One of our much loved Furry Tales Club regulars and passionate wordsmith, Hetty Goodman, recently wrote us this beautiful poem about her experience of Stepney City Farm. We are very grateful to Hetty for sharing her words and her time with us.

To the Staff and Volunteers

Thank you Stepney City Farm
for all your help and dedication
Stroking rabbits is my balm
Better than medication

I am wheelchair bound
and love to see
Your wealth
of animation

From ducks to geese
and baby chicks
Donkeys, goats
and guinea pigs

I haven’t seen
what you have grown
The wonderful produce
from seeds you’ve sown

The city children
from local schools
Will learn so much
and man the tools

Let them dig the soil
and plant the seeds
They all will grow
as tall as reeds

The Farm is there
for young and old
Nature’s story
That must be told

I wish you luck
in all you do
May the farm prosper
because of you

I had never set foot in a prison before. As I stepped into Jefferson City Correctional Center, accompanied by ReCHAI’s powerhouse Dr Rebecca Johnson, to visit their animal-assisted prison program, I was understandably nervous. As with all genius ideas, Puppies for Parole is beautifully simple: team up offenders with rescue dogs and allow them to rehabilitate each other. Offenders take on 24/7 responsibility for a rescue dog, training them in basic obedience skills and socialising them to a point where they are ready to be adopted out into the community. I was lucky enough to be there when a Puppies for Parole graduation ceremony was taking place. With families coming to pick up their newly adopted dogs, offenders presenting their pups and Missouri Department of Corrections’ staff talking about the programme, it was the perfect opportunity for me to see how it works. I expected to be moved. I did not expect to spend the following days, weeks and even months questioning all that I thought I knew about human behaviour, welfare and justice. In the months that have followed my visit, I have repeatedly tried and failed to write up what I saw, felt and thought. As with so many animal-assisted intervention programs, it really has to be witnessed to be fully understood. Those of us who work with animals know the power they have to take us to a deeper part of our selves. There is a place that exists in each of us that cannot necessarily be reached with words. Animals lead us there and open up a more instinctive mode of communication, one that we all have but sadly have perhaps learnt to ignore or forget.

At J-Triple-C (as it’s referred to by Dr Johnson and her team), I witnessed the effects that a furry four-legged team has had on an entire prison ward and its surrounding community. I listened to one man speak passionately and eloquently of his experience as an offender enrolled on the program. He remembered his own past, moving from foster home to foster home, feeling disenchanted, frustrated and abandoned. He noted the connection with these dogs, also abandoned, and spoke with pride of his role in enabling them to find stable and loving homes. He spoke of taking responsibility for a life and the rewards that come when you put the needs of another being before yourself. He shared with us the lessons he has learnt about compromise, respect and the virtues of commitment and patience. I felt such privilege at hearing this man’s story and was reminded of the huge importance of seeing the person behind the label. For these men do carry with them a label. Some of them will never be out in a community again. They will never feel the grass under their feet with hours stretched in front of them with nothing to do and nowhere in particular to go, with freedom of choice and movement. Is this fair? I don’t know.

I do know that the presence of the dogs allowed us to have these conversations, to ask these questions whilst remaining grounded in reality. They softened the space, a space which is harsh and intimidating and yet holds and influences the lives of some 2000 men. With wagging tails and endless energy, the dogs bring laughter and comfort into a hostile environment. They invite us to focus on the here and now, to leave ego and judgment behind. For the dogs, the staff, offenders, researchers and trainers are one and the same – awkward two-legged beings with interesting smells and looming faces. For us humans, the dogs are pure joy, allowing us to come into our senses and engage with one another, animal to animal.

‘For the vast majority of offenders it brings a sense of caring about something other than ourselves. We have witnessed the smiles on the faces of some of the most hardened men as they watch the dogs play or even approach one of them for a rub on the head or belly. Seeing one of the crabbiest old men in here, sit on the yard and just grin as he pets one of the dogs, shows how sometimes it’s the simplest things that tame a beast.’
– James Gee, JCCC Offender and Puppies for Parole Handler

My Churchill Fellowship took me to six states in the USA in April and May this year. In December I will be visiting Israel for Part 2 of my continuing research into best practice in animal-assisted intervention projects. I will be publishing a report with my findings later this year.

Post by Ione Maria Rojas

In 2013, Connecticut made history by passing a bill that formally recognises the importance of including animals in mental health interventions when working with children coping with trauma and loss. It came in the aftermath of the devastating Sandy Hook Newtown shooting, when people from across the country brought their dogs to offer compassion to those who were mourning and in need of healing. Having seen how the presence of these animals gave a community relief in such a dark time, local government was ready to listen to a more integrated approach to mental health care. Whilst the dogs present at the Newtown memorial site had helped so many of the public, it was clear that this response needed to be formalised, to ensure that those affected were met by human-animal teams trained in dealing with trauma and loss.

The bill, ‘An Act Concerning Animal Therapy’, calls for a volunteer-led crisis response procedure to be established with local organisations, so that registered human and dog teams can be dispensed in each region of Connecticut within 24 hours of an emergency. It also outlines the structure of an animal-assisted therapy program to be set up by the Department of Children and Families to help children and youths under their care. This includes training DCF staff in the human-animal bond and the benefits of animal-assisted interventions, collaborating with mental health care providers to develop appropriate therapy plans that incorporate animals, and working with the Department of Agriculture to develop outcome measures and a results-based assessment of the work.

While this legislation signifies a huge step in the field of animal-assisted interventions, it has been no overnight success story and is far from a finished work. It has required intense collaboration from local organisations working with animals and trauma, who formed a committee to work on a proposal for the bill. I met with three of these organisations – Soul Friends, Tails of Joy and Animal-Assisted Therapy Services – and from each of them heard the same concern. Once the bill had passed through government, they found that though the notion of their recommendations was in place, changes had been made that left room for ambiguity in both the structure and the language used. As a result, since the passing of the bill there has been a much greater interest in animal-assisted interventions, but not necessarily a greater understanding of how and why they work.

As with any bureaucratic process, it is an ongoing one and this is clearly just the beginning. The committee has been in further discussions over the past year, pushing for a clarification of the differences between ‘animal-assisted therapy‘ and ‘animal-assisted activities’ to be written into the bill*. Although working with politicians was described to me as ‘feeling like two steps forward, one step back’, what is important is that this is now on the agenda. State Representative Diana Urban, the woman responsible for pushing this through senate, echoed this in saying,

‘We believe that an animal can be a conduit for a child to recover from trauma. That’s now a given – I don’t have to fight that anymore. Now, I want AAT to become an integral part of mental health policy in the State.’

What impressed me so much in listening to Representative Urban, Kate Nicoll (Soul Friends), Caroline Gaetano (Tails of Joy) and Chris Patella (AaTs) talk about the bill, was their passion and determination. These are people used to fighting their corner for what they believe in and they are not going to give up. Any weakness is merely an area that needs tweaking, any block is just an obstacle to overcome. Spending time with each of them and hearing what they’ve achieved, I was excited to see what can happen when a group of individuals work together for a common goal. Representative Urban made it very clear that this would not have happened without the cooperation of the community. Equally, it is clear it could not have happened without her as a driver.

Visiting projects in the USA and learning about such work has been a true privilege, yet has made me question, why am I not doing this in the UK? Hearing of the Conservative’s success back at home and the many questions and concerns this raises about the future of the UK’s health and social care system, it feels more relevant than ever to remember the power that comes from working together. It is so sad that it took such a horrific trauma for the Senate of Connecticut to start listening to the needs of the community, that the response from government was reactive rather than proactive. I hope that we can learn from this in the UK, that we can have the imagination and foresight to see how much can be achieved if we help each other and collaborate.

‘WHEN WE ALL CAME TOGETHER, WE SAW HOW MUCH WE COULD ACHIEVE IF WE TALKED TO EACH OTHER – IT’S A CRITICAL MASS THING.’

– State Representative Urban

This was the second week of visits investigating best practice in animal-assisted interventions across the world as part of a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellowship. I will be producing a final report with my findings by the end of 2015. To find out more, check our newspage for updates.

Post by Ione Maria Rojas

*For more information on these terms, IAHAIO offer an excellent definition in their 2014 white paper.