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

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 become public, know that your voice still has a place in this work. Know that your voice will return.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 carry something irreplaceable: wisdom earned through experience, knowledge of what works and what doesn't, perspective that those still in the thick of it simply cannot have.

This episode reframes exit not as an ending, but as a opportunity for exit to be the beginning of transformation into a new role.

If you've exited animal care work, this episode invites you to consider what it would mean to step into the role of elder because our wisdom and our stories are just as vital as our saves. And as animal care workers, we already know how to rescue. Maybe it's time we turn that instinct toward each other.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 episode is for you.

We explore the sacred questions that arise at this crossroads and while this episode is not going to answer the question "Should I go" for you (because nobody can answer that but you), we name the challenge of being where you are and address the grief that comes with leaving a calling because you deserve to be witnessed in this space. This episode also offers words to organizations about honoring exits and to loved ones about holding space without judgment.

If you're considering leaving, this episode gives you permission to take that seriously.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 might face in the enduring phase of animal care work: internal transformation (healing and developing new skills in your current role) and external transformation (pivoting to a new position, organization, or focus area while maintaining your animal advocacy identity). Sometimes you need one. Sometimes you need both.Whether you're being called to renew where you are or pivot to something new, this episode offers a framework for discerning which path is yours as you endure in this work in sustainable ways.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 of animal care work and the uninvited liminal space that catches so many people off guard. We talk about burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, PTSD, and moral injury, not just as conditions to manage, but as threshold moments themselves. These are separations from old ways of being, neutral zones of disorientation, and calls toward transformation that most organizations never prepare you for.

We talk about how making it through this liminal space in the enduring phase isn't about going back to who you were before the weight: it's about moving deeper into who you're becoming. It's about learning the skills specific to first responder work in animal care that allow you to carry the weight without being destroyed by it.

If you're weathered and weary, if resignation is creeping in, if you're wondering whether you can keep doing this work, this episode is for you. Because endurance isn't about toughing it out alone. It's about understanding what's actually happening and having the courage to transform.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 been in this awhile), why entering this work might just be one of the best things you've ever done.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 on getting started in animal care. We talk about being green, gatekeeping, and welcoming new voices, and we explore my thoughts on how we might be making it difficult for others to be welcomed in. Everyone's experiences into animal care are unique and this is just one story. But I hope it helps us to consider how we might make entering this work more sustainable, and more appealing to attract the next generation of animal advocates.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 listeners through the concept of "liminal space", the uncomfortable in-between where we're no longer who we were but not yet who we're becoming. These transitions are psychologically dangerous when unsupported, which is why turnover in animal care remains devastatingly high.If you're questioning your place in animal care right now, if you're standing at a crossroads in animal care unsure whether to step in, stay, or walk away, know that feeling has a name: liminal space. And it's where every transformative journey begins. And if you are in a liminal space, this series is for you.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 Animals Alike

3. Give Them Voice Culture.

This episode launches Season 2 of This Too Is Rescue, and briefly introduces the frameworks that will be guiding us as we prepare to launch a value-packed season of episodes guided by these foundations.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.

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 individual resilience isn't the answer, and what we're building together in 2026.

Have you ever taught something you were simultaneously learning? Talked about something you were living in real time? Warned people about a cliff you were standing at the edge of?

That was this season for me.

But I'm still here. And I'm coming back more clear.

This isn't goodbye. It's "see you in Season 2."

Thank you for being part of this movement.

Resources mentioned:- Moral Injury Assessment: fortifyucoaching.com/moral-injury-assessment- Connect: https://www.instagram.com/fortifyu_coach (Instagram)

...Jamie McNally, Ph.D., LPC... | LinkedIn (Linkedin)

Facebook- Share your story or ask your question for Season 2: [email protected]

Season 2 launches in 2026. Until then, take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. And remember: this too is rescue.

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), she is not operating in the capacity of a therapist within this program.

Engaging with this program does not establish a therapist-client relationship. No diagnosis, treatment, or clinical intervention will be provided. The purpose of this program is for education and personal growth—not for mental health treatment.

If you are experiencing significant emotional distress, symptoms of a mental health condition, or are in crisis, this program is not appropriate for your needs. You are encouraged to seek the support of a licensed mental health provider in your area.