Recently, our family had a life-changing experience. It started when our daughter was accepted by the paws4people organization (http://paws4people.org/) to receive an assistance dog. The mission of paws4people is “empowering people to utilize assistance dogs to transform their lives.” The organization was founded by Kyria Henry when she was just 12 years old. She wanted to use dogs to help her father, Terry Henry, and military veterans like him, to overcome the devastating effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). More recently, the organization has branched out to help children who suffer similar debilitating emotional trauma or physical or developmental disabilities.
The journey to receive an assistance dog involves a number of steps. The first step is to apply to be accepted into the program. If accepted, you must then travel to one of five prisons within the West Virginia Division of Corrections where the dogs are trained. This is where the matching process, or so called “bump” happens. As explained to us, the bump allows the dog to instinctively find the right person, and will show this by nestling up against that person’s body. There is a natural emotional connection.
My daughter was to be matched with her dog at St. Marys Correctional Center. Needless to say, I was quite concerned about bringing my daughter to a prison. Indeed, when I googled the prison website to find out more about it, I was greeted with the following information: “St. Marys Correctional Center’s mission is to provide for the custody, control and care of convicted, adult, male felons who have been convicted of severe crimes against man or nature.” I convinced myself that we would just have to endure this part of the process so our daughter could be matched with a dog. But as I will explain, this experience was not one to endured, but one to be celebrated and for which I am grateful to have experienced.
After five plus hours of driving from Washington DC to West Virginia, we entered the prison grounds surrounded by barbed wire fencing, then were buzzed into the prison and had to go through a metal detector and get patted down by prison guards. We were then led into a room where our daughter sat in a chair and seven different dogs were brought in separately to meet her while the paws4people staff observed. One of the dogs immediately ran away. Some of the other dogs, while friendly, did not seem all that interested in our daughter and tended to ignore her attempts to call to them. But one dog in particular was very interested, went right over to our daughter, walked around the room with her, responded to her commands, and sat down and snuggled with her. In other words, this dog and my daughter had bumped!
After the bump, we had the opportunity to meet with and listen to the stories of some of the other individuals who had come to be matched with their dogs, most of whom were military veterans. They explained the mindset you come to have when you are deployed to hostile countries -- you are always worried about an ambush or an IED blowing up your vehicle and that you may have to kill or be killed. They also relayed the heartbreaks of seeing a fellow soldier suffer and die. You are in a constant state of hyper alert – anything is potentially a threat to your well-being and safety. And when these soldiers return home, they experience PTSD symptoms such as irrational fears, recurring nightmares, flashbacks, and panic attacks. It is often impossible for them to go back to life as usual, but they are expected to do so without any supports or help. And many cannot cope. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 22 veterans commit suicide every day.
An assistance dog can provide amazing therapeutic benefits to someone experiencing this type of fear and panic. Specifically, the dog is trained to detect when a person is having, or about to have, a panic attack, and will alert the person and provide physical closeness and support. One of the most common ways for the dog to do this is to “anchor” the person, which means the dog will sit on the person’s feet, providing both physical and emotional stability. The person is also encouraged to utilize the dog for comfort and as a distraction from their fears by focusing on the dog, petting the dog, and just trying to survive the moment. Once a person is able to do this consistently, the brain starts to re-learn that most experiences are not unsafe and they don’t need to be afraid all the time. The dogs literally save these soldiers’ lives every day.
Although my daughter does not suffer from PTSD, her disability results in similar trauma reactions, such as paralyzing fears when facing new or different situations or people. Just as a veteran may see a person walking down the street as a possible safety threat, so does my daughter when entering a new environment or meeting a new person. No rationale explanations can help and all of the traditional therapies we tried did not work. Similar to the veterans, she would rather stay in the safety of her home, even if that means she will never experience the great outdoors, never be exposed to live music, theatre or art, and never meet new people. To the rest of us, this may seem foolish or irrational, but when you are in the middle of a panic attack, you just want to find a safe place; missing out on opportunities is not even on your radar screen.
In addition to hearing about the veterans’ experiences, the inmate trainers shared with us their traumatic upbringings and environments that ultimately led them to criminal activity and then to incarceration. Research shows that a large number of prison inmates witnessed or were the victims of abuse in their homes, or were abandoned by a parent. In addition, living in a prison environment can be one of the most physically and psychologically degrading and traumatic experiences a person may encounter. As a result, before working as assistance dog trainers, many of these inmates had feelings of fear, worthlessness and low self-esteem, similar to the traumatized veterans and children with disabilities. But working with the dogs has taught them how to trust and build a relationship, and also gives them a real calling to help others– they are not just another number in a cell.
As a result of receiving an assistance dog, our little corner of the world has expanded. Before, our daughter was limited to the same routine every day -- go to school, come home, eat dinner at home, go to sleep. Most alterations to this schedule would result in panic, fear, trepidation and avoidance. We are making progress step by step to expand our daughter’s world. We have gone bowling, experienced a science museum, and even took our first ever real spring break vacation out of town. All of this was only possible with the help of her dog.
Assistance dogs provide an invaluable and special gift to trauma victims and people with disabilities by just being themselves -- nonjudgmental, devoted companions who are always there for you and who love you no matter what. These beautiful and amazing dogs save lives and help make them worth living.