Transcend or Transmit – Part I

Indraloka

By the time I’d formed the nonprofit Indraloka Animal Sanctuary, I’d worked for over a decade as an organizational psychologist, consulting for institutions and businesses of all sizes. I’d always wanted to save innocent, precious lives and back then there were few sanctuaries for animals other than dogs and cats. I founded a farmed animal sanctuary to rescue and care for the animals that were forgotten, left for dead, tortured, and ill. After all these years, I’ve come to realize that these animals are also rescuing and caring for not just me, but the thousands of people who now have come to know them.

Let me explain. In the sanctuary’s early days, when I was alone doing everything — rescuing, caregiving, mucking, planting, transporting hay and straw and feed and the beloved animals for medical care 98 miles away — I spent a lot of time observing the animals. Many times I’d sit or lie with a new rescue and think there is no way this soul is going to make it. It’s too much to heal from. And I cannot even count how many times I was wrong. Again and again, the animals healed (and continue to heal) from seemingly impossible circumstances.

I asked myself — and them — repeatedly, how? How are these beloved animals not just surviving, but thriving? After all the abuse they sustained, how are they finding the ability to trust humans again? How are they able to be joyful, create relationships, give so much of themselves to each other, me, and the many visitors? I realized the answer could be summed up in one word: Resilience.?

Mental health crisis

We are amid an unprecedented mental health crisis. Statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) paint a grim picture. From 2007 through 2021, suicide rates among young people ages 10 to 24 increased by 62 percent. From 2014 to 2021, homicide rates rose by 60 percent. In 2021 child mental health professionals sounded the alarm. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children’s Hospital Association jointly released a “Declaration of a National Emergency in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.”

But the problem is not limited to young people. According to a 2022 survey from CNN in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation: “Nine out of 10 adults said they believed that there’s a mental health crisis in the US today . . . More than half identified mental health issues among children and teenagers as a crisis, as well as severe mental illness in adults.”

Isolation leads to lack of resilience

We have built a culture that is inherently lacking in resilience. Part of the problem is that we have grown distant from each other, from the earth, and from ourselves. Our friendships are so heavily conducted through social media.? Our experience of the world is often through technology.?

When was the last time you spent the day outside, alone or with only nonhuman animals, just listening to your own inner voice and the universe’s replies? How do you feel when you even think about doing that? Do you ever have time to sit quietly and do nothing, or to walk leisurely just for the sake of walking? How often? How connected, truly, do you feel to the earth? To yourself? To your community?

Trauma is the cause

Most of us experienced painful, life-altering, trauma in our lives. This could’ve been divorce, abusive parents, death, COVID-19, a car crash, a hurricane or other natural disaster. The point is that we all know suffering; however, we don’t always recover and move past it.?

Trauma, especially childhood trauma, impacts every part of our lives and personalities. It can destroy us. It can make us incapable of even the most basic relationships. It can make us lose control of our emotions, hurt others, abuse substances, lose our jobs, destroy our families, and more. Trauma also leads to numerous medical problems. The CDC has stated that childhood trauma is our single largest public health issue, and that it costs $748 billion annually in Bermuda, Canada, and the U.S.?

However, our trauma need not define us, and need not destroy us. We are so much more than our scars.? n fact, suffering can be the best teacher there is, if we make it so. Understanding this and learning how to use that to our advantage, versus letting it break us, is at the core of almost every eastern religion, and it is the key to thriving in life.?

When we face trauma, we have two choices. We can either transcend it or transmit it. That’s it. There are no exceptions, and this is not a “maybe.” We absolutely will hurt others and ourselves — repeatedly and sometimes horribly. Our challenge, as humans, is to learn from our suffering — to heal and grow from it. We must transcend our trauma and transform our pain into wisdom and resilience. But how do we do that?

This is where the animals of Indraloka help.

Farm animals are uniquely qualified to help heal trauma

Through the rescue of abused and neglected farm animals, Indraloka helps humans find hope and healing in the shared experience of trauma. Through the unconditional love of animals, we learn to see beyond our scars. Those that are grieving, lonely, or recovering from trauma form bonds with the animals we rescue. Through these connections, both the humans and the animals grow in their resilience, heal their wounds, and find joy and hope again.

Anecdotal evidence and early study results strongly indicate that our programming is even more effective than today’s traditional Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) model because of greater benefits of AAT with rescued farm animals versus companion animals. Evidence collected thus far indicates that farm animals (who are prey animals) are stronger therapeutic partners because they both help us understand our emotions and calm our autonomic nervous systems.

AAT has long been studied and demonstrates the normalization of trauma experience, decreased isolation and anxiety, improved self-esteem and addresses grief and loss. Perhaps the greatest benefit to AAT with farm animals is increased resilience.

Stay tuned for Part II where I’ll discuss the specific ways? farm animals help with boosting resilience.

References

AAP-AACAP-CHA Declaration of a National Emergency in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. (2021, October 19). American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved August 18, 2023, from https://www.aap.org/en/advocacy/child-and-adolescent-healthy-mental-development/aap-aacap-cha-declaration-of-a-national-emergency-in-child-and-adolescent-mental-health/

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) - Violence Prevention. (n.d.). CDC. Retrieved

August 18, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html

McPhillips, D. (2022, October 5). 90% of US adults say the United States is experiencing a mental health crisis, CNN/KFF poll finds. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/health/cnn-kff-mental-health-poll-wellness/index.html

Tsai, B. (2023, June 15). Suicide and Homicide Rates Increase Among Young Americans | Blogs

CDC. CDC Blogs. Retrieved August 18, 2023, from https://blogs.cdc.gov/nchs/2023/06/15/7396/#

Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Publishing Group.