. So much great information, and we can't wait to have them back to talk about even more!

To learn more about the work that GRAZE does in the professional animal care field, visit their website at https://zoomentalhealthsupport.com/. 

Have a question for us? Some feedback about something on the show?A suggestion for a topic you'd like us to discuss? Let us know at [email protected]!