Sarah Hylton-Foster has always had a love for and a special connection with animals. Thankfully, she was able to turn that passion into a rewarding career. Sarah was raised with cats, and hoped every year that Santa would bring her a puppy, which sadly never happened. She began working at the Coquitlam Animal Shelter in 2003 after a year of volunteering. Sarah currently shares her life with two cats, Reese and Winston, and her foster cat of three years, Miso. Foster success? Sarah started a website, Wrong Side of the Rainbow, that focuses on compassion fatigue experienced by animal care personnel. Not only does her website educate about compassion fatigue, there are many resources provided for self care.
InfoStream (IS): What is your current occupation and what attracted you to it?
Sarah Hylton-Foster (SHF): I am an Animal Care Attendant with the City of Coquitlam Animal Shelter. I was a volunteer when the shelter first opened and was lucky enough to become a regular employee about a year later and haven’t looked back! I have had many foster cats and a few dogs over the years and can’t imagine not sharing my life with some sort of critter!
IS: Please tell us about your website, Wrong Side of the Rainbow. What made you realize the necessity and importance of such a resource? What is the history behind it?
SHF: The true inspiration came from my beloved cat Quinn who had passed nearly a year before. She was my heart and soul and I lost her suddenly from a blood clot, at the age of five. I was destroyed and spent many months going through the motions of living. Society doesn’t accept that we can grieve in the same way we do a family member. But in some cases, the loss of a pet is more painful, yet harder to explain. Having the support of a community of like minded people has helped other people through their own grieving process. They are more than “just” animals and we have every right to grieve for them as deeply as we would a human family member or friend. After being involved in a discussion around Compassion Fatigue I saw that there wasn’t a lot of resources out there for people who work in the animal care industry. It was a topic that was just starting to gain momentum in our industry and I wanted to ensure the conversation continued.
I was lucky enough to reconnect with an old therapist, Laurel Horn, who specializes in Compassion Fatigue and Pet Loss and has hosted seminars in shelters and vet clinics. After many hours spent online I managed to collect enough to start a website. Because social media is the best way to connect with people on a large scale, I then created a Facebook page which is now at just over 800 Likes and has connect with people all over North America and even farther!
IS: What do you hope to accomplish with Wrong Side of the Rainbow; what is/are your long-term goal(s) for it?
SHF: The biggest struggle we face is being heard. The stigma around mental health keeps so many silent as they suffer. Compassion Fatigue is still a relatively new concept in the animal care industry, even though it has been widely accepting in other care giving roles. Sadly only with the passing of well known members of the community, like Dr Sophia Yin, is the conversation really starting.
Wrong Side of the Rainbow has a simple goal. Education, support and bringing our community together. Together we can help and heal, not only the animals we care for but ourselves as well.
IS: What do you see as the greatest risk for those affected by compassion fatigue and/or pet loss?
SHF: I think the greatest risk is that so many people involved in animal care work burnout. So many people suffer from depression, develop destructive habits, and sadly when it gets to be too much, take their own lives. It’s very hard to explain to people outside of our industry what we deal with on a daily basis, and we often keep things inside. People assume because we work with animals our days are filled with kittens and puppies and don’t recognize the horrors and sadness of our jobs. Like any mental illness conversation, stigma keeps many from reaching out for help.
IS: How do you think we can best support those affected by compassion fatigue?
SHF: Offering safe spaces either online or with therapy (group or one on one) for people in our industry to connect with people who can truly understand their struggles is key. It can be extremely frustrating to try and explain your feelings to people outside of the industry who see animals as “just pets”, especially after the loss of a loved companion. Connecting with like minded people in the same field as you will validate feelings and make you realize you aren’t alone.
IS: How are you using media to share important information?
SHF: Facebook is probably the easiest and most successful way to share information. One post can reach hundreds of people in a matter of hours, I recently had one post shared over 1000 times! I was so excited to see an article that was specific to compassion fatigue in animal care workers was so well received and that the message is actually getting out there to people who may not have heard of it before. I hope that more articles are written because people are obviously interested and want to share with their friends, families and coworkers.
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