环球体育
Green Chimneys was featured in The New York Times on Sunday, March 3. “Lessons Learned, by Way of a Barn,” by Richard Schiffman, highlights several Green Chimneys students, parents and staff and illustrates how animals help children with special needs learn and grow.
For some Green Chimneys students, our farm and wildlife program inspires something within them, a deep connection to animals and a desire to immerse themselves in their care.
As Tome was completing their junior year of high school at Green Chimneys, they had already spent over two years as a Wildlife Farm Apprentice, developing expertise with birds of prey and other avian species. They had also taken on a leadership role with the newly formed Farm Student Advisory, which would discuss the student perspective on what happens at the farm and serve as a sounding board for staff.
In looking ahead to their final year of high school, Tome wanted an opportunity to expand their knowledge in animal care even further. “I wanted to work with different kinds of animals, and practice different skills,” says Tome.
Miyako Kinoshita, Assistant Director of Nature-based Education, works closely with the school administration, clinical staff and often, the individual students, themselves to identify work-based learning opportunities that speak to their academic, therapeutic and personal goals. “Tome wanted to use the summer to gain as much experience as possible,” recalls Miyako. “We reached out to connections at other farms, wildlife facilities, and veterinary clinics in our local community to seek an advanced opportunity for Tome.”
Distance and transportation ultimately presented an obstacle but rather than give up, Tome returned with a proposal: Could they work as many hours as possible on campus during the summer, rotating through different areas on the farm?
Excellent academic standing and clear passion persuaded Education staff to allow Tome to devote a portion of their school schedule to pursue this intensive experience. The result was a unique Student Farm Intern position, distinct from existing farm apprenticeships and designed specifically for Tome.
This past summer, Tome committed 17 hours a week rotating between the Wildlife Center, Horse Barn, and Teaching Barn, handling tasks from independently feeding birds to assisting with specialized care, such as administering deworming medication to llamas and alpacas.
“I give a lot of credit to Tome for taking the initiative, persistently asking for opportunities, and talking to their teachers, guidance counselor, and others to make this experience a reality,” says Miyako. “They’re one of the first students to serve as an apprentice long enough to have tapped into almost everything that we can teach them at the student level.”
As Tome enters their senior year, their self-advocacy not only created a meaningful learning experience beyond the traditional program, it’s helped them develop an important personal skill that can be used throughout their life. This diverse experience across the farm will also help them to make a more informed decision as they consider what path to take after high school. We can’t wait to see what Tome accomplishes next!
Partnership across Green Chimneys programs ensures a holistic approach to therapeutic support, and expands the services available to individual students and their families. Now, a coordinated effort between our Social Work Team and our Community-Based Services (CBS) has added targeted family therapy to the array of intervention options for residential students.
The family and home life challenges our residential students face are an important part of their treatment plan. Relationship difficulties or the inability to follow family rules and expectations has a tremendous impact on a child’s emotional regulation, confidence, and feeling of belonging in their own home. For some students, bridging their individual therapeutic support with separate family work enables a more comprehensive and productive approach to addressing core issues and building necessary skills.
According to CBS family therapist Hannah Roche, learning communication and emotional regulation skills is vital in creating positive family dynamics and relationships. “Family therapy allows each member’s strengths, interests, and opinions to be valued and heard,” explains Hannah. “Therefore, individualizing that treatment allows for family members to feel empowered to reach the goals that are meaningful to their success, such as family game nights, community outings, or vacations.”
“As a treatment community, we are excited and eager to offer enhanced clinical supports and options,” says Vice President of Social Services Jenna Eckna. “This comprehensive approach helps children and families become the most successful versions of themselves. Joining together serves to enhance overall family functioning, support positive home visits, and equip families with the tools necessary for youth to experience a smooth reintegration into their home and school community.”
This expanded treatment team is even better able to look at the resources, strengths and desires of the individual student, as well as the collective family unit, allowing that to help guide the intervention process, which in turn, yields empowerment, determination, and achievement of goals. Learn more about Green Chimneys’ therapeutic services for residential students
The term “pet therapy” was first coined in April 1964 by Psychologist Dr. Boris Levinson in a paper published in the journal Mental Hygiene. Dr. Levinson had incorporated his dog, Jingles, into therapy sessions with clients and documented the positive effects of the interactions. At the time, the very notion of incorporating contact with animals in human service settings was a novelty but in the decades that followed, new taxonomy developed to describe different activities.
In the 1980s, the Delta Society designated Animal-Assisted Therapy and Animal-Assisted Activities as key terminology. The first term defined an interaction with a specially trained animal conducted by a licensed health care professional as part of their client treatment, while the second term described a beneficial activity guided by a person and animal with special training. Outside clinical circles, Animal-Assisted Therapy became an umbrella term to describe any Human-Animal Interaction in health care settings, regardless of the credential of the person leading the interaction. Therapists saw their clinical work as diminished and, service providers began claiming to offer therapy without an associated license, inadvertently misrepresenting their qualification to provide such a service.
As the number of health care professionals, animal handlers and volunteers incorporating animals in activities increased, multiple special interest associations developed internationally. Occupational, physical, speech, recreation, play and mental health therapists all incorporated companion animals, horses or farm animals in their work with populations ranging from children to people with varied disabilities and health challenges to incarcerated individuals to hospice care patients. The role of dogs, horses and other animals supporting human health expanded and multiple terms emerged – Zoo Therapy; Riding for the Handicapped; Animal-Assisted Interventions; Equine-Facilitated Mental Health; Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy joined Animal Assisted Visitation; Hippotherapy; and other variations describing these forms of services came into use.
Frustrations in the field grew; the term “therapy” could not be an umbrella for any human service involving an animal. The absence of standard terminology made it challenging to define best practices, to gain recognition for valuable work and to describe services clearly for the public. Practitioners struggled to accurately code for insurance to obtain reimbursement for services. The lack of universal language also challenged scientists publishing research data, complicated literature searches, and hindered acceptance of research. The need for more aligned terminology became increasingly urgent.
In 2019, representatives of the major equine-assisted services groups published “Optimal Terminology for Services in the United States That Incorporate Horses to Benefit People: A Consensus Document.” Five years later, an international effort by a large number of professionals proposed an elegant terminology framework for all animal-assisted services with “Recommendations for Uniform Terminology in Animal-Assisted Services (AAS).” Although not binding or accepted by all representatives in the field, these significant steps in defining language by a credible and diverse core group of advocates and professionals provide clarity and continuity for establishing service standards and sharing evidence-based practices. While unresolved global terminology challenges remain – as direct translation of any framework from English is not always helpful, or possible, and there are regional differences in animal-assisted services – a new terminology baseline exists, and the evolution will continue.
In the nature-based programs at Green Chimneys, this linguistic evolution has practical application. The term Animal-Assisted Services is now an accurate unifying term for all the various services that incorporate an animal in their work. Animal Assisted-Treatment best describes the work with our students done by psychologists and social workers, while Animal-Assisted Education encompasses psychosocial-emotional learning and humane education for children that integrates animals. As a community we can be clear about each activity; what credentials the facilitator must hold; what goals we set for the students; how we evaluate the service; and, equally important, how the role of the animal is defined to ensure optimal well-being for all.
Green Chimneys’ founder Dr. Samuel “Rollo” Ross was a contemporary and friend of Boris Levinson and in 1964 Green Chimneys had already spent 20 years bringing children together with animals as part of their schooling. Both men are gone now, but the foundation they laid continues to inform the field of animal-assisted services. Today, these two visionaries would be strong advocates of the new terminology frameworks that clearly describe the many beneficial impacts animals can have on humans.
This content appeared in Institute Insights, the official newsletter of The Sam and Myra Ross Institute at Green Chimneys. The Ross Institute serves as a model and training site for the varied facets of human-animal and nature-based interactions, grounded in evidence-based practices for implementing diverse and ethically responsible educational and therapeutic interventions and activities.
Join the discussion and subscribe to Institute Insights >
Decades of research tells us that healing happens in relationships, and that strong connections between humans, animals and nature lead to greater psychological and physical well-being. At Green Chimneys, the positive impact of human-animal and nature-based interactions was always felt, yet it was only anecdotal. For years we wondered whether we could capture real data that would allow us to determine if the animal-assisted and nature-based interventions did indeed positively affect clinical outcomes for our youth.
In 2016, a research endeavor with University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection was born from a shared goal in documenting and measuring the effects of nature-based interventions on youth outcomes. Various projects were designed to validate and optimize our programs, provide supporting evidence for our hypothesis, and translate research findings to clinical practice.
Green Chimneys’ therapeutic environment and Guiding Principles naturally lent themselves to utilizing the Positive Youth Development (PYD) model as our theoretical framework. Green Chimneys prioritizes its practices around an individualized and strength-based approach built on positive reinforcement and collaboration. Developed by Richard Lerner and colleagues at Tufts University in the 1990s, the PYD model is a strength-based, practical assessment that says, when young people have the right relationships, opportunities, and supports, they don’t just avoid problems, they thrive. The “5 C’s” are the components of thriving and include Competence, Confidence, Connection, Caring, and Character.
Over the past nine years, we have amassed quite a bit of data, both qualitative and quantitative, including comprehensive documentation of the types of animal-assisted and nature-based interventions at Green Chimneys. Research to date includes crisis incident data analysis; qualitative studies developing an understanding of potential pathways of change; behavioral coding of video footage showing students before and after animal-assisted interventions; and validated self-report instruments administered with youth quarterly via the Positive Youth Development-Short Form (PYD-SF), and Social Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales (SEARS) assessment.
Read Findings Published To Date
Green Chimneys Ross Institute leadership, Michael Kaufmann and Miyako Kinoshita, with key members of Denver research team, Kevin Morris and Marisa Motiff.
We have now expanded our focus to helping staff understand how to best utilize the interventions to optimize their impact, and use new clinical tools to assess and track student progress across Positive Youth Development and self-regulation measures. With this information, we can learn more effective ways to harness our animal-assisted and nature-based interventions, and train staff to fully integrate this approach in their work to build the strengths, skills, and supportive relationships that our youth need to thrive.
Green Chimneys is a complex and dynamic research environment, making it challenging to parse out the effects of human-animal and nature-based interaction vs. the Green Chimneys environment as a whole. It is likely that the entire experience is critical in driving positive outcomes for our youth. Our research partnership with Denver has been careful to preserve the integrity of the Green Chimneys program, while continuing to measure the effects and mechanisms of our animal-assisted and nature-based interventions.
This content appeared in Institute Insights, the official newsletter of The Sam and Myra Ross Institute at Green Chimneys. The Ross Institute serves as a model and training site for the varied facets of human-animal and nature-based interactions, grounded in evidence-based practices for implementing diverse and ethically responsible educational and therapeutic interventions and activities.
Join the discussion and subscribe to Institute Insights >
