Volunteer Capacity Building Workshops 2023
Veterinary Track | Building Psychological Resilience in Animal-Care Volunteers
The Front Range Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps (vMRC), a branch under the Rocky Mountain MRC, was proud to design the content for the Veterinary Track in Colorado’s 2023 Volunteer Capacity Building Workshop (VCBW).
Supported by The Preparedness Collective and Care for the Healer - our team is proud to bring veterinary and animal-care focused training to the emergency and disaster response community.
The Volunteer Capacity Building Workshop (VCBW) is an annual event hosted by the Colorado Dept. of Public Health & Environment’s (CDPHE) Office of Emergency Preparedness & Response.
The purpose of this conference is to maintain and strengthen volunteer capacity within the state. This year’s veterinary track focuses on strategies for understanding, assessing, and building psychological resiliency in veterinary volunteers.
The Psychology of Disaster
Resources to improve outcomes for disaster-affected communities.
Jolie Wills | Hummingly Co-Founder & CEO -Americas
With true honesty, Jolie shares the story of how disaster shook up her life, her family, the residents in her hometown, and the people working hard to support the city’s recovery.
As a cognitive scientist, a psycho-social recovery expert, and disaster survivor, Jolie brings a unique lens to understanding the psychology of disaster. Through this lens, Jolie will share three design challenges and practical resources to improve outcomes for disaster affected communities.
Data Collection in Animal-Related Disasters
What are we missing? What can we do better, today?
Dr. Leslie Irvine | University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Sociology
During this lecture, Dr. Leslie Irvine discusses her recently published reviewed article Pet Loss in an Urban Firestorm: Grief & Hope after Colorado’s Marshall Fire.
Dr. Irvine shares her experience conducting this research on the Marshall Fire disaster as well as other large-scale disasters throughout the United States. She outlines her thoughts on what we’re missing in data collection during animal-related disasters, and what we can do better as soon as today!
Supporting Veterinary Professionals in Crisis
Importance of relationship & lessons-learned from Marshall Fire.
Elyse Janish, MA | CDPHE Disaster Behavioral Health & Inclusion Planning Coordinator
This lecture discussed the existing veterinary industry mental health crisis and its impact on veterinary volunteer capacity and resiliency.
Elyse shared lessons-learned from her role as the lead in a pilot program conducted by the Colorado Spirit team in collaboration with Care for the Healer while providing embedded mental health support to a veterinary shelter after Marshall Fire.
Team Cohesion Workshops | Hummingly Workshop in a Box
The ability for veterinary professionals to continue operating well – individually and collectively, both in their paid and volunteer roles, is crucial for the day-to-day public health and safety of our communities. The resiliency of the veterinary professional community is an essential factor to consider when assessing community preparedness and the availability an effective medical response during animal-related disasters.
The afternoon small group workshop, lead by Jolie Wills of Hummingly, focused on building an understanding of the complexity of mental health environment for veterinary medical professionals and it’s effect on the mental health and resiliency of veterinary volunteers.
This workshop addressed how to help animal-care volunteers respond well to the challenges of disaster preparation and response. Participants learned strategies for supporting and developing the veterinary professionals that are among your organization’s volunteers.
Is your team hungry for more resiliency training? Us too!
Learn about our Resiliency training.
First Friday Resiliency groups
Team Cohesion Workshops | Hummingly Workshop in a Box in collaboration with CultivateWellbeing’s Communication Lab