Sustainable Health and Well-Being
  • About SHWB
  • Bio
  • Resources
  • Contact

Rabbits and Raptors and Raccoons - Oh My!

10/17/2015

6 Comments

 
Today I had a tremendously satisfying and enlightening professional experience for which I am very grateful. The short story -- PART ONE -- I was invited to speak at the 2015 Pennsylvania Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference about compassion fatigue. Wildlife rehabilitators are educated, trained, and certified by the state Game Commission to take care of wounded or abandoned wildlife with the goal of returning the animals to the wilds. Wildlife rehabilitators have typically loved animals their whole lives. Most are volunteers who pay for food, medicine, cages, and equipment out of their own pocket. They do their very best to help the animals heal, and are also trained to make decisions about when euthanization might be in the best interests of a suffering animal who is beyond healing... and to do the euthanization when it is called for.

The wildlife rehabilitators may work with one type of animal, like songbirds, or several types within a class, like all small mammals except those prone to carrying rabies, or with many different species, like songbirds, raptors, rabies-prone animals, and mammals of many kinds (I am sure I am not using the correct language to describe this - class? species? types? - but you get the picture!) Some of the rehabbers work in centers with colleagues and volunteers, paid for by grants or donations; others work out of their basements or garages, setting up clinics within their homes, with maybe a little help from volunteers, friends, or family. NOTE - to clear up a common misconception, they are not paid for their work by our taxes.

And they deal constantly with other misunderstandings about what they do!

Picture
Most of the animals are brought to them by concerned citizens who may or may not understand the job of a rehabber. Some of the human "finders" of the sick animals express gratitude that they can entrust the animal to someone who knows what to do; others expect miracles and become angry and frustrated when an animal doesn't make it.

So imagine doing such work 24/7, perhaps out of your own home. With few or no off days, much less a real vacation. Spending and not making money. Putting down suffering animals when necessary. And having few people close by who really understand what you do and why you do it. When you think about it, you can understand why the rehabbers may at times feel burned out, experience compassion fatigue. Peggy H., who has done the work for a couple of decades, noted that many rehabbers quit within a couple of years, unable to manage the work and all of the stress it entails.
Picture
The rehabbers I met today were, however, very committed and self-aware individuals with passion for their work. They were excited about the possibility of talking about the challenges of their work, and described in detail the signs of compassion fatigue that many of them have faced... insomnia, headaches and stomach aches, hypervigilance, numbness, cynicism, stressed relationships, irritability and anger, feelings of helplessness, exhaustion.

So why do they do it? Their eyes lit up as they described what it is like to help a sick animal heal and to release it to the wilds with the confidence that the animal can survive on its own. A couple of people were second generation rehabbers - and one woman recalled that, as a child, she saw a raccoon mother who had been nursed and released by her own parents, return to the home with her babies - the mama raccoon was very protective of her babies, and would rally them and run if a human approached, but she must have recalled that the place was a safe one in which she could raise her own babies. Once the babies were more independent, they all returned to the wild.

When one man was asked by a friend why he bothered to save a robin, when there are so many of them, he replied, "There used to be a lot of passenger pigeons too."

So clearly, there is a flip side to compassion fatigue - compassion satisfaction - the good feelings that come with the hard work - the joy, sense of accomplishment and of living out one's purpose, pride in a job well-done under grueling circumstances, an experience of giving back to the world. 
Picture
Nurses, teachers, doctors, mental health and social service professionals, workers in law enforcement, veterinarians, members of the military, clergy, family members taking care of sick loved ones .... the rehabbers are not alone in feeling called to do hard work that leads to this stew of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. I am sure we can name lots of others in this situation. We would all benefit from creating time and space to hear the stories of the healers and teachers and helpers all around us.

Now t
he longer story -- PART TWO -- my professional life has been devoted either to helping people in distress or teaching others how to do so - but how in the world did I end up doing THIS program? What forces led me to the 2015 PA Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference?

The experience was a wonderful lesson in listening and being open to what comes your way, even if what comes your way is something you had never ever anticipated being involved in. Spring 2014 -- I was taking a sabbatical from work in part because of exhaustion and also because of a vague sense that there was something else out there; it felt like mysterious changes were afoot.  I came back to work in Summer 2014, resigning from the position of program director and joining full-time faculty ranks, without knowing what was next. I actually felt lost, rootless, uncertain, a little scared, even kind of invisible, so I met with a wise man, Neal Griebling, who sits with and guides people at such junctures in their lives. Neal listened really well to my somewhat disjointed stories about environmental activism, well-being, psychology... and did what he does best... intuited a possible connection between me and another client, Lyn T., who is a wildlife rehabber. 

Well. What was that all about? A wildlife rehabber? For Pete's sake - I know less than nothing about this! (I didn't tell anyone today, but I am not exactly what you would call a passionate animal lover -- meaning that, while I have loved me a few (Paolo and Zen, the dearly departed Lucky), and appreciate what animals bring to all of us and our responsibilities to care for them, I will most likely not have one in my home, either domestic or wild.) But I took a deep breath of trust and met Lyn for coffee. And within minutes I had become entranced with her stories. She visited my class where she also enchanted and inspired the students. Next thing I know, Lyn has connected me with Peggy H. who was planning the wildlife conference, who then invited me to speak. So there you go.

This somewhat chance encounter with Lyn (thank you, Neal) has opened up all kinds of possibilities and questions in my mind. What does the public know or understand about the work of wildlife rehabbers and its importance for our fragile ecosystems? Does the public care? How do we raise interest and energy and action related to animals and other parts of our ecosystems that are under daily assault? What else (a lot, I am sure) could I learn from Lyn and Peggy and their colleagues about how to do good work with few resources and almost no public recognition? Do I have something to contribute - maybe helping them think of ways to include information about compassion fatigue and satisfaction in their education and training, or to educate the public about wildlife, or  to develop supports between and among themselves, scattered as they are across the state? I don't know -- but the cool part of PART TWO to this story is that you often DON'T know; you often need just to be open and receptive to ALL that passes your way, and to listen to whispers that suggest, hmmmm, I have never thought about that before but it actually sounds kind of interesting... then take a leap and see where you land.

I would love to hear your stories about whispers and mysterious changes and acts of creativity and courage. Let's inspire one another.

6 Comments

Shinrin-yoku

10/15/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Shinrin-yoku. The ancient Japanese art of forest-bathing known to heal our souls and bodies.

Surround yourselves with what is whole and good and loving and you will be well. 

Breathe in. Breathe out. Sit quietly. Be.

Two weeks ago, we traveled to New York City to celebrate grandson Nolan's naming ceremony. It took place at mom Leah's synagogue where she had been named as a baby and had also celebrated her Bat Mitzvah. 

Nolan was given the Hebrew name of Mendel Yitzchok. Mendel after his late great grandfather Manny who was a very sociable guy, making friends wherever he went, and Yitzchok after his late great grandmother Yitta who was known to be a very strong woman who persevered through hard times. Mendel Yitzchok. I looked up the Hebrew meanings of these names. Mendel from Menachem - comforter and consoler. Yitzchok from Isa
ac - he who laughs. What a great story for Nolan - blessed to be the comforter who also laughs. Laughs with joy, I would predict. He already spreads joy.

On his naming day, Nolan was surrounded by people who loved him. His parents, Michael and Leah, were also surrounded by love. How much strength and vitality and meaning we take in when we surround ourselves with people we love and who care about us.

And yet, we live in a world where we are constantly bumping up against people who we find unloving... or unlovable. People who are different from us in ways that really push our buttons. People that we wished would, you know, just change and be different, be more like us.

How messy, how tense it can be to live in this complicated world.

​Today I had the privilege of doing a webinar with a Chatham colleague, Katie Cruger, focusing on the topic of "Promoting Behavior Change through Effective Communication." What fun it was! Katie brought in from the beginning her passion for the Ethos ideas of Aristotle, the belief that effective communication and persuasion arises from the credibility of the speaker - the audience's perceptions about the speaker's good sense, good moral character, and good will toward the audience. 

Picture

The coolest thing about the whole discussion was the idea of "persuasion" as a collaborative joint enterprise. You cannot be a good persuader or an effective change agent if you do not have empathy for your audience, if you do not take the time to actually try to connect with the other person, to really really hear and learn what is important to them, and integrate that into your own thinking - seriously consider it from the other's perspective, even when your knee-jerk reaction is to be dismissive.

I think about this alot during this current election cycle. Look for signs of respect, empathy, good will toward each other and toward the larger citizenry. Let these people know that you expect that at the very least.

Picture
Picture

I think about this when I read or hear the news - another shooting or massacre, increased conflict across the globe, signs of institutional racism or class-ism or or sexism or homophobia or religious divides, the hostility toward refugees. What damage happens when we treat each other as The Other, who is different and therefore just a little bit (or a whole lot) wrong? Nothing good.

​Any good ideas?

​Shinrin-Yoku? Bathe yourself in life and love.

​I have had the good fortune over the last several months to bathe in the wisdom and commitment of some amazing people who are involved in Pittsburgh 350.org. The larger 350.org was one of the drivers of the People's Climate March in NYC on September 21, 2014 - over 400,000 people marched through the city to communicate their fervent desire that the decision-makers take the concerns about climate change and other environmental crises seriously. ​
 

Take a look at these folks who showed up in NYC last September. Do you think they all thought the same? Had the same ideas about the roots of the problems, or the best solutions? Held the same priorities about who needs the most help when? Of course not. Yet they were able to come together with a common focus -- with good sense, good moral character, and good will toward one another -- and the action had positive consequences, the ripple effects of which we are still feeling.

Locally, yesterday, people from Pittsburgh 350.org, Sierra Club, Citizens Climate Lobby, and other groups showed up at Rep. Rothfus' office on McKnight Road to encourage him to stop denying climate change, to act in the best interests of the health and well-being of his constituents. Below - just one of Mark Dixon's pictures of people coming together with love and commitment to the betterment of all. Mark is heading to Paris (as is Mayor Peduto) for the COP21 climate talks - he will be witnessing and speaking about the urgency of this issue, and come home with stories to tell.
​

Picture

Lots of good things can happen when we surround ourselves, bathe ourselves in that which we love - people, ideas, art, music, forests, grandbabies named Nolan Myles "Mendel Yitzchok" Mannarino.

Take a few minutes to experience Shinrin-Yoku, virtually - then go outside to experience it for real. More later.



0 Comments

    Author

    Mary Beth Mannarino is a licensed psychologist who provides coaching in the areas of leadership, career, life, and parenting. She is also an environmental and climate educator and activist. Dr. Mannarino is professor emeritus at Chatham University where she continues to teach courses to students in health professions related to environment and well-being.

    Picture

    Follow MBMannarino on Twitter
    My Bloggy Rules...
    I write about my own experiences, opinions, dreams, and ideas. I invite you to share your ideas, and to be part of a dialogue. I will make mistakes! But it is great to take the risk to put this out there and, more importantly, to hear from you.

    Archives

    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    August 2013
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

    Categories

    All
    Air
    Art
    Biking
    Children
    Climate Change
    Coal
    Community
    Culture
    Economics
    Energy
    Environment
    Faith
    Families
    Family
    Food
    Forgiveness
    Immigration
    Jobs
    Leadership
    Love
    Mountains
    Mountain Top Removal
    Nature
    Occupy Movement
    Peace
    Politics
    Pollution
    Religion And Spirituality
    Social Action
    Social Justice
    Sustainability
    Transportation
    Water
    Well Being
    Well-being
    Work

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.