Your volunteers are carrying a lot.
Let's help them stay in the work.
Volunteer wellness, retention, and crisis support for shelters and rescues.
Trusted by volunteers, fosters, shelters and rescues nationwide.
Volunteer Burnout Impacts Outcomes
Animal volunteers are often the heartbeat of a shelter or rescue.
When volunteers feel unsupported, overwhelmed, or emotionally exhausted, the effects ripple throughout the entire organization.
Volunteer Burnout affects:
Volunteer Retention
Staff workload
Foster engagement
Shelter culture
Animal outcomes
The Thriving Volunteer helps volunteers stay emotionally supported, connected, and resourced so they can continue showing up for the animals they love.
Built Outside the System
Most shelters and rescues care deeply about volunteer wellbeing.
The challenge isn’t caring, it’s capacity.
Many organizations simply lack the time, staffing, or resources to provide ongoing emotional support, grief processing, continued education, and community care for volunteers.
We provide volunteers with a dedicated space for connection, emotional wellness, grief support, continued learning, and community — without creating additional work for shelter staff.
Think of us as an extension of your volunteer support system.
Why Volunteer Support Matters
Animal welfare is emotionally demanding work.
Volunteers regularly navigate grief, compassion fatigue, difficult outcomes, foster challenges, behavioral euthanasias, hoarding cases, burnout, conflict, and the emotional weight of caring deeply.
Yet many volunteers have nowhere to process those experiences with people who truly understand them.
When volunteers feel supported, they stay engaged longer, communicate more effectively, build stronger relationships with staff, and remain available for the animals who need them most.
Supporting volunteers isn't separate from animal welfare.
It's part of it.
Ways We Can Support Your Team
Choose the support option that best fits your organization.
1
Volunteer Memberships
Provide volunteers with ongoing emotional support through The Thriving Volunteer membership.
Includes:
Access to The Thriving Volunteer Online Membership
Weekly support huddles over Zoom
Continued Learning with guest experts like Patricia McConnell (The Other End of the Leash) and Jessica Dolce
Grief & burnout resources
Discussion boards & peer support
Resource library & replays
2
Team Lifeline Session
Support shelter or rescue teams through difficult cases and emotionally demanding moments.
Includes:
60-min guided Zoom session
Best utilized when navigating hard moments together (i.e. hoarding cases, difficult case decisions, etc).
Pick a lifeline theme listed in the link below, or customize a session based on your team’s exact needs
3
8-Week Workshop
An 8-week program designed to strengthen volunteer wellbeing, connection, and long-term retention.
Includes:
One 8-week workshop for your entire team, proven to strengthen staff and volunteer wellbeing connection, resilience and retention
Format: 1 week of workshop, followed by 1 week of integration
Topics include: Stress Reduction, Effective Communication Tools, Better Mood, Better Sleep, Empowered & Sustainable Service
Let’s Build a Support System for Your People
Your volunteers take care of the animals.
Let’s help take care of them.
Questions before booking?
Email katyalidsky@gmail.com
