Stories and messages influence what people think is true. They trigger our brains to ask: What's the problem, who is responsible, and what's the solution? They power thinking about critical issues like overwhelmed shelters, access to care, cruelty, and pet ownership. The problem is that mainstream stories give us the wrong answers. We're stuck with stereotypes, shaming, villainizing, and burnout. We must messa...

Is there more to enrichment than just food and busy boxes? Join me as we discuss some simple changes and strategies to benefit welfare in your shelter, and help keep our kennels (and kitty cages) calm and quiet.

Struggling to engage your employees and turn feedback into meaningful change? You're not alone. Many organizations face challenges in seeking, analyzing, and acting on feedback, yet engaged employees are more productive and committed. Join us as we explore the importance of empowering employee voices, featuring ARL Boston's journey in making feedback central to their culture. Learn to develop a feedback-rich environment, analyze employee input, transform feedback into actionable changes, and ...

We all want successful adoptions, and part of making that happen includes preparing not only the adopters but the animals, too. This important, but often overlooked, preparation helps reduce stress (and stress-related illnesses) when animals leave shelters or foster homes and move into new homes with new people. Happy, healthy, less-stressed, and better-prepared pets also mean happier adopters, fewer returns, and better chances for family bonding and positive life-long relationships. This ses...

How often have you heard, "the animals are our #1 priority."? As a non-profit animal welfare leader, I challenge you to flip that statement on its head, and quickly. Animal welfare employees are the foundation of any humane organization or animal rescue's mission. This workshop will address HR best practices geared at reducing compassion fatigue and staff turnover; and growing strong teams through employee dev...

In this presentation attendees will learn how to accurately age, assess and care for orphaned neonatal kittens. They will also learn how to recognize the signs and symptoms of fading kitten syndrome and how to combat it.