We're partners with our dogs. Our dogs have these amazing skills. They've gone through training and certification. We call all of our dogs are staff members in our district. They have their degrees that they come in with to support their role. But each individual dog also, I think, has their own unique skill set
just like staff members, human staff members in our building. But the guiding that we're able to do is not only be the advocate for the dog to make sure that they feel safe in the interaction, support their environment as well, but also sometimes to let the dog take the lead. Knowing that our dogs have these
amazing abilities to show empathy and understand human emotion. I think a lot of the times as providers, we can kind of sit back and support the interaction, but let the dog guide that and have that authentic interaction with students.
Magic happens when therapy dogs help educators reach out to students who are struggling. DCSD's pioneering animal assisted interventions team is the largest and most advanced in Colorado. It has 34 therapy dogs deployed all over
the school district with more preparing to join their ranks. Welcome to DCSD Notebook. I'm your host, communication director Jason Hackett. And in this episode, we'll hear from some of the top innovators who established the animal assisted intervention program, and learn
how specially trained, four-legged friends provide gentle, empathetic, tail wagging support that keeps students in school, opening their hearts and then their minds to overcome many kinds of difficulties. Our guests explain the
research that supports their work, including close ties to the University of Denver's experts in human animal connections, as well as a commitment to ethical, supportive therapy dogs and their interactions with students. And if you stick around to the end, you'll hear
a small sampling of the many stories illustrating just how powerful a dogto student connection can be. These are literally life-changing relationships that allow students to succeed when they otherwise might not.
All right, we have got a really cool crew of people here that I'm excited to talk to because what's what's really interesting about this one, we kind of set this one up with me not knowing a lot about what we're talking about. So, I'm a complete blank slate with this one
and I'm excited about that. So, we're going to let everybody introduce themselves, kind of what their title is and who they work with and where they work and help you identify each of their voices as you're listening. So, let's start here and we'll go clockwise. >> Okay. I am Ellen Kirkoff, mental health
team lead. I support all our psychologists and social workers in the district and I work closely with our mental health director, Stephanie Crawford, and our mental health coordinator, Bernardet Pigeon. and um I do all kinds of things but in today's
context I work with our animal assisted interventions team to make sure that a lot of the you know applications are processed and people are ready to go in their schools and that we're just like expanding and trying to make it the best
program that we can. >> And that's the other piece I guess I I better interject here. This is the one time when I'm really sad that we do not have a video podcast because we've got two amazing, gorgeous dogs in here too with for our animal assisted
interventions. We've got Betty and Daphne, but we're going to talk more about them, but let's let's have Danny give us a intro here. >> Okay. Uh my name is Danny Morrison. I am a school social worker and I work at Plum Creek Academy and have worked here for the past this is my 10th school year here. Oh, and that is Betty's tail um
wagging. She is my therapy dog and has been my working partner since 2023. Um, which is very exciting. But the population we serve here are kids that are all in special education, all with um, serious emotional disabilities. And we serve middle and high school
students. I'm Laura Wilson. I am a behavior specialist for the district, primarily serving the Ponderosa High School feeder area. I also get to support the animal assisted intervention program in our district. Uh, and it's been really exciting to see that grow over the past Danny and I have been
working on this for 10, 11 years, I think we're at right now. And um, and I get to partner with Daphne. I've been working with her for the past 5 years. Uh, she's the second therapy dog I've worked with and have been able to see some amazing growth just within our program and the amazing impact these uh,
these therapy dogs have within our system. So, it's been really exciting to see. >> That is amazing. So, I guess the first question is who can explain for me what animal assisted intervention is? What does that program mean? And and maybe as you're talking about it a little bit,
what you did to put the program together then too, >> which is a long fun story. How much time do we have? >> Oh, we have all the time in the world. >> It's beautiful. Well, I think we can just kind of start with the fact like Laura and I met in graduate school at the University of Denver um through their like animal assisted social work
program. um and then connect like stayed friends but like reconnected when we both started working for the district and Laura had already kind of started the process to get her dog um Durian in the school and then kind of as soon as I started working she was like I need your help like let's go and we've been
writing policies and procedures um since then and I'm trying to think but yeah it's been it's been a long process to get it to where we are today but like a great one. Yeah, and I mean we can talk a lot about the details and animal assisted interventions are really that we're utilizing and working and
partnering with certified animals, dogs in this case in the field of AI. A lot of different animals are used, but within our district, we work with therapy dogs to support the social emotional well-being of staff and students. And we get to really see the
we we just like to simply refer to it as magic. the magic that these these certified dogs are able to provide to some of our highest need situations. And so these interventions can look anywhere with partnering with a mental health provider in a school building like Danny
does with Betty. Um working on students social emotional goals within the context of maybe an IEP. Uh and then also as a schoolwide intervention really just focusing on building a safe climate and culture for students and staff. uh that can really be a way that AI can
support across really the whole MTSS framework. So, it's been exciting to see how it's not only an individual intervention but can really support an entire building as a whole as well. >> Lots of letters in there for people that aren't familiar. What is MTSS and then how does that work within a school
framework and and then how does that work with animal assisted interventions as well? >> A multi-tered system of support is what MTSS stands for. Um, and it's really looking at all the different tiers. We have tiers 1 through three. We're looking at the schoolwide basis of support that we give to all of our
students in a building. And then it goes all the way to the very top like 5% of 1% of students that need maybe something more individualized >> like Plum Creek. All of our students would be that like top tier of support because they're at like a separate school environment. >> Yeah. Ellen, would you add anything
more? I don't know if I >> Yeah. I mean, it's really just a framework where we're trying to keep kids needs met in the least restrictive environment. Basically, all students get certain kinds of support. Then there may be students who continue to have some
challenges and then they might get some really targeted support to see if that takes care of their needs. And then sometimes it doesn't and they need to go to tier three which often might be comprised of a special education evaluation or some other intervention
that is um very individualized to that particular child and how AI or animal assisted intervention really folds into that is how we can utilize and work alongside a dog to support whether it be those individual roles or like I had
mentioned before that climate and culture piece within that framework. work. Uh so it's been exciting to see how we really can support that entire system. >> Can you talk about then what specific roles having an animal there? What what
kinds of interventions are are super helpful to have a dog there to help with? I mean I can think of I mean I would like to have a dog with me all the time, right? But um to talk about the specifics of how this works in a school setting.
>> Yeah. I mean, so just like I like to look forward. Um, Betty comes like two days a week. Um, and Laura really spoke on this, but like the climate and culture has just like so positively improved since we've had dogs in the building. Um, you know, she brings smiles to everybody's faces. The kids are always like very excited to see her.
And just kind of individually, I have some kids that it really helps support like their social emotional just functioning. Betty's a coping tool for them. Like they know if they see her, it's going to be something that calms them down. it's going to be something that makes her them happy. Like petting a dog literally releases oxytocin and
dopamine in your brain, which are chemicals that make us feel good. Um, and so it supports kids just in those daily like activities, you know, just to make them happier on a daily basis. And Danny's a perfect example of what it can look like in partnership with a mental
health provider. We also have therapy dogs working alongside classroom teachers. And that can look like really supporting students academic engagement. uh when you're observing that work, which we've been able to see these dogs in action in their classrooms, the engagement we have with these students
just completing some tasks that can be really difficult for a lot of our students. Having a therapy dog there to support them, to support that regulation, to support that engagement as well as just reinforcement for what we're doing has been really exciting to see within that classroom setting. We
also have an administrative assistant for example in an elementary school and she's part of a lot of students reward systems as well as being that first thing that students see when they walk through the door in the morning. That's the greeting they get, a happy tail wag of a golden retriever has never made
anyone sad. And that's a great way that um the students and the parents that drop their students off uh can start their day in their school building in such a positive light way. Uh, and so those are just two examples. We have so many different roles. We have our obviously our counselors, our mental
health, which is sometimes the more expected partnership we have with our therapy dogs, but it's been great to see some of the other roles within our buildings. Like I'd mentioned that administrative assistant, um, teachers, we have occupational therapists, speech language, all these different roles
that, uh, can re really utilize this intervention in partnership with their role. I think it also breaks down barriers really quickly and promotes connection and relationship. We have school resource officers with therapy dogs as well, which aren't necessarily
like our particular program, but they are in our buildings with their dogs. And you know, when they're wearing a uniform, that really immediately helps jump over that barrier where there might be certain students or staff or families that haven't had great experiences with
officers. Yeah. Um, and it just makes a huge difference for them. So whether it's a crisis situation or whether it's something that's happening on a day-to-day basis, I think it really just makes things smoother and nicer for everybody. That's kind of what I was
thinking about. Like I there are so many different types of scenarios in a school setting where having a therapy dog can help so much. And and I'll just go off the top of my head what I'm imagining and if any of you want to fill in the actual real lifey blanks on that. Sure.
>> I'm thinking about a a student who has some sort of trouble outside of school. You know, maybe the family life is not great and the and the students come into school >> just not in the right frame of mind, ready to learn. Is that one of those examples where a dog can help kind of
get them I think you use the word kind of regulated. Is that is that the right word? >> Yep. Yeah. I think every single team I could speak for has an example of a student that was not connecting with school in some capacity, whether that be
with the teachers or peers or whatever it is. I can think of many examples just within my personal work where I've been told, "Oh, that student's never going to meet with you. They just do not like school. They don't want anything to do with it." I in partnering with the dog have never had that problem of building
that connection and rapport because the dog is that bridge. I think some students that maybe have some more distrusting feelings towards a school environment for whatever reason their background has brought in like you'd mentioned stuff that happens outside of school can really impact their school day. But if they have that one safe,
consistent, unconditional, non-judgmental being that they can rely on, which a lot of our dogs are to our students, that can completely change the trajectory of how a student engages in their school day. Uh we even have current research that says if a student
has one positive connection in their life, that can completely change the path that they can go down, whether it be graduating high school, obtaining a job, all of those things that we're working towards with all of our students. and our dogs are able to provide that for a lot of our most difficult. So,
>> I think the word non-judgmental is really important, too. I think sometimes we have teachers or other providers who will use therapy dogs for something that's hard for the child. Like, they might read to the dog where reading out loud in class might not be
something that works well for them. Um, it also is a really great way to teach social emotional skills and use the dog to sort of depersonalize and this is how you interact and eventually hopefully it generalizes to
interacting with other people >> and just social skills in general like reading body language like picking up on their body language helps them be an advocate for the dogs. That's one of the things I'd love to have some of my kids who don't necessarily feel comfortable speaking up to is like learn Betty's
body language and then they're able to be like, "Well, Betty's not comfortable with this or she doesn't enjoy those loud noises." And it kind of helps them have some of that social awareness that they might not otherwise like have in themselves, but they're able to apply it to a dog and then like Ellen said, like generalize those skills.
>> Yeah. And then there's so many different opportunities then for the dog to just be kind of that gateway then to all kinds of different activities and behaviors and things. So do then you as the professionals help that along?
What's what's the role of the humans with the dogs then? >> We use the word I think you've heard it partnership. Uh we're partners with our dogs. Our dogs have these amazing skills. They've gone through training and certification. we call all of our dogs are staff members in our district. They have their degrees that they come
in with to support their role, but each individual dog also, I think, has their own unique skill set just like staff members, human staff members in our building. But the guiding that we're able to do is not only be the advocate for the dog to make sure that they feel
safe in the interaction, support their environment as well, but also sometimes to let the dog take the lead. Knowing that our dogs have these amazing abilities to show empathy and understand human emotion, I think a lot of the times as providers, we can kind of sit
back and support the interaction, but let the dog guide that and have that authentic interaction with students. Uh so, yes, we are there. We're at the other end of the leash. We're partnering. were um guiding a lot of it, but giving a lot of credit to just the
instincts that our dogs bring into this to the situation as well. >> And that was the piece you kind of touched on. That was another thing I wanted to ask about was the kinds of training that the dogs have to have like the certification and how do they become a professional therapy dog. >> Yeah. Everybody asks like my dog can do
it. They love people and that's the foundation, right? We want our dogs to love the interaction, love people, and and that's a a great place to start to see. and me, we always say we want the dog to choose the job. You want the dog to want to do the work, otherwise the intervention isn't going to work. It's
not going to be positive. We use the phrase mutually beneficial. So, it's starting with making sure the dog enjoys those interactions with humans. And then the training is a lot of socialization, having our dogs go out in a lot of different environments, experiencing different stimuli, uh interacting with
lots of different people, those types of things. and then they have to uh display all of these different skills. Greeting with a complete stranger. Uh having somebody pet that may not know the appropriate way to pet a dog. And are our dogs still enjoying this? Is this
still benefiting them? Uh even just walking through a crowd. Like we kind of simulate what it would look like walking through a high school passing period because sometimes our dogs need to do that and they need to feel safe and comfortable in those situations as well. But the training really does look like how our dogs can kind of respond and
feel good and want to be part of all of the different scenarios you can imagine would happen in a school setting. All of our dogs are um not only what's called K9 good citizen. That's kind of the initial test all of our dogs take. And then they're also certified with a
specific therapy dog test. And that goes through all the scenarios that I kind of gave a few examples for. And then each dog is also reertified every two years. And so just kind of as professionals in our building, like our teachers have to make sure their certification and
license is up to date within the state. Our dogs have a have similar requirements as well. And then also making sure they're physically healthy. So the vet signs off on things. We make sure that their vaccines are up to date. Um so not only the behavioral and emotional support of the animal, but
also the physical is cared for as well. And I think that partnership with the handlers really also emphasizes making sure that the dog has their own spot. Yeah. That they are have water and food and breaks. And if they don't appear comfortable that people are paying
attention to that. And so that part of the partnership we really emphasize as well cuz we want to make sure that the dogs are comfortable and happy and working because they're getting that mutually beneficial piece. >> Yeah, we actually teach like a
professional development class with each of our new teams. Um, and so we have that as part of their like requirements before they can start working with their partnering with their dog in a school. Um, we go over all these things like making sure your dog has identification so people know that they're a therapy dog. We make sure the kids with
allergies are have safe spaces in the school. Like there's a lot that goes into it. Um, and we I will say I'm just going to brag on us a little. We do go like above and beyond in that. Um, just because we want it to be such a positive experience for everybody involved, including our animal partners and just
everybody in the schools as well. and really emphasizing that all the training that our dogs go through is with positive reinforcement. Kind of going back to that statement of our dogs should be choosing to do this work. Uh all the certifications that are approved
through our district are through organizations or trainers that utilize positive reinforcement training only. We never want to force our dogs into this. And so by helping teach them these skills and rewarding them consistently, that really builds that that feeling of
positivity in the interaction that they're going to be bringing into our buildings. >> I also want to kind of brag on our handlers a little bit because we have how many teams now? Like 20. >> We're at 34. >> 34. Okay. Wow.
>> So, that's how many and more like in the works, but that's how many people are willing to commit to working with their dog, getting the certification, getting all the vet things in place, getting insurance in place, which can be
really confusing because even some insuranceances that say they will insure K9 therapy dogs then say, but um you know, only if they don't behave in a bad way. Um, so and our handlers take on a lot of
that cost and also the time and effort and making sure that they have a dog that's comfortable and happy and healthy and that that's a lot >> and there are so many people who are willing to do that and take that on because I think they see the value on
the other end of how well it really works to facilitate interactions with kids and and learning skills and all the things that therapy dogs can do to support in our schools. when and
speaking to the history of that when Danny and I started this work in Douglas County School District there were three teams and it's grown with the support of Ellen and Stephanie and Bernardet and the mental health department really
seeing the benefit of it and providing just more opportunity to support teams coming in. So, we started with three about 11 years ago and like we said, we're at about 34 with more coming down the line because like Ellen said,
schools are wanting this and I have people coming to me all the time like, "How can I get a dog in my building? We need this so bad." And so, it's something that has been really exciting to see how it has grown and we're seeing the need more and more. Um, and just as a state, we're able to confidently say
that our district is has the biggest animal assisted intervention program in the state. Um, and we've been told by professionals in this field that we have the most sophisticated. And so it's been exciting to see how well supported and how we're we're doing it in a way that's
researchbased and ethical and really prioritize doing it well, not only for the schools that are utilizing it, but for the animals that are participating, too. as I'm listening you explain all of this, the researchbased piece, the ethical piece, the approaches that you
take, I don't know, writing the manual, I guess, for what do you do in certain situations for this, that, and the other thing, and then training everybody, >> that's a lot. So, like the going clear back to when the idea came up, how long did it take to put all that together?
And >> um so this actually was my capstone project in grad school was developing implementation for school therapy dogs and coming into this district. I had a certified therapy dog. I experienced it
my internship and that was something I was really passionate about continuing. And there were two other programs that existed and originally risk management the risk management department reached out to us and said hey we see how this could benefit but we need there to be
some guidelines uh cuz there wasn't really anything in place. It was very new at the time. Uh people were I mean for lack of a better word kind of going rogue with bringing animals in that maybe weren't well prepared for the role. And from the risk management lens,
I could understand why that was starting to get pretty nerve-wracking. And so we got um a couple people together, Danny, uh myself, and Brooke Patterson came together and they kind of said, "All right, develop something with us." And
it just kind of kept rolling from there where human resources um joined us as well to make sure we were considering every single stakeholder that would experience this intervention. And so it just kind of continued to build from there and really started with making
sure we had dogs in these roles that were wellprepared and wanting to do the work. And I think that's something that we really prioritized to make sure we had certifications that were appropriate for a school setting. Uh cuz we could argue that schools are some of the hardest environments for therapy dogs to
work. Um, but yeah, so it it really started from just wanting to make sure we were using programs in the right way and that they were safe and it's been able to develop from there. >> And it's probably important to note that a therapy dog is different from a
service dog and also different from an emotional support animal. >> So those are like some distinctions too, like the training is different, the expectations are different. >> Yeah. and and that was some of what branched out of this program was the ADA
department under human resources have a service animal policy for the district. And so that's kind of where we lived for a little bit cuz it made sense. We're just going to have all the dogs live here, right? Uh and just make sure everything was kind of taken care of and really we really advocated to recognize
that our service dogs are doing much different roles than our therapy dogs. And that's when we were able to start having the discussion with Stephanie and Ellen about how this is a social emotional intervention and how beautifully it would have fit under our mental health department. And that's really where I think we started to see
the shift and uh great opportunity to collect data on how these interventions are benefiting in so many different ways, >> right? Because a service animal usually is kind of focused on one person, right? as opposed to a therapy dog needs to be
focused on anybody that comes up to them essentially, right? And so that's a whole different skill set for that dog. >> Absolutely. And we've had to teach our kids about kind of like the differences in that as well, right? Cuz they now some of them see a dog in a vest and they're like, "Well, I can pet that dog." Um, but we've actually had students with service dogs in the
building and therapy dogs in the building. Um, so we do some kind of like edification around that. we have like a whole presentation to teach about the differences in it because yeah it is service dogs are individual work and therapy dog is very much like kind of a group situation comparatively. Um so
that's been a good thing for the kids to notice as well and again be able to like be advocates for that. One thing that hit me as we were talking about this earlier about, you know, they have to be good at walking down a hallway full of students and everything and I'm thinking about the many many teachers I've seen
at the end of a day that are just fried from all the interaction and all the all the work it takes just dealing with literally hundreds of little humans or sometimes big humans, whatever they're dealing with. Right. From your experiences as handlers, are
your dogs kind of just kind of spent at the end of the day or do they what's their reservoir like? >> They're pretty tired by the end of the day. I mean, they're a little extra excited right now cuz Daffhany and Betty don't get to work together very often. So, this is a very exciting day, but um you know, usually when I get home from
work, I walk Betty not on days that she's here. She needs to go home and rest. Um and Laura spoke to this like dogs have that empathy, right? Like they take on human emotions. they've literally evolved with us to understand our facial expressions, to understand our tone, to understand our body
language. And so, um, and I'll speak to just my experience, especially in a school where kids have very high needs, um, and very severe like mental health diagnoses, like it is a lot for her to take on, you know, but it's like if a kid is like crying and petting her, like
she's great at it. She loves being able to be there, but by the end of the day, yeah, she needs to rest. She needs to kind of decompress. Um, and that is something we talk about with their handlers, too, is that like decompression time for your dog either like during the workday and especially after and making sure they're taken care
of and kind of getting to act like a dog, too, cuz they're not working all the time. >> Yeah, we really emphasize with all of our teams to figure out what, like you said, that threshold is for each individual dog. Some dogs one day a week is perfect for them. Others can work up
to 5 days. And we really encourage our teams to know your dog, know what their signs are to show that they're done. And that's even daytoday. Um, we ask all of our teams to make sure they have those break spaces like Ellen referenced so they can take breaks throughout the day
cuz yeah, like you said, as staff, we're exhausted and they're the same. Um, so like for example, Daphne works every other day. She gets her kind of recharge after each day and then is ready to go for the next. Uh, but it is it's each
individual dog is different and we talk a lot about how to prolong a dog's working life as as long as you can and really avoiding that burnout cuz that exists for our dogs too. So, making sure we find that sweet spot. >> Yeah. You want to come to work every day, you know, like there was a day that
Betty I was like, "All right, let's go to work." And I got her vest off and she did not get off the couch. She didn't want to come to work that day. So, I didn't make her come that day. The next time we was ready to go to work, she jumped off. She was ready. But that was her communication of like, I don't want to do this today. And that was okay.
>> I was going to say, just like humans, I'm sure dogs all have different social boundaries. >> Needed a mental health day. >> That's really fascinating. So, of the 34 teams, are they mostly at elementary schools or middle schools or high schools? Do they do multiple schools? How does that work?
>> It's a complete variety. They're across the whole system, elementary through high school. And same thing with roles. It's across the system. And elementary through high school, we have dogs working in all areas. >> And we have some schools with multiple dogs. And so that's also been a
consideration. It's like, how are the dogs going to interact with each other? Should they all be there on the same day? Do we need to limit the number of dog teams in a school? >> Some of those things we just cross the bridge when we get there. um as we've gotten more and more teams
>> and I think that's looking back we never thought we'd get to the point of having to have the discussion is is there a thing of too many dogs in a building? Uh and so it is we kind of leave that up to the schools to kind of figure out what those boundaries are. All of our dogs
are expected when they're working to not interact and that's another part of the certification to work alongside another dog but still make sure you're engaged in the task at hand. um and in those interactions that they're uh that they're there for. And so, uh I can say
that I know the schools that are working with multiple, Plum Creek is one of them, uh it's been it's been working really well and the dogs just start to kind of see each other as co-workers and move along with their day. >> And we've also learned some things the hard way like don't let your dog eat off the floor. >> Yes. Yes. Yeah. Or let your dog off
leash and those types of things. And so it is it's over the years it's this what we started with has grown and changed so many different times with not only what we've learned but what also what research has been telling us too. >> Well going back to the research piece too. I was going to ask about that too.
You mentioned that what your capstone project was. Does that mean that there had not been a lot of that up to that point or >> it it was very minimal? uh because it's hard how do you quantify the work that these dogs do because so much of it you
can look at it and see wow this is working because of what the student is just physically looking like within the interaction. Uh but over the years there has been a lot more and like Danny mentioned we have research now that shows just simply petting a dog releases
oxytocin and dopamine and all those good happy chemicals in our brains. And so that interaction which we feel maybe is super simple is something really impactful. Uh and they're also showing that it benefits the dog in the same
way. So that same research did some scans on dogs brains and took blood samples and all those other things. So that's where that mutually beneficial piece comes in. The dogs are experiencing these really positive things just as much as the humans are. And there's a lot of research now that there wasn't before that relationship is
one of the most impactful pieces of any intervention and one of the biggest predictors of whether an intervention will succeed. >> And so clearly a dog relationship is also a very impactful relationship. U
may not be human human but it sometimes it's even better or easier or for a variety of different reasons. I was going to say it's probably easier to establish those types of relationships. >> Yeah. And I I think about that connection and how that ties to safety.
Our students can feel safe in their school environment and then in turn want to also keep the school safe, if that makes sense. And so how we're able to continue to make all these connections where really in summary our dogs are I mean we've had many examples of
literally saving lives because a student feels safe with that one being in the building and they're able to support obviously our goal is to reach those academic engagements and everything like that but without that relationship without that regulation we're not able to reach that part of their brain. So
that's this has been an amazing tool >> and a big part of that safety too is feeling like you belong in the community and I think dogs help kids feel like they belong when sometimes they don't otherwise. >> Yeah. >> So many amazing things that these dogs can help with that. This is such a cool
program to see and and observe here. I want to be respectful of your time because I I could ask and talk about dogs. >> So could we forever we could talk forever. Um, without obviously naming names or anything like that, do any of you have like really specific examples
of where they really made a difference, you know, having I mean, I'm sure you probably got tons of ones. >> Yeah. I mean, one of my favorites is I had a kid that anytime he would get really upset, he would alope. So, he would like leave the building, he would like literally run away. And this kid was fast. Like, we physically could not
chase him. Um, when Betty started, his instances of aloping went from about like five a week to like one a week to eventually none a week because he knew that when he was here, he had Betty and he felt safe around her. Um, it makes me
emotional. This is a kid that, you know, had been through the foster care system and had some really like very rough stuff happen to him and she actually have a little poster in my room about like Betty is one of the reasons I'm safe at school or something like that, you know, and I keep that as a reminder. But like she just was this like intense
comfort to him. Um, and we actually keep in touch and he asks about her and since he graduated and just knowing that even, you know, three years later, he still thinks about her and cares about her and credits her as one of the things that helped him be successful in school. >> That is powerful.
>> It really is. >> Wow. >> I think giving kind of examples, there's a great high school example that Danny just shared. I worked in a middle school for a long time with a dog and I had a student that uh was specifically placed in our building. We had an effective
needs program in the building because there was a dog in the in the building. The student had some pretty significant trauma that occurred on school grounds and he would not even come into the parking lot. So my dog and I actually started by going on a walk up and down
his street outside of his house and then we went and met at the library, the local library, not the school library because we weren't ready for that. And it built all the way into he was attending high school, no longer needed effective needs level
programming. And I mean, that's a long story short, but it started from walking up and down the street cuz that's what felt safe. And he made a connection to the point of him being comfortable enough to step foot inside the building for an hour and then two hours. And we built from there. and he graduated high
school and went to college and all of these things where we think about if the dog hadn't been there, would he ever have stepped foot? And I I don't think so. >> Yeah. Uh and so that's one that really sits with me. Um I think of one of our
current elementary school teens has uh an SSN program. There was a student there when the dog came in the building. The student was incredibly afraid and the parents expressed, "We're really struggling with this out in the community even because he'll see a dog
out at the park and run. He was aloping from the park." It became a pretty significant safety concern. And the parents were really requesting we need to work on this because it's affecting outside of school as well. And uh it started with the dog and the student
writing letters to each other. And fast forward a year and this dog is sitting in this child's lap and the family has their own pet dog of their own. And I think about if that opportunity for that student never existed in school, where would they have been able to work on
this? Uh and so it's just amazing what what we can do with this intervention that I can't compare to anything else. So it's been exciting to see. And like you said, we could go on for hours with the number of individual stories, but every single dog has kind of that magic
moment, that one student that is really been life-changing. I think it's really kind of only limited by people's creativity, but also knowing that we have to operate in a very ethical way to make sure that the intervention is
feasible and safe and that we're really paying attention to how to implement it so that it continues to benefit >> everybody. >> And and we do talk about it's not for every dog. We've had many teens. I know Danny can share a personal story with that too if we need to, but we've had
many teens start the process and realize that their dog doesn't want to do the job and that's okay. But it is a discussion to have of you go through the training process and your dog has that personality that it enjoys people. But when you get it into this role and into these environments, it brings out a lot
of a lot of things that we're incredibly passionate about making sure the dog is ready and wants to do it. Uh, and so speaking of that ethical piece, that's really something that I think is the core of our program is that we're having these animals that are really prepared and ready to do the job. And also
handlers that know their dog and know how to take care of them through that process, which is why we do the professional development. Like, and I'll just speak to that again, like it is just cuz it seems like it's like simple, right? Like quote unquote simple. You're bringing your dog. Kids like dogs, but knowing your dog, knowing the space,
knowing the kids, knowing what they can handle, like even things like going through a fire drill, like you know, we get like we're on the list to be warned when those happen, but like in a real emergency, like she needs to be able to be prepared to handle that kind of a situation. And so there really is just
so so so much that goes into it. >> Do you want to talk at all, Danny, about your meetups and some of the things you practice when you guys get together? Um, this is, yeah, a special thing that we started implementing, I think last year, maybe two years ago, but we try to do like a monthly meetup that we offer to
all of the teams in the district. Um, we do a lot of kind of like meeting up at Cabela's to do training just for that like dog to dog interaction, for that new environment. There's lots of smells at Cabela. There's lots of big animals at Cabela's, you know, like there's a lot of stuff that happens there. And so,
it's a great space for that. We've also had Phil Tedeski come in who is like somebody that Laura and I have worked with or worked with at DU and Laura continues to work with him. Um he's like the founder of the Institute for Human Animal Connection at DU which is like a very like groundbreaking kind of
organization within animal assisted therapy. He's come and spoken to us. We've had one of our trainers that we work with come in um to work on just kind of like providing our dogs with choice and understanding that our dogs have autonomy and making sure they're getting that throughout the day and
really thinking of them as sentient beings that have their own emotions that have their own fears. They're not robots, you know, they have their own stuff going on too. So, um just kind of continuing that like education process for our teams um because as more
research comes out, we can teach people more about it. Then there's this whole cohort that gets to get together just like any of our other teacher groups or whatever for training and >> and also just to kind of be kind of a big extended family then for Zad too >> and a resource too. It's like if they
have a question like they know that they have people that they can reach out to to be like hey this is happening how can I handle the situation >> for animal assisted interventions in the district. Is it strictly dogs right now or do you have other animals or >> it is strictly dogs right now. I think
that's the research is probably the most broad with dogs. Um, dogs are one of the only other beings that understand human emotion based on what the research is showing us. But out in the world outside of the school setting, ecoin assisted therapy is incredibly strong right now.
Obviously, it be really hard to bring a horse into the school. Probably not going to get that approved yet. >> Many horses, maybe. >> Maybe many nurses. But I mean, Danny and I can speak to our experience at the University of Denver's program. We did classes on small animals. Rats are an
incredibly empathetic and trainable >> rodent. Uh, and pigs are a really strong one as well. But there are so many different animals that expand out into the world of AI. Uh, and right now I think dogs are probably the most common one you see because of just how they
already live with us and experience these things. And so that's the focus right now, but I'm open to more. >> Yeah. I I got a kitten and I was hoping she was going to be our first uh district therapy cat, but she uh she doesn't travel well. So, we weren't able to make that happen, but those do exist, too.
>> I was going to say cats aren't super known for their empathy. >> They have to be really like social, right? It's a very very social jobs and a lot of cats like they have their person, but a lot of dogs, they're like every person is their person, especially, you know, the ones we work with. >> Exactly. Yeah. >> How do people volunteer or sign up to
have their dogs and also be the handlers that do this work then? How does that come about? >> I think a lot of this has grown from seeing other people do it and then they find our way their way to our committee. Uh and so we have >> the three of us here and then um three
other members of our committee that support that process. Uh, and it starts with setting up a consultation with myself or other members to just kind of see what's your interest, where are you starting? Some people reach out to us and say, "I don't even have a dog yet, but I want to do this. How do I do
this?" And we have different resources we can connect people to. Uh, the district has a site that has all of our contact information. We have our implementation guide that literally gives a checklist of for people to follow that can get them all the way into the uh the first day of working
with their dog. Uh but ultimately we are here to support that process from beginning to end and throughout the dog's working career. >> Wow. Fascinating. This is such a cool program. >> Thank you. >> The fact that it's very rare and you're the the state leader as well. Congratulations and
>> kudos to all of you for getting that done. Yeah, it's been it's been a great collaboration to see how everything >> huge passion project for you and Danny and >> it's nice that it's been able to grow and that we've been able to support it
as a district leadership team as well. >> That's been a game changer. very well say just having Stephanie and Ellen involved and just like really being champions for the program has just like that's helped that's helped it grow you know is to have like the district support seeing what a positive intervention it is and honestly it's
like you know they're it's fairly inexpensive one right they're cheaper than a staff member you know or hiring another social worker um and cuter to be honest so true >> Ellen this is the second in our short podcast series so far that we focused on
some aspects of mental health. We had Dr. Crawford on an earlier episode talking about the internship program that we have and how much of a a vanguard, a leader in the in the field that the district is in that regard. And
then this, can you just brag a little bit about your your team and and the the forward thinking and and the the innovation and the great work that's being done for the sake of our kids? Yeah, I think comparatively speaking to other districts, it's a pretty small
mental health leadership team. There's three of us and we just added our third person a couple years ago. So, it's really been like trying to champion things that are meaningful. And also, to be honest, strong interns mean
that you'll hopefully are growing your own colleagues for the future. and knowing that uh the therapy dog program is so valuable to schools. I mean, in a perfect world, we'd have a therapy dog
coordinator and uh you know, right now, everybody who's working on the committee is doing other lots and lots of other things, but it it really is something that's easy to be passionate about. And
we've had other districts come to us for advice and there's often barriers that maybe they can get over, maybe they can't in their own district. But um my hope is that this will continue to grow
because I do think it provides a lot of value. I think it's important to note that this intervention isn't for everyone. >> Just as we work through all different scenarios with students, it doesn't work for 100%. Not everyone's an animal
person, staff and students. And so we very much recognize that that as we're talking about all these really exciting stories of how amazingly it's worked in so many ways, it's not for everybody. And that's okay. And I think that's one thing we really emphasize with our teams as well and why it's important for our
dogs to have the training they do. They're not going to just run around and go up to anyone they want. It's not going to be this this dog running up and down the hallway and running into all the classrooms that they want to, which I think sometimes when we started that I think is what people were picturing and
really having to emphasize that this is very intentional and we're very focused on making sure we're beneficial to everyone we discuss, but also to the people that may not benefit from that interaction that we respect that whether it be fears or allergies or just
disinterest. uh and in referencing other districts, other districts haven't wanted to bring the intervention in uh and you think of the risks and everything that comes with it, >> but I can say I think our team has done a really good job of focusing on how much we can mitigate that through how
we're preparing our teams for this role. And speaking of uh the conversation around interns, we've had people reach out to Douglas County School District and want to work here because they want to work with a dog and they know our program is so strong. So I think it's benefiting just the ongoing
professionals that we bring in as well which has been an exciting unexpected feature. >> The passion and the innovation and the the respect for whatever needs to be done to help each and every individual student is so impressive to see from our
from our group here. So thank you very much. I want to keep talking. I don't you want to I I want to respect Daffy and Betty. They've been sitting here so good for this whole time. I was like, we better let them up and out at some point. Hey, >> Bettyy's snoozing. >> It's so exciting when your best friend
is at work and you don't normally get to work with your best friend. Like, humans, right? >> Yeah, I know. I'm like, Laura's here. I love it. >> That's great. That is so cool. Thank you all so much for your time. Thank you for explaining all this to us and sharing this with the larger community. Hopefully, the program can just keep
growing and growing and helping the kids that will benefit from this. And I this has just a I'm going to walk around with a grin on my face for the rest of the day. This is so cool. Thank you very very much. >> Thank you for the opportunity. Anytime we get to talk about it is really great. I think you need us for a part two. Like
we're around. >> Thanks for listening to DCSD Notebook from Douglas County School District, which serves more than 60,000 students, making it the third largest public school district in Colorado. To find out more, visit dcsdk12.org.
And make sure to hit the follow button in your favorite podcast app so you can get every new episode as well as parent university once a month where we hear from experts within the district and from the larger community talking about timely, relevant issues that parents
face in our complex world.