Donate to The Therapy Dog

Saturday, November 19, 2011

2011-REFINEMENTS, A NEW EXPERIENCE, BITING OFF MORE THAN I COULD CHEW

You will note in the title of this posting that it states "Biting off more than I could chew."  You'll recall that in a previous posting I had stated that Casey and I had become so busy at Maplewood Manor that it was necessary to start going there 2 days per week.  Unfortunately, whereas Casey did not appear to be negatively impacted by this addional work, I was not able to hold up my end.  We were already working at Wesley Nursing Home and The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Community Library on Wednesday afternoons and it turned out that a third job was beyond me.  In January, after speaking with the Activities Director, we went back to our weekly Friday visit.
                                                           
In the spring of 2011, I started attending NEXT STEP in Ballston Spa on Thursdays.  NEXT STEP is a day program that provides services to people with traumatic brain injuries.  While there, I noticed that several of the clients were severely cognitively impaired and wondered if they would benefit from contact with a therapy dog.  I introduced Casey to the execitive director and she was very receptive to the idea of bringing Casey in.  Casey and I started going to NEXT STEP the very next week, and Tuesday visits(12pm-1pm) are now part of our regular agenda.  At this point I can't comment on our success; suffice it to say that Casey has finally "broken through" to a woman who was terrified of dogs.

No comments:

Post a Comment