Join Suzy Nethercott-Watson, founder of Two Green Threads, as we explore themes of sustaining individuals, building community and expanding knowledge – the pillars which underpin a resilient and responsive volunteer wildlife care sector. This podcast reflects on the wildlife carers journey, inspiring conversations which join the threads.
The ‘Joining The Threads’ podcast is also available on the below Podcast apps.
Episode 4: Interactions with the public on wildlife rescue callouts with guest and psychologist Hayley Li
When training for our wildlife volunteer role and what to do during wildlife rescue callouts, we understandably concentrate on how to navigate the rescue of the wildlife in need. There is another part of the rescue situation which can also take time and energy for the wildlife volunteer – interaction with the members of the public at the scene. In this episode, Hayley stimulates our thinking on how we are preparing ourselves as wildlife volunteers to effectively navigate the people side of wildlife rescues considering our reactions and responses at three stages of a rescue callout; preparation, rescue and post-rescue. The conversation shares ideas to help us plan ahead for the spectrum of public interactions encountered, through these wildlife rescue callouts, in order to remain sustainable and strong in our efforts to support wildlife in need.
Episode 3: Voices of Wildlife Volunteers: Denise Morgan
This episode is the first of many, where we have a conversation with a wildlife volunteer about their journey in this role, wherever those threads take us. In this episode, I’m joined by Denise Morgan, a wildlife volunteer on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Denise shares a window into her life with us – from the moments that introduced her to wildlife volunteering, her fascination with flying foxes which led her to visit Zambia, to the joy she experiences being in her aviary at home, with rehabilitating microbats.
Episode 2: Can a flash of orange trigger a bushfire memory?
Understanding trauma and neuroscience with Petrea King
In this episode, I was joined by the inspirational Petrea King – bestselling author, keynote speaker, facilitator and the founder of Quest for Life Foundation. This timely conversation marks the anniversary of the bushfire season, as we dive into the neuroscience behind trauma and its triggers, and how understanding our biological reactions can help us better prepare and care for ourselves during trying times.
Episode 1: Why we need to sustain ourselves to care for wildlife
– a conversation with Jessica Dolce
In this episode I have a great conversation on the topic of self-care, with an amazing woman – someone I have been in touch with for several years, and who I greatly admire and respect. She is a person in the animal care world like us, and her name is Jessica Dolce. Our conversation dives into messages around a topic I’ve been struggling to understand and draw out. Jessica helps lay these messages bare, to stimulate and challenge us, enabling consideration of self sustainment for the sake of the wildlife.
About Suzy
There is a song I like which has the line ‘Did I start this or did this start me’? This fittingly describes my more than two decades journey as a volunteer wildlife carer. For me, caring for wildlife is a fundamental form of connection with nature, providing opportunities for stillness in the frantic spinning of the human world. It’s a multitude of ‘moments that give’ and ‘moments that take’. Moments we may sometimes find it hard to express or share, let alone process. Starting Two Green Threads was my way of encouraging reflections and conversations, and enabling the building of a language which honours the volunteer service of so many to our wildlife.
We are humans, we respond to voices, and this podcast is a chance to pull at threads which collectively join together to build a fabric of connectivity and community.
With grateful acknowledgment to the following supporters for enabling this Podcast to occur.
This is part of the Wildlife Heroes Caring for Carers Campaign
supported by the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife and the Australian Government.
Thanks also to our Supportive Partners, The International Fund for Animal Welfare
“Too frequently we tell stories of failure and we forget to honour the fact that we tried, the fact we had purpose, the fact we cared.”
– Julia Baird
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