Journal #1
September 27th, 2020
"Ms. Terry discussed how virtual telehealth has been very difficult and not personable for many families and children. I began to research therapy methods; animal therapy piqued my interest. The two most common animals used in therapy are dogs and horses. Immediately, my experience of riding horses came to mind. As a City of Hartford resident, I experienced a very empowering program on the Northend of Hartford, Ebony Horsewomen Equestrian Program. Riding horses provided me with a sense of safety, calmness, stress free, reassurance, nurturing, and peace. I desire to focus my capstone project on Awareness of Animal Assisted Therapy: therapy used to help children who are suffering from trauma or abuse to relax, minimize stress, and offer a sense of safety and unconditional acceptance that puts therapy at ease. “Therapy at ease” when I think about this, I think about the stigma of therapy in the minority neighborhoods".
Journal #1 | |
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Journal #2
October 29th, 2020
"Process has been gathering more data on the benefits of animal therapy, scheduling a meeting (Wednesday, October 21st) with Mrs Patricia Kelly of Ebony Horsewomen. On date, Mrs. Kelly agreed to be a mentor for my Capstone project, I discussed my ideas on how to emphasize the awareness of animal therapy specifically horses. Mrs. Kelly discussed the population of children in which Ebony Horsewomen service, the therapeutic benefits to the children,the challenges of being able to interview children due to HIPPA laws and some time restriction of visiting the facility due to COVID guidelines. If possible I also was thinking about having mental check-ins with the middle schoolers and give them a safe space about their mental state if needed, also teaching why it’s important to address your mental health especially during a pandemic".
Journal 2 | |
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Journal #3
November 31st, 2020
"Throughout the month of November, I’ve been struggling to contact my mentor and speak about or plan for community service ideas which really stressed me out. I would like to put my all into every activity I take part in, but I cannot force myself to help someone where my help is not needed. Before the school year started my mother, my aunt, and I sat down and spoke on potential Capstone ideas and my main one was to work with Ebony Horsewomen and help children in my community understand the importance of dealing with mental health, with giving them a possible way which is equestrian therapy. Which led to my family members asking me “why?” and honestly I didn’t have an answer which made me very frustrated with myself that I couldn’t answer a question that seemed very simple to answer but I knew this is what I wanted to do for my project."
Journal 3 | |
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Journal #4
December 31st, 2020
"I also came to the conclusion that I tried to force a relationship that wasn’t there anymore and I didn’t want to tell myself it wasn’t there so I just kept going at it, which led to myself wasting time also feeling abandonment. I can relate to this feeling because when my father and grandmother passed away, I was in a stage of resentment. It led me to being angry and anything and everything, and I used their passing as an excuse to be miserable, now looking back I wasted a lot of time being mad at the world instead of trying to find inner peace within. I decided I needed to clear my mind, and come back to my project with a brand new mindset, so my aunt and I took a trip to Barbados. My aunt is into Spiritualism and she helps me connect to my better self, so throughout the trip we meditated and made sure we had a new perspective on how we want to live our lives"
Journal #4 | |
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Journal #5
January 27th, 2021
"The fact that I asked her to be my mentor back in October and been consistent with reaching out with no response was a major smack in the face, since I looked up to Ms. Kelly since I was a child and I wasted all this time waiting for someone who made them feel like I wasn’t worth their time. That week I was at my lowest, I’m still waiting for the other two programs I spoke to out of state to reach back to me and other than that I have no other plans for hours. So I decided to speak to one of my classmates and great friend Destiny Hurst to express my frustration. While we were discussing some plans she reminded me of how much I love helping and speaking to the middle schools. When I was in middle school I was very shy and to myself due to the massive bullying I've endured and I didn’t know how to ask for help, especially someone I could just talk to comfortably so I would like to be that person I craved as a middle schooler. So she gave me the idea to create some type of presentation and go to the middle school classrooms and present it to the students. So I decided that I want to make a presentation about mental health and ways to properly cope"
Journal 5 | |
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Journal #6
February 26th, 2021
"I spoke to Ms. Prescott and asked if there’s any possible organizations I can work with that she’s familiar with and she informed me that we have a therapy dog at school which I never knew about. She informed me that her name is Sophie and her trainer is Jan Proll, when she told me this I was so excited. She explained to me that she worked with an organization called Tails of Joy located in Avon, CT. The Tails of Joy organization stated that they plan 'to provide a network of dependable, caring volunteers committed to providing a therapeutic benefit through the use of animals to people who need comfort or company, to provide support, training, and education to those interested in animal therapy programs, also to build connections between volunteers, facilities and individuals seeking animal therapy."
Journal 6 | |
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Journal #7
March 29th, 2021
"I also began to question if there was a possible chance even though I’m an online learner, if I can come to the sessions to participate. I became worried due to the strict rules the school has in place to make sure all students are cautious. So I spoke with my mentor to see if there was any possibility that I will be able to come in for the sessions we have planned. I was ready to do anything and everything to make sure I was there if that was to take however many covid tests, how many masks I had to wear, if I had to stand 6ft or 20ft, I was determined to make sure I was present in the sessions. For a long time I lacked the determination that I once had and knew too well, so it felt amazing to regain that feeling knowing many kids are going to benefit from it".
Journal 7 | |
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Journal #8
"On April 2nd, I was given the exciting news that the MOU between the Tails of Joy and the district was approved, which means my sessions were accepted which I was so happy for. I was glad to finally say all those tears, sleepless nights, dreams I had thinking I wasn’t going to graduate had finally come to an end. I was astounded to give Ms. Proll the news, and we shared the same amount of excitement with one another. We began to discuss specific details that needed to be addressed like how many students will be in each group and how much time will each group have with Sophie."
Journal 8 | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
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