Interview! Anne Lindsay, Founder & President, Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC) – Part II

“I can’t believe that … we are where we are. I never could have written the script… but it’s worked out.”

In Part II of this two-part episode, Stacy continues her conversation with Anne Lindsay, the founder & president of the Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC). Anne talks about what she feels MAC’s greatest achievements – and greatest challenges – have been over the organization’s history. (It turns out they are one and the same: getting so many different people with different opinions together into one organization!)

Anne tells us about MAC’s three annual educational meetings: All About Dogs, Whole Cat Workshop, and “Hot Topics,” a meeting that covers both cat and dog issues. This year, MAC is adding a fourth meeting about the business of running an animal welfare organization as well. MAC has lots of advice available for other folks who are thinking about setting up a coalition organization in their area, and they are happy to walk other groups through the process they went through. “It’s not about making a clone of MAC,” Anne says. “It’s more about what is it that your area needs and how can we help you learn from our mistakes and from our successes.”

Anne has been focusing her work lately on compassion fatigue, something she has seen a real need for in animal welfare over her years in the field. With her advanced degree in counseling, Anne offers compassion fatigue workshops, and she has come to realize that some of the people in animal welfare who come across as “difficult,” or who don’t seem to be helping animals the way they could be, are actually suffering from compassion fatigue.

Anne encourages everyone who thinks they may have an issue with compassion fatigue to start by talking with their co-workers about it. Next, she suggests looking for someone with compassion fatigue counseling experience specific to animal welfare. She emphasizes the need for self-care, time off, and notes that it’s important to remember that while the system itself may be broken, that doesn’t mean you have to be broken as well.

Speaking about both compassion fatigue and the benefits of being part of a coalition, Anne says, “This is difficult emotional work, and working together helps the humans and the animals… working alone is isolating, it is lonely, and you can’t get as much done as an individual as you can as a group of people.”

To learn more about MAC or to reach out to Anne, visit massanimalcoalition.org.

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