Benefits of Animal Assisted Therapies for System Involved Youth

Shoshana Phoenixx

Training Description

Animal-assisted therapies can be a powerful tool in supporting the emotional, developmental and expressive skills of system involved youth using a dynamic approach. It can be engaged in with both individuals and in groups to improve communication and build rapport within families or groups. There is much research on the potential contributions animals make to the wellness of youth and adults. Introduction of animals into healing efforts can provide a soothing effect that can contribute to significantly improved outcomes for system involved youth. When animals are introduced with a well-thought-out plan, caregivers are often surprisingly pleased with the outcome. Although not a panacea, the impact of the human animal bond should not be underestimated as a positive remedial mechanism.

Learning Objectives

● Learn about the significance and function of animal assisted strategies in supporting system involved youths’ emotional growth

● Explore how different types of animal engagements can be utilized to develop emotional intelligence and self-regulation.

● Explore how animal assisted practices can help increase compassion for self and others

Agenda 

10:00am -10:30am  Welcome: Introductions with thoughtful questions posed

10:30am - 11: 00am  Theory/Philosophy: Understanding the principles and practices of Animal Assisted therapy in emotional support work and how they function.

11:00am - 11:30am  Discussion: of types of animals, environments and options that are best utilized for teaching gentling skills, reflection skills and managing expectations with system involved youth

11:30am - 12:00pm  Teaching: Learning to understand, evoke and involve the interests of system involved youth in working with and developing this practice

12:00pm - 12:30pm  Lunch Break (CEUs will not be offered for this time)

12:30pm - 1:15pm  Instruction– A list of some of the multiple animal exposure options available for youth in the bay area and the services they offer will be shared including their experience and skills with inclusivity

1:15pm - 1:30pm  Questions & Answers, what situations would work for specific youth, concerns and issues needing special attention

1:30pm - 1:55pm  Final sharing, reflections, appreciations

1:55pm - 2:15pm  Goals for further work and course evaluations

Meet Our Trainer

“We can create together. We can heal together. We can mark the moments of ritual together. May the work of our hearts and hands speak together the truth of our lives.”

Shoshana has been working with communities and professional caregivers educating and training on the issues and challenges around progressive illness, trauma, death and bereavement for families for over 36 years. In that work she has supported people in many ways and forms as they experience illness, grief, healing, recovery, and transformation.

She began her grief and loss professional journey during the illness and death of both of her parents when she was a teenager. She subsequently served a residency in Berkeley to become an interfaith chaplain and now describes herself as “a Jewish chaplain, who works from an interfaith perspective”.

She has trained, counselled, and supported adults and children dealing with terminal illnesses, (and students/volunteers wanting to learn) using art modalities and non-traditional approaches

The thread that stitches together all the pieces of her work life is care, compassion and comfort for suffering people who find themselves outside the system of norms in American mainstream culture.

As a person who has lived outside those norms all her life, Mama Shoshana says with conviction, “We have our unconventional ways, and I am here to tell you that they are valid. There are many roads up this mountain called life, and we survive the unimaginable by stitching together all that we learn from one another.”

This course meets the qualifications for (3.75) BBS CEUs for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.