Day One: Stress First Aid: The 7Cs of Caring for Yourself and Others

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Includes a Live Web Event on 07/15/2025 at 1:00 PM (EDT)

Only available as part of a package

1 pm - 2:30 pm ET, Tuesday, July 15

1:00 - 1:30  Stress First Aid: The 7Cs of Caring for Yourself and Others 

Keynote speaker: Jessica Dolce

Working in animal welfare means non-stop demands, tough decisions, and emotional highs and lows. As a leader, you're often holding it all together for everyone else. But what about you?  Stress First Aid is a practical, evidence-informed framework developed by the National Center for PTSD to help individuals in high-stress professions recognize and respond to stress reactions before they develop into more severe or long-term problems. Originally designed for the military, first responders, and healthcare workers, this model is a great fit for the fast-paced, trauma-exposed field of animal welfare. 

In this session, we’ll focus on how you, as a leader, can recognize and address your stress reactions. You'll walk away with seven concrete actions to help you more effectively care for yourself in the workplace and, by extension, better support your teams and mission.

1:30 – 1:50  Roundtable Discussion about Self-Care and Peer Support in Animal Welfare

The Roundtable Panel, moderated by Jessica Dolce

  • Kelly Bremken, Veterinary Social Worker, MSSW, VSW, Oregon Humane Society    
  • Kristi Mack, Senior Director, HR and Community Engagement, Humane Society Silicon Valley   
  • Angie Arora, Veterinary Social Workers, Arora Wellness 
1:50 – 2:30  Small Group Discussions

Talk in very small groups of your peers about how you might apply ideas from the past hour into your own life, team, and organization. The full group will come together at the end to "report out" on ideas. What a great way to build your network and use the hive mind to brainstorm solutions to big challenges.

Note: the recordings of the keynote and the roundtable will be available through December 31, 2025.

Jessica Dolce, CCFE

Founder, The Compassion in Balance Program

Jessica Dolce is a Certified Compassion Fatigue and Grief Educator. She brings over 20 years of experience working with animals to her signature online training platform, The Compassion in Balance Program, designed to support animal welfare, care, and protection workers. Jessica is an instructor at The Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida, and has worked with organizations such as the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, HSUS, Animals Asia, NOAA, and too many incredible animal shelters to list here!  She holds a Master of Science in Adult Education and is certified in mindfulness facilitation, QPR Suicide Gatekeeper Training, and Mental Health First Aid.

Angie Arora, MSW, RSW

Founder, Arora Wellness

Angie Arora, founder of Arora Wellness, supports high stress, trauma exposed animal care organizations to improve professional quality of life. As a Veterinary Social Worker and Certified Compassion Fatigue Specialist, Angie provides trauma-informed therapeutic coaching, training and courses to help veterinary hospitals, animal shelters, and wildlife and conservation organizations mitigate the impacts of high-stress, trauma-exposed work. 

Kelly Bremken, MSSW, VSW, CSWA

Veterinary Social Worker, Oregon Humane Society

Kelly Bremken is the Veterinary Social Worker with Oregon Humane Society. She has worked in animal welfare for more than 20 years at Arizona Humane Society, Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, Seattle Animal Shelter, and Oregon Humane Society. Kelly graduated in 2021 with a Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a certification in Veterinary Social Work (VSW). 

At Oregon Humane Society and in the Community Veterinary Hospital, Kelly serves as Oregon Humane Society’s first veterinary social worker and is paving the way in the field for greater workplace wellbeing and community partnership.

Kristi Mack

Senior Director, HR and Community Engagement, Humane Society Silicon Valley

Kristi Mack joined Humane Society Silicon Valley in 2020 with over 25 years of experience developing driving HR initiatives for companies of all sizes and industries. She is now the Senior Director of HR and Community Engagement. She has a bachelor’s degree in HR Management from San Jose State University. She is a passionate community advocate and in between playing with her four dogs, you can find Kristi volunteering with many of her local non-profits.

This session, both live and the recording, has been approved for:

  • 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit 
  • 1 NACA CE
  • 1 CE towards ACO CE requirements per Ch. 829 of the Texas Health and Safety Code by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
  • CFRE: Full participation in the session is applicable for 1.0 points in Category 1.B-Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification
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