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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
Thursday Jun 04, 2026
Thursday Jun 04, 2026
In this episode of Beyond Compassion Fatigue, I explore a powerful mindset shift that can dramatically reduce burnout in animal care, rescue, veterinary medicine, and advocacy: dialectical thinking, also known as both/and thinking.
If you’ve ever felt like you had to choose between being hopeful or being realistic, strong or struggling, this episode challenges that belief.
We discuss:
- What dialectical (both/and) thinking is and why it matters
- How black-and-white thinking fuels compassion fatigue and burnout
- Why emotional complexity is not weakness—but resilience
- How to hold space for both pain and purpose in your work
- A simple, practical way to start using this skill immediately
Additional resources:
Got a suggestion for a future topic? Reach out to me: jen@jenblough.com.
Follow on social media:
Grab your free resources to help manage compassion fatigue here.
Visit my free virtual calming room here.
Get your copy of To Save a Starfish: A Compassion Fatigue Workbook for the Animal Welfare Warrior here.
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