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A raw and authentic podcast for those who work or volunteer in animal care, welfare, or activism, who are struggling with compassion fatigue, burnout, grief and loss, secondary traumatic stress, and other mental health concerns. Through both solo and guest episodes, I blend science, psychology, spirituality, and even a touch of "woo woo" to help you manage compassion fatigue, build resilience, and make your passion for helping animals sustainable. If you're involved in animal caregiving, rescue, trap-neuter return (TNR), sheltering, animal control, cruelty investigations, veterinary medicine, fostering, wildlife or marine rehabilitation and conservation, animal law or lobbying, ethical veganism, or any other role in animal care, welfare, or activism, and struggling with the consequences of caring so much that it hurts, this podcast is for you!
The host, Jen Blough, LPC, is a licensed professional counselor, compassion fatigue coach and speaker, and author with more than 35 years of experience in animal welfare and activism. She is the author of To Save a Starfish: A Compassion Fatigue Workbook for the Animal Welfare Warrior and the upcoming book, Beyond Compassion Fatigue.
Episodes
Aug 6, 2026
Aug 6, 2026
13 min
In this episode of Beyond Compassion Fatigue Podcast, I explore one of the most misunderstood and least talked about experiences in animal welfare work: emotional numbness.
Many animal care professionals, rescuers, advocates, veterinary staff, shelter workers, wildlife rehabilitators, trainers, and activists eventually reach a point where they stop reacting emotionally the way they once did. Cases that used to keep them awake at night no longer seem to register emotionally. Tears stop coming. Compassion can begin to feel distant or inaccessible.
This episode dives into why emotional shutdown happens, how the nervous system adapts to chronic exposure to suffering and trauma, and why numbness does not mean you have stopped caring.
You’ll learn:
- The connection between compassion fatigue and emotional detachment
- How chronic stress and trauma exposure impact the nervous system
- The difference between caring deeply and feeling intensely
- Fight, flight, freeze, and shutdown responses
- Why emotional numbing is often a survival response
- The guilt and shame many helpers experience when they feel disconnected from their passion
- Bottom-up (body-first) and top-down (mind-first) strategies for reconnecting with yourself safely and sustainably
Resources mentioned:
Episode 57: Compassion Satisfaction: The Anchor in the Storm
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Got a suggestion for a future topic? Reach out to me: jen@jenblough.com.
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Get your copy of To Save a Starfish: A Compassion Fatigue Workbook for the Animal Welfare Warrior here.
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