Come to Kanab, Utah and Replenish Your Soul.

by Denise LeBeau, Best Friends Animal Society

Dr. Linda Harper hosts the "Giving Heart Retreat: A Workshop to Replenish the Animal Lovers Soul" at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT. Linda also written the book, "Give to Your Heart's Content...Without Giving Yourself Away"(2002).

The workshop is geared towards helping volunteers, shelter workers, rescuers and anyone dedicating their time, energy and resources to helping animal causes throughout the country.

Whether it’s farm rescue, the plight of the Pit Bull, or feral cat caregivers – the one thing all these selfless people have in common is their level of commitment to the animals! Dr. Harper illustrates that every rescuer has to give to themselves first and then their cause.

In speaking with Dr. Harper, she says that she realized at the early age of three years that animals were her passion. And her first career goal was to be a milk maid. When it was her day to pick family outings, it was always to visit the dairy farms in Minnesota. She was quite disappointed when her brother then told her that there were machines to milk cows now, and milk maids were obsolete!

When she turned twelve years old, the topic of career goals came up again. It was at this time she was talking with her father. She conveyed how she wanted to help animals. He suggested that she help people first. And so she took her father's advice. This would lead to a career in clinical psychology. But with a continuing commitment to animal causes – she was always volunteering with local animal rescuers and she was consistently going to animal welfare expos, conferences and seminars.


In 2000 she attended a How To Start a Sanctuary workshop at Best Friends, as she maintained the possibility that having her own rescue organization just might be for her. A chance conversation with Faith Maloney, one of the Founders of Best Friends, lead to the possibility of realizing that her calling could include applying her psychology background to helping the people helping the animals.

“People in animal rescue work are idealistic, driven and have a desire to help! Animal people are 24/7, even when they’re not physically helping the animals, the animals are still in their heart,” says Dr. Harper, “The issue is always there, you can almost never escape it. A person may spend their vacation at Best Friends helping dogs, but on their drive home if they see a dog running...they have the need to help, they can’t say no.

One of the problems is that the overpopulation of companion animals is still so daunting. The pet overpopulation problem is not going to end anytime soon. And animal people have a tendency to give their all whenever, wherever they see a problem. They don't know sometimes when they’ve reached their limit.”

“Animal lovers can easily get burnt out because the guilt can be unrelenting (why didn’t I just take in that one last Lab?), their sensitivity to the issues, and their deep love for the animals. But limiting yourself to be able to continue giving and not overextending is key. Know your niche, you can’t take on every animal issue, but you can use your talents, skills and passion for a meaningful issue to you, and let others worry about the other issues. Don’t be wide open to where there is a need, look at your own gifts and see which need you can comfortably fill!”


Dr. Harper reminds us to honor who you are! When you’re honoring who you are and giving in ways that are also kind to yourself [honoring your own boundaries and resources], you are going to feel replenished and ready to meet each challenge. When you’re giving but not honoring yourself, you’ll start feeling depleted, and may also display and feel symptoms of depression.

Dr. Harper had this experience first hand, which may be one of the reasons why this Giving Heart Workshop is so successful. She had a volunteer experience where she kept pushing herself. She began to have sleep issues, was focusing on the negatives, irritable and crabby. Her friends and family noticed the negativity and when her husband mentioned that something seemed wrong, she realized something wasn’t working!

When I asked her if she had a Bahama-vention or went on vacation elsewhere, she stated, “Oh, no, I started volunteering with my local cat rescue. It was an operation out of a veterinarian’s office, and this change made the world of difference!” So lesson is you do not have to stop cold turkey from volunteering, you can just find a healthier way in which to help!

When you’re giving properly, and honoring yourself - you’re getting replenished all the time! When you’re not giving properly, you are blocked from the gifts that are all around you. You even stop feeling the joy, gratitude and satisfaction of a job well done!

In addition to conducting these wonderful workshops, Dr. Harper also started an organization to help temporarily house the pets of people with medical problems, that needed to be hospitalized. It is at this time that proves to be such a stressful time for these patients. And then they also have to worry about what will become of their animals.


Blessed Bonds is a network of over thirty foster homes that helps the community in more ways than one. This organization takes advantage of using senior citizens as part of their foster network – it’s a great partnership. The seniors receive the benefits of caring for an animal in need, without the financial and long term commitment.

But, Dr. Harper realizes that she also has to adhere to the boundaries she recommends to others. She shares, "It’s not easy to say no, and there are certainly instances where I have to make that judgment call. Generally we can only foster animals that are animal-friendly, so when someone needs a dog-aggressive dog fostered, many times I have to decline. It can be hard following my own advice!”

Dr. Linda Harper has certainly found her niche, and the whole animal welfare community along with the animals benefit from it!

Visit Blessed Bonds: http://www.blessedbonds.com/