Making a Difference Following Crises

HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response (AACR) is a national non-profit organization that provides comfort (via highly trained and certified comfort dogs) to people affected by a crisis. This past October, four students from SRU attended an intensive training to become nationally-certified HOPE AACR Team Leaders. Since then, students have been responding to crisis calls in the Eastern US Region, including a hospital to support the staff affected by the stress of caring for Covid patients, a high school in response to two student suicides, and two other schools in response to accidental student deaths. A social worker's primary responsibility is to promote well-being. When disaster strikes, we have an ethical imperative to supply psychological first-aid to the survivors. AACR has been found to be an effective intervention for those needing assistance (Chandler, 2008). HOPE-AACR canine teams never respond to a call alone and the importance of the Certified Team Leaders to manage the logistics and needs of the teams cannot be overstated. The students involved are gaining valuable leadership skills as they use what they have learned in their Social Work and Animal-Assisted Intervention classes in the field. The certification process involved a three-day training which included experiential training in disaster response, crisis intervention, stress management, and AACR. To date, the students have assisted nearly a dozen canine/handler teams as they brought comfort to over 2300 individuals following a crisis. This ongoing endeavor has provided opportunities for students to provide a high-value community service as well as network with other professionals in the field. Most importantly, students are fulfilling their personal and professional objectives of providing assistance in a moment of great need. References Chandler, C.K. (2008, March). Animal assisted therapy with Hurricane Katrina survivors. Based on a program presented at the ACA Annual Conference Exhibition, Honolulu, HI. Retrieved from http://counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas08/Chandler.htm