Therapy animals have started to become much more prominent in our society.
Whether it is a therapy dog, equine therapy or reaping therapeutic benefits from lizards and rabbits, animals have been proven to be supportive for people.
Therapy animals can provide both emotional and physical support. They can reduce stress, provide comfort and unconditional love and even strengthen muscles and provide guidance through streets and buildings.
On this hour of All Sides, we'll hear from Dreams on Horseback to talk about their miniature horses and equine therapy, then the co-handlers of a community dog at a Columbus school, and then someone in charge of the animal assisted intervention at The Buckeye Ranch.
Guests:
- Ellen Lee, director of development and marketing, Dreams on Horseback
- Mary Ely, equine science in mental health and learning specialist, Dreams on Horseback
- Brelle Farrenkopf, associate head of the Lower School/director of early childhood at Columbus Academy/co-handler for community dogs
- Stefan Farrenkopf, upper school English teacher at Columbus Academy/co-handler for community dogs
- Heather Syrus, clinical supervisor at The Buckeye Ranch
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to All Sides with Amy Juravich. Therapy animals have started to become much more prominent in our society. Whether it's a therapy dog, equine therapy, or the reaping therapeutic benefits from lizards and rabbits, animals have been proven to be supportive for people. Therapy, animals can provide both emotional and physical support. Today, we're talking about therapy animals which come in all shapes and sizes, big, small, and miniature.
Horses can provide comfort and confidence to those who work with them, whether it be a large horse or a miniature one. Here to tell us about equine therapy with their large and miniature horses at Dreams on Horseback is Ellen Lee, Director of Development and Marketing at Dreams On Horseback. Welcome to the show, Ellen.
Ellen Lee: Thank you, happy to be here.
Amy Juravich: And we also have Mary Ely, equine science in mental health and learning specialist, who also is a supervisor of social emotional learning based programs for schools and an instructor in the horse led training for dreams on horseback. Welcome to the show, Mary.
Mary Ely: Thank you so much.
Amy Juravich: All right, so firstly, for people who have not heard of Dreams on Horseback, Ellen, could you explain the organization for us, the philosophy behind it, it's great name. Dreams on horseback is a great name, go ahead. Absolutely.
Lee: Happy to tell. Dreams on Horseback has been in operation in Blacklick, Ohio since 2002. It was founded by Jennifer Hanson, who recently stepped away from her position as executive director. We now are led by Eric Hunker, who brings his, I guess, his learning from being a lifelong employee of Columbus Academy to Dreams. So we're happy to have him here. What really the mission of Dreams on Horseback is to enrich lives with horses.
We have a very broad mission that allows us to work with a number of demographics. So we use the nature of horses as prey animals to allow people to learn things about themselves because the horse gives immediate and appropriate feedback to people about things that they might be feeling, energies that they be giving off. And we can work with anything from young students. All the way up to seniors, and we do so, whether it's school children, veterans, we also work broadly with people with disabilities to bring these life enriching programs to them.
Juravich: And Mary, let's bring you in here to talk about, you have both large and miniature horses. I know what a large horse looks like, but talk to me about the miniature horses, how many do you have and how miniature are we talking here?
Ely: Our miniature horses can range anywhere from a large dog to, as far as in size, to a small horse. Currently, Dreams on Horseback has four of them, and we take them, but we use them both or we work with them both in the arena and at the barn, but, we've also had the to different school facilities or other places, like libraries or other social places where they will then get an opportunity to interact with whatever public, whatever demographic we're working with at the time.
Juravich: So, Mary, I'm guessing just by what you said, it's easier to get a miniature horse out into the community to be therapeutic for more people than maybe traveling with a large horse. Is that true?
Ely: Absolutely. It is a lot easier, especially when they are, when they love to get out there and interact with and load on and load off. They're a lot easier to work with and trying to do that with a larger, regular size horse.
Juravich: So Ellen, tell me about the training the horses go through. Are you looking for certain temperaments or can any horse be trained to be therapeutic?
Lee: Well, that's a great question. We are definitely looking for certain types of temperaments. Most of our horses come to us at a rather older age. They're approaching seniors. We like that, I guess, demographic, of course, because by that time, they kind of have some of their willies out. They're sensible. Even though we, I guess I should say that the horses that come to normally we've done a little bit of testing before we bring them into the barn.
And then once they come we do about 30 days of testing to see how they react to different stimuli. Things that happen at our barn may not happen at normal horse barns. They may have pool noodles waved around at them. Children may throw balls over them or off of them. So they do have to be a very special temperament. And so we're looking for those unicorns that can really tolerate that and not only tolerate it, but enjoy their work with us. So we do sometimes have horses come in that we find after 30 days. This really isn't their jam, and they'd be happier in a different line of work, and then we help them find that, so.
Juravich: I love that you called them unicorns just because of the horse. Okay. So Mary, tell me about the benefits of interacting with a miniature horse. I read that they can help with things like depression and anxiety. Are they more for comfort or do they really help with people who have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
Ely: I'm going to say yes to both of those. They are so wonderful with those who maybe, I guess, with working with someone maybe who has depression or anxiety for them to feel like they can approach the horse. Approach a mini is a lot less intimidating than approaching a large horse. So they would come and spend some time, whether it's petting or leading or brushing. And the great part about taking the miniatures either on the road or here at the horse barn is that they can go into places, maybe rooms or a building that you wouldn't take a large force. They are also, I think, like I said, less intimidating perhaps than a larger regular size horse. And so they also bring with them just a really cute look. So they are adorable. They are very, the ones that we have here, again, as Alan had shared, we vetted them. So we work with them so that they are well-behaved when they go out into the public so that are contributing wonderful positive interaction with whatever demographic we're working with at the time.
Lee: There, if I could add to that as well, you know, for our horses, like some of the exercises we do with folks is to like practice some breathing techniques before they approach the horses for folks with anxiety. Those same types of activities they can bring into other situations once that they once they master those the horse is going to give them automatic and unbiased feedback about how they might be. Feeling in the moment. So if the person is very anxious, the horse may move away from them.
And then our people like Mary, that are specialists in this, can kind of help the person say, they just moved away from you. Why do you think that might be? Let's try some breathing exercises and try again. For a person with depression, the lovely thing about our horses is is they live in the moments. So horse doesn't really remember what happened to it necessarily five minutes ago, so. If the horse initially has kind of a questionable experience with a person, five minutes later it holds no grudge and that person can go back and be successful and and then that gives that person confidence that like I'm being accepted by this animal, you know, I'm doing the right things and, you know all of those confidence builders that help battle people's, I guess self, maybe if they're being self-deprecating in some way or or not, they leave feeling confident.
Juravich: This is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about animal therapy, specifically right now, equine therapy with Ellen Lee, Director of Development and Marketing at Dreams on Horseback. And also with us is Mary E. Lee, equine science and mental health and learning specialist and an instructor in horse leader training. What brought this topic up is that there have been some viral videos going around social media of miniature horses going into nursing homes and hospitals and schools. And it just caught our attention. So Mary, talk to me about taking these miniature horses to places where people often don't see a horse. What's that like?
Ely: I love the opportunity that we get to have to take the minis into places like nursing homes or schools that are perhaps maybe in the inner city who would never get an opportunity. It helps too, if we're taking the horse to them, they don't have to come up with transportation or timeframes to bring the horses up to the barn. So we are giving them a service that we're bringing that therapy. That horse, that opportunity to them in that environment. And it is a little, walking in, we get a lot of attention.
The horses get a lotta attention, of course, when they come in, whether it's to the school gymnasium with little kindergartners, or for summer camps, or, like you said, also with nursing homes. And what that brings is, kind of a sense of joy and you see enthusiasm, you get like Ellen had shared earlier, an opportunity then for kids and adults to find some confidence in themselves as they approach this animal and see that this animal is okay with them or again, reflecting the atmosphere, reflecting perhaps if there's a lot of anger issues or if there is sometimes we work with a smaller group.
Of students and if they are having a more difficult time, they can see right away how their behavior is or what they're feeling is being reflected in how the horse is responding to them. So you get a lot of different, almost immediate interaction, immediate feedback when the horses go into these facilities that would be without it being dangerous, for sure. Safety is number Safety is number one for whatever we do. So we're taking a horse into an environment and we are watching the horse, making sure everything's safe, watching the interaction with the participant and seeing this come together is really an amazing opportunity.
Juravich: Ellen, your miniature horses are just one part of your organization. There's a lot of other programs for Dreams on Horseback. We don't have time to go through all of them, but is there another one you'd like to highlight? Can you tell us about one of the other programs you run?
Lee: Um, absolutely. I, you know, I'd really like to talk about the depth of our school program for social emotional learning. Last year we had 1194 students from Franklin County come out to our farm and experience the horses, but not just as a field trip. They came for social, emotional learning each student received at least nine hours of interaction with our horses and through our programs. And so. Franklin County Commissioners have been a great champion of that program, particularly for the Columbus City School system.
We are so proud to be able to deliver that type of unique programming. Some of the feedback we get from teachers is amazing. As we work with our children with special needs, we'll hear things like, about the fact that when they go back to their classrooms, some students that may not often speak will be volunteering word. You know, will have changes in actually school report cards. Two of those two schools that we've worked with they've increased their state report card scores by an entire star and a closing the gap star and they attribute some of that to the work that we're doing with their schools. So we're very proud of that program.
Juravich: And Mary, is this just being around the horses that's therapeutic, or are you also having people, I mean, certain people, I guess, riding the horses for therapy? Tell me about that.
Ely: The school program does get, they do get an opportunity to ride. But a lot of the time that we spend with the horses is more on ground or in hand. So they are spending time with the horse, touching them, brushing them, leading them, finding a way to talk about maybe even just behavior of horse to other horse and talking about why, what do you see here? Tell us what you see. So. What we would say is, say what you see. So if you see two or three horses interacting and what is it that you think is going on with them? And then having to relate that to their own, to themselves. So there's a vast way of them. It's not just about riding. In fact, that's just maybe a third of the programs that we do with the kids. Much of it is on ground. Much of is observing what they do. Much of, it is hands-on for the kids and the adults. So that... It's more complete, much larger encompassing programs.
Juravich: And another program I wanted to highlight before we run out of time is, you offer senior sensory experiences that's also connected with an OSU study. This is a program related to finding less agitation in participants. Ellen, can you tell me about that? Absolutely.
Lee: Years we have groups of seniors that have come in for periods of time. We also take our miniatures to senior centers and we do get reports of like you know that after the program cortisol levels come down there is less agitation in folks after interacting with the horses. Some of the sweeter stories are ones about participants in the program seniors that may not often smile or or interact. All of a sudden they are interacting with the horses, they're expressing joy, and it may have been weeks since they've seen joy in that person. Or maybe a memory comes back that they don't often, they're not often able to share, but all of the sudden they're talking about when they were a little girl, their grandfather had horses, and just reliving those moments that maybe had been buried for many years. So it's a beautiful program.
Ely: And Amy, can I share something else with that too? Absolutely, go for it, Mary. What we've also seen is when they come out to the barn and they come to Dreams on horseback, they may come out initially reluctantly. But from what has been reported from their caregivers and from the staff is that from there on out, they're much more willing to do the road trip, to come out and get to spend some time with the horses, Which they say is remarkable because up to that point, they really are not interested in anything.
Juravich: And just to end on, if someone's listening right now and they think that a therapy session with a horse would be beneficial to someone in their life, can they contact you or do you only work with like bigger groups like you have to go through Columbus City Schools or something?
Lee: For our seniors, while we don't have like a standing program for individuals, sometimes what we'll do is we'll take a collection of people that have expressed interest and we might not have an upcoming program, but then we'll create an experience for them once we get four or five people that we can bring together. Largely, we do work with, you know, other organizations or institutions rather than individuals.
Juravich: And Mary, just to end on, what has been, you know, for you, maybe give me a quick example of where a horse has been able to really help someone and you just, you felt good at the end of the day.
Ely: I love it when the kids come out, and particularly with the school programs who have never had an opportunity to be this close to an animal, especially a horse. And they will say they've only seen pictures of horses. And yet by the end of the four weeks, even the six weeks, they show confidence of approaching the horse and touching the horse, and they can talk about behavior, horse behavior, and they talk about the different parts of the horse that we review with sticker games and stuff. And so I get to see. From almost fear and total anxiety to comfortable and cheering it on and wanting to be part of the program and engaging. So those, I love seeing that kind of change happen when the kids come out or that's one of the things I so enjoy when I walk away from the programs.
Juravich: We've been talking about therapy animals, specifically horses, both large and miniature, with Ellen Lee, Director of Development and Marketing at Dreams on Horseback. Thanks for being here today, Ellen. Oh, thank you for having us. It was an honor. And also with us, Mary E. Lee, equine science and mental health and learning specialist, supervisor of the social-emotional learning school-based programs, and an instructor in horse leader training. Thank you for your time today, Mary.
Ely: Thank you so much for having us.
Juravich: Coming up, we're going to talk about a facility dog that has become a part of a school's community. That is when All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. Schools are vital for a child's development. The teachers, faculty, and classmates all shape the school experience. But for Columbus Academy, one more thing adds a special connection for all. Therapy and facility dogs have been shown to reduce stress and provide comfort for those they interact with. We're talking about therapy animals this hour, and we're continuing with a furry friend named Nelson. Who has become the dog for a school community.
And here to tell us about it, about what this dog means for the school community and the school environment, is Brelly Ferencoth, Associate Head of the Lower School and Director of Early Childhood at Columbus Academy and a co-lead handler for Nelson. Welcome to the show, Brelle. Thank you, thanks for having us. And also with us is the other co-leader handler of Nelson, Stefan Ferencof. In upper school English teacher at Columbus Academy. Welcome to the show, Stefan. Thanks for having us. So first of all, Brelle, tell me what a community dog is. Is a community the same thing as a therapy dog?
Brelle Farrenkopf: Yes, and Nelson is just what it says there, community dog. He's actually, his actual title is a facility dog. But when we brought him to Columbus Academy, we just thought community dog summed it up better than facility dog
Juravich: Yeah, the word community is a little more soft than facility. Yeah, okay. But he doesn't have like the, does he wear like the red vest with the cross on it, like therapy dogs do?
Farrenkopf: So he wears a vest with the Columbus Academy logo on it. He actually came to us from a place called Paws with a Cause. And so he does have a vest with his Paws With a Cause logo on as well. But when he's at work, he's wearing his Columbus Academy vest.
Juravich: And so, Stefan, tell me what it means for Nelson to be at work. What does he do? What is his job for the community as a community dog?
Stefan Farrenkopf: So Nelson was was raised as a service dog and then like most dogs that are bred to be service dogs he didn't make the cut. It's pretty exclusive. So they were looking for additional work for him and he became he went into training to become a facility dog. He comes to school every day. He comes usually in the morning with me. He will do a morning greeting. We have you know we the three divisions at Academy. It's a lower school, a middle school, and an upper school.
So he's at a carpool line or he's at a bus line greeting the kids as they walk in or he is in the hallways, always with a handler. And then he's in my classroom during my classes and I try to get him out and about as much as I can, usually around lunchtime. Bradley comes up and picks him up and then he hangs out in her office down in the lower school. And people can come into our rooms to see him or we can take him out an about. He has some.
I guess duties, I mean there are some places where he's expected, like the school has a junior speech program, there's a graduation requirement, every junior gives a formal speech to the entire upper school, the high school. That's a very anxiety ridden process for the kids. So before junior speeches, Nelson and I go backstage and they rub his magic ears and they feel better immediately. So he has lots of things that he does, but I think the most important thing that he does is he's just around. He just, like, he, people just, I mean, the one thing I hear most often is often about midway through the morning I'll take him out to play some fetch on the quad between classes and people just walk by and that just makes their day better.
Juravich: It's hard not to smile when you watch a dog playing fetch.
Farrenkopf: Exactly, I mean and the faculty there and the students there we can get you know sometimes we can get a little bit wrapped up in ourselves. Kids will stop by before an exam just to just to say hey he's got kind of his regular crew he knows his people who like really come by and see him a lot I know that's true in the lower school too. Yeah or my favorite thing I mean he does a lot of interesting organized things but my favorite thing is like when kids just walk by bend over real quick and scratching behind his ear where it's just like a part of their day.
Juravich: They're like, of course there's a dog here. Of course, yeah. But not knowing that most schools don't have a dog, right? So, Bradley, we should back up. And what type of dog is Nelson?
Farrenkopf: Nelson is a yellow lab. He is five years old. We picked Nelson up right after he turned two years old. As Stefan said, he was originally bred and trained to be a service animal, but he didn't quite make that next step. And so he's an amazingly well-trained, lovable, loving animal, and we were fortunate enough to be matched with him. So has he been in your school for three years.
Juravich: He's been with us for three years now. And did you have a dog prior to that? Or did you want a dog? Where did this idea come from? That's a great question.
Farrenkopf: That's a different answer from each of us.
Juravich: Okay.
Farrenkopf: So, this actually started a while back. We have a beagle at home named Oscar, and I had been talking with our head of school years ago about getting Oscar trained and wanting to bring him into school. I had been working as a reading specialist for several years, and I thought it would be neat to have a dog come in and read with the kids. Oscar. Did not make the cut. Beagles aren't known for their obedience, I think. Exactly. I mean, he's a great loving animal, but he didn't quite make it. And then COVID happened and I kind of stopped the process of working on bringing a dog to school. After COVID, I brought the idea back up and I thought, let's start with a dog that's been trained and really comes to us with background. And so I started doing some research about places where we could connect with a dog that had a lot of solid training, but then we could take it to the next step. And so that happened three years ago when we connected with Paws with a Cause.
Juravich: But whenever you talk to the leaders at your school, at Columbus Academy, I mean, Nelson wasn't gonna live at Columbus academy, he had to live somewhere else. So is that where you guys came in, he became a part of the Ferencough family?
Farrenkopf: Well, I mean, it was he was funded through a grant, through an innovation grant that the school offers. It was entirely Brehle's idea. She had to convince me, I admit, I was against it. We already had two dogs at the time.
Ely: Okay.
Farrenkopf: And it's an unusual relationship, so I don't know a whole lot about how it works at lots of schools. I know that it is unusual for a facility dog, in our case a community dog, to be owned by the handlers. Usually the dog is owned by institution. In fact, that's one of the defining things about facility dogs I just learned. But he's our dog, and he lives with us, and we take care of him. The school helps a great deal financially. But he's our dog.
I think in most schools, the relationship is different than that, where there are handlers, but the school owns the dog, which I think, I don't know, Bradley and I have both been at the school for a long time. We had three kids graduate from the school. We have a great relationship with the school, so that's never been an issue or a problem. I'm not sure how it works in other schools, because the bond between the dog and the handlers or the owners is fundamental. Are you saying
Juravich: Are you saying at other schools the handler might not necessarily take the dog home?
Farrenkopf: I can't imagine that they don't. I mean, the dog can't live at the school.
Farrenkopf: Right. I think there, you know, I don't want to speak for other schools that are doing this, but I do think maybe there's opportunities for multiple handlers to be taking the dog home and and working with him. And we do have multiple handler's at school. We have gone through training with five additional teachers, but Nelson still lives with us.
Juravich: This is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about school community dogs with Bradley Ferenkoff, associate head of the lower school and director of early childhood at Columbus Academy. And she's also a co-lead handler of Nelson. And then we also have the other co-leader handler of Nelson, Stefan Ferenkof, an upper school English teacher at Columbus academy. So... Basically you carpool with your dog every day, right? So every day. So the dog is in the school every day? Every day. Right. So is it like the dog has a job? Do you consider it? Yeah.
Farrenkopf: I consider him a member of staff. Yeah.
Farrenkopf: He is in the yearbook, he walks at commencement.
Juravich: With us.
Ely: Okay.
Juravich: So tell me about this how this the student interactions I mean how does having a dog as a part of the school day help you briefly mentioned that watching a dog play fetch makes you Smile, but more than that, you know, you said the phrase that you know the dog will read with them I mean, yeah, I mean yeah, so tell me that are they reading to the dog. Yes. Yes
Farrenkopf: Yes, yes. Yeah, Nelson will spend time in classrooms. He will spend time on the playground. He, the children will come to me in the office or our lower school counselor is also a trained handler for Nelson and so he has such a wide range of jobs in the lower school and middle and upper school as well.
Farrenkopf: Yeah, one of the earliest things that happened where I realized this was going to be really great. It was very, very early in the school year. There was a student down in the nurse's office who was crying, a younger kid, because he just didn't want to go to school. And the nurses texted us, asked who has them. I took Nelson. This is a job.
Juravich: This is a job for Nelson. Yes, this is a Job for Nelson!
Farrenkopf: And I didn't see it as my job to go down there and convince the kid to get back in class. We just went down there and sat, and the kid sat and petted Nelson and felt better. I mean, there are specific tasks like that, and we're always on call with the text messages. Yes. But again, just having him around. You know, I happen to sit on. On the Discipline and Honor Committee, which is a group of elected students and a number of faculty who deal with if serious disciplinary issues come up.
And Nelson's in my room and we were meeting in myroom. And at first I thought, oh, we should probably get Nelson out of here. You know, this is a real formal meeting. But then I'm like, I mean, why not? It's just a more human place if there's a dog around. I mean we asked the kids.
Juravich: That's funny to say, a more human place with a dog, right?
Farrenkopf: Well, because it because it reminds us of the best of us. I mean, you know schools are task-based places Oh, yeah, but we I mean it's a beautiful community Columbus Academy is a beautiful Community It's a very very human and humane place, but a dog just kind of reminds you you know, maybe if
Juravich: It feels a little bit like home.
Farrenkopf: It does. It feels a little bit more like home and.
Juravich: Do you have any issues with any students or parents reaching out to you and saying that their kid is allergic to dogs or they're concerned that there's a dog in the school? Tell me about that.
Farrenkopf: Yeah, so when we first brought Nelson to the campus, we did send out a letter saying, you know, exciting news, we have a new member of the community. But of course, we want to be respectful of people's wishes and their medical needs and all of those things. And a couple of families reached out and said, you know what, my child might be a little hesitant around dogs, so keep that in mind, or we do have an allergy, so keep in mind. And so we have found. Lots of ways to navigate that.
Rather than bring Nelson to a classroom where a child has an allergy, we'll have the class come meet us outside and we'll play fetch or we'll run around on the playground and that child can opt in or out as needed with a child who is maybe fearful. That's been an interesting journey to watch. We did have a few children at the beginning who parents had said they may be a little bit hesitant and now those families are getting puppies. So it's kind of funny.
Farrenkopf: I had a student write me an email a couple years ago because he was he was going into his I think junior year and he wanted to take a class that I was offering but he had he had a pretty strong aversion to dogs. I don't know there was an allergy but he had a fear. And he wrote me an e-mail the year before taking this class asking if he could come and spend his study halls in my room when it was empty just so he could acclimate himself to being around Nelson.
Juravich: What a well well thought out kid, okay
Farrenkopf: He's a remarkable kid and he knew that this was something that he wanted to work on. He wanted to get more comfortable with dogs and there was a dog in the community that he could do that with. And I've done that for a number of people. I'm sure you have too where they'll stop by in the morning. Sometimes faculty if they have a kid there and the kid is nervous about dogs. Nelson is a great dog to get. I mean, he's gonna be.
Juravich: He's going to be a bad example for whenever you get your own dog and you can't train it. Exactly. You're looking at your own dog and being like, why aren't you like Nelson? Exactly. Have other schools reached out to you? Do they want to replicate your program? Do they ask you questions?
Farrenkopf: So, we haven't actually had a lot of interest from other schools reaching out to us, but we have... Well, you might now. Yeah. Yeah. And we would love to talk about it because Nelson has just been such an amazing addition to our school. I mean, he's just a member of the community. His Instagram is a place...
Farrenkopf: His Instagram is a place where people can... Yeah, he has an Instagram. Nelson the Community Dog, one word, on Instagram is the place where you can see. We haven't been great about keeping up with this summer, but that's a place where people could see what he does. I remember I did get an email a couple years ago from a school asking about it. And it was brief conversations and I think they ended up getting a dog. We should say we were so nervous. We were nervous at first. I remember some of the early times when.
Juravich: Like the first day of school nerves, but elevated with a dog, yeah. Right, totally.
Farrenkopf: Yeah, and it feels like a great responsibility. It's so much easier now. I mean, we just thought that there was, when you're engaging in a new program like this, you automatically think of the things that could go wrong, which are even hard to imagine now. And we felt like we had to be so controlling and control every, but the truth is he's a dog. And we actually kind of had to teach him how to be a pet. He was so well-trained as a service dog. He took it too seriously.
Farrenkopf: Yeah, he would focus on just one of us or, you know, not kind of with the wider group. And so...
Farrenkopf: Yeah, in his early training we always wore treat pouches and I had to stop wearing a treat pouch because he was so fixated on me it was hard to get him to engage with the other kids. And now he's just... He's just a dog at school. It's just become just the...
Juravich: If a school leader is listening to this right now and they're thinking, what would you say to them about diving in, getting a dog for their school?
Farrenkopf: It's a hundred percent worth it. I mean, the way he engages with students, parents, teachers, it has just brought just this kind of calm and ah, to the school. Those days that could be stressful, like conference days for teachers, teachers are coming and sitting in the office on the floor, petting Nelson, and it's absolutely worth putting the time and effort into it. You know, it was time and effort at the beginning And as I said, we've worked to train other handlers within the school and we've learned a lot as we've gone along the way but I Would hundred percent say go for it and we would be happy to connect with people
Juravich: We've been talking with Brelle Ferenkoff, Associate Head of the Lower School and Director of Early Childhood at Columbus Academy and Co-Lead Handler of Nelson. Thank you for being here, Brelle. Thank you. And we've also been talking with the other Co-lead Handler of Nelson, Stefan Ferenkof, and Upper School English Teacher at Columbus academy. Thank you, for joining us. Thank you very much. And coming up, we're gonna talk about some smaller, less furry support animals. That is when all sides continues on 89 7 NPR news.
You're listening to All Sides, I'm your host Amy Juravich. When you think of therapy animals, your mind may go to a dog, a horse, maybe even a cat. But the Buckeye Ranch is using different, less furry animals to provide comfort. We've been talking about therapy animals this hour and how they provide comfort and support for people. We've already discussed horses and dogs, but now we're gonna switch to more unique animal friends.
And here to tell us about it is the, here to us about the animal assisted interventions at the Buckeye Ranch is clinical supervisor and overseer of the group therapy program, Heather Syrus. Welcome to All Sides, Heather. Thank you so much. So the Buckeye Ranch has lots of animals, including a handful of reptiles. So talk to me about these animals. Like, can you at first just list off some of the tools in your toolkit here for therapy animals?
Heather Syrus: Yeah, so in terms of reptiles, we have a couple of ball pythons, we have turtles, we've got a bearded dragon, leopard gecko, we also have two different types of parrots. We have a chinchilla, a couple guinea pigs, and a few rabbits, including a Flemish giant who is a well-loved animal that we have.
Juravich: Have as well. So what made Buckeye Ranch decide, whenever you were thinking about therapy animals, not to just go with typical dogs or even bringing in a horse like we talked about earlier, like why smaller and less furry animals?
Syrus: Yeah, actually the program has changed a lot over the years. We used to have an equestrian program on campus. And I even learned that we started with like llamas and like a donkey and a goat and different things. So it's changed a lots over the year. And I think some of that is financial and just wanting to have the center and the services really geared toward the population of youth that we're serving and small animals has been an avenue to really Um, support that with a variety of different animals for a variety of different youth that we serve. Um, and so we have really crafted a program that has, um, a little bit of something for everyone, uh, that can, you know, get something out of the treatment that we provide. Cause people have different feelings and experiences with animals in general.
Juravich: Yeah, are small animals a little bit easier too? Cause just even just the aspect of how they can be held.
Syrus: They can be, yeah. And we can, because we have an animal center that's really renovated kind of for our environmental needs, we're able to house, we currently have 15 animals, but we've had up to 20 before, which, like I said, really just gives us more opportunities to serve different youth in a different way that kind of matches where they are in their treatment path.
Juravich: So tell me about, I use the phrase, the animal assisted interventions at the Buckeye Ranch. So what exactly does that mean? And what is an animal assisted intervention?
Syrus: Yeah, so that would be a therapeutic intervention the same way that we would do different types of group therapy activities, but we're really using animals as the facilitation medium to be able to kind of talk about certain situations or body language or utilize them in a way that they can really kind of make connections to themselves or the experiences that they have within their life and they can. Use animals as a platform for that within the intervention. So we're guiding them, we're structuring that experience for them to get something kind of specific out of it rather than just kind of openly engaging with the animals for regulation.
Juravich: For listeners who don't know, I want to back up for a minute. Tell me more about Buckeye Ranch. You're a nonprofit offering behavioral health, education, and child welfare services, but tell me more. What does Buckeye Ranch do?
Syrus: So we do all the things that you just said. We have about six locations across Ohio and we're one of the top leaders for services for children and families. I work at the residential campus that's in Grove City and we've been around for more than 65 years. So a lot of people that have been familiar with the Buckeye Ranch for some time will remember it as the Bucckeyes Boys Ranch and that has changed obviously over time. But you know, the mission that we still have, you know the core of things is to you know restore hope and provide healing for children and families which is a message that I feel really passionate about and at our residential campus we're able to serve youth for an extended period of time.
They live on the property with us and so we see them for you know sometimes three months to nine months, even more than a year at times that we're really building these relationships. And that's one of the ways that animals can really come into that of like, if they're on campus for an extended period of time, then they're meeting these animals and building these social bonds over the length of stay that they have.
Juravich: And so you work at the residential facility. So that's boys, girls who, for whatever reason, can't live at home and they need more intensive therapy, more intensive intervention. Is the goal eventually for them to make it back home? Absolutely, yeah. Okay. But having these animals for therapy, for some of them, does it make it feel more like home or is it very exciting because they're like, Oh, my parents would never let me have a gecko.
Syrus: A little bit of both. We have youth that come in that are like, wow, I've had snakes in the past and, you know, I'm excited to be able to see them and, play with them again. And then we have other who you've never been around animals or can't have those things at home. And so they come in and it's a very new experience, which can be exciting and can also be very nerve tracking to.
Juravich: Therapy dogs, therapy horses, those are relatively common nowadays. But tell me about how do you get a bearded dragon or a python or a turtle certified to be a therapy animal? I mean, is it just you declare it that this one is good at this or do they actually go through a process the way a dog would?
Syrus: That's a good question. For the most part, it's really up to the team that we have of animal providers and a lot of it is seeing an animal over time to see how they interact with youth and if they're an appropriate fit for the program. In the majority of times, we're rescuing an animal that is young and we're essentially raising them with the youth that they become a little bit more. Okay with being handled then, you know, maybe an animal that is older that hasn't been handled But we have we have accepted those as well We have a range of of different ages and animals that have been with the program for a really long time and so they've just been doing the work for a while and are used to the kids kind of rotating through and If there are instances that an animal shows us that there may be not a good fit for the animal program For the benefit of the animal, you knows themselves and the youth that we serve then we you know We find a good way to rehome them
Juravich: One thing I found very interesting is the use of snakes, because many people are frightened of snakes. In what ways have the students you work with reacted to the snakes? Do they find comfort in a snake?
Syrus: Some of them absolutely do. And some of that I think is, we work with a lot of youth that have sensory needs in general. And so there are some youth that struggle with typical kind of fur based animals for, the dandruff has smell and the texture of fur and it gets on your clothes and things. So we definitely have youth that the soft, the smooth kind of skin of a snake and the pressure that they provide when they kind of coil around you can be a very grounding experience. And for others, it's a method to overcome a fear.
I think one of the differences, you know, when you're talking about dogs and horses, a lot of times when people have fear of those animals, it's because of a bad experience that they've had or because they know somebody who has had a bad experienced. When it comes to reptiles and snakes especially, there's a lot social stigma around them and it often comes from kind of a lack of experience or a lack education around those animals. So we'll have kids that come in that are terrified to be around them, but over time of, you know, small controlled engagement periods with them, they're able to kind of build up on that and realize that some of those fears are, you know just from things that they've heard and not necessarily based in reality.
Juravich: This is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about small therapy animals with Heather Cyrus, the clinical supervisor and overseer of the group therapy program at the Buckeye Ranch. We just talked about a dog who works in a school that goes home with a family and lives with a family at night and you know, in the summer. Do these animals all live at Buckeye Ranch or do some of them go home with people?
Syrus: They do. And we're a facility that's open seven days a week. So we have providers that are there every day to be able to provide the care that's needed to them. And we go a long way to provide the enrichment within their enclosures in the center to make sure that they're okay to be able to live there. And I think that's also kind of one of the benefits of having the smaller animals, because it's not like a dog that needs to be able to go outside and you have to be able to kind of take it home. They can live in their cage or their enclosure within the center and you take care of them during the day and you come back tomorrow.
Juravich: I wouldn't, some of the ones on this list that you listed off, you know, like I can understand a turtle. You just explained to me how a snake can be comforting the, the parrots. I are like, do they talk like, tell me about the parrot. Yeah. Yeah.
Syrus: Yeah, they absolutely talk, but I wouldn't say that they talk the same way that we do. Neither of them use words, but we hear them throughout the building all day. And they really enjoy talking with each other as well. So they whistle, they make different sounds that if you emulate them back, then you can kind of have like a little conversation with them in terms of the sounds that you're using. Some of that is also, I'd say like kind of that exposure therapy. Of a lot of people don't have a lot of experience with birds.
And so we're able to kind of provide that and we have one bird who is a little more territorial less social so that's a really great example to be able to talk about boundaries and body language and recognizing when someone has reached their limits and you know A lot of the things that we're working on with our kids are building up those social skills and their confidence to be able to engage with other people and so animals is a great way to practice some of those skills and to kind Make connections between what they would see without being able to hear kind of the verbal language of hearing how somebody's feeling Whereas our other parrot is very social, you know wants to come out and climb on people people have different feelings about that Sometimes she flies around the room. She's really you know, she loves treats and things So some of it is like just a general engagement and becoming, you Know more comfortable with them And then other times it's more of like let's build an activity or do something fun or learn something kind of about this animal specifically.
Juravich: Do you have a story that you can share where someone that you worked with really connected with an animal, received great therapeutic benefit from it, and you saw a great outcome?
Syrus: Yes, absolutely, which I have so many of them. So I don't know, like one specifically, we have so much youth that really develop deep social bonds and we have a process that's called a bell ringing when they're going to leave. So it's kind of like a graduation ceremony from the program. And we have had youth that will request an animal to be present at their bell ringing because they have developed that relationship with them and they really want them to be there for that big moment for them. And so we have had some youth specifically that have, whether it's one of the reptiles or one of furry animals, they really just want that sidekick there with them.
We've had youth that have actually come back to end up working in the facility. That remember animals that we have in the center that have been there for a long time. One of our parrots that we were just talking about, she's 40 years old. She's been on property since the 90s. And so, just seeing that over time of like even people coming back and recognizing like, oh my gosh, you're still here. Like that connection is really beautiful to witness.
Juravich: Name of the 40-year-old parrot? Her name is pretty girl. Of course it is. And you have rabbits too. Are the rabbits cuddly? Or I like yeah can you?
Syrus: Yeah, absolutely. Really all of the animals that we have are social, except for maybe pretty girl. She's the one, but you just gotta have the right relationship with her. Well, if she's in her 40s, I can understand. I mean, oh my goodness. Yeah, but all of our rabbits are very social and they have, rather than like a small cage, we have like a large pen that's set up for them. And so the kids are able to like go inside the pen and sit with them, provide them treats and really engage with them. Have them, you know, kind of flop all around them and things like that too.
Juravich: Are there, we have about two minutes left, but is there a specific animal that's better for specific needs? Like, is there an animal that's really good for someone who has ADHD problems or anxiety, depression? Like, you know, are certain animals better at certain things?
Syrus: Um, I love that reptiles have a very calming body presence. It's a little different than, you know, rabbits or, you know, guinea pigs that kind of, you know, run all over the place. And so youth that need kind of that like grounding, sit down, a bearded dragon, a, um, a leopard gecko are really great for those types of, um of people that, you know, kind of just need a little bit more of that, like regulation, just want to sit with the animals. A lot of the kids that come in that say that they don't like animals end up liking the leopard geckos. Because they're just very gentle, very calm, very easy to engage with. They don't startle or make a lot of quick movements or things. So they can be really fantastic to work with.
Juravich: And the ones that make the quick movements, who likes them? Kitten.
Syrus: Sometimes also the same population of kids, you know some some of the kids that are in ADHD mode like they they don't need the grounding They need the movement and so they're able to maybe engage with the rabbits and build an obstacle course or you know Do something where they can really like play with them and maybe that is more of the outlet that they need Well, we have been talking about different kinds of therapy animals this hour and specifically we have just been talking about reptiles and rabbits and parrots with Heather Syrus, the clinical supervisor and overseer of the group therapy program at the Buckeye Ranch. Thank you so much for your time today Heather. Thank you for having me. And you've been listening to All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. If you missed any part of today's show, listen back at our website www.wosu.org slash all sides, subscribe to our podcast, every episode is available for free in our mobile app. And be sure to like All Sides on Facebook or follow the show on Instagram. Our Instagram handle is at AllSidesWOSU. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Amy Juravich. This is 89.7 NPR News.