A Word From Faith, Horizons4Girls’ Therapy Dog

Mental Health, Wellness 7 years ago Faith is a Certified Therapy Dog with Horizons4 Girls in Sheboygan Less than a minute to read

Hi there! My name is Faith, and I work at Horizons4Girls, or should I say, “I volunteer.” I am a Certified Therapy Dog with an advanced degree in working with troubled teens, or as they like to identify themselves, “at promise.” Each one of these middle school and high school teens has plenty of gifts that just need to be identified and enhanced.

What is it that Horizons4Girls do? With the teens, we work with, we work on study skills, cooking, and other life skills. We learn coping skills for anger and other issues. We spend time job shadowing, going on field trips, doing community service and we even go on weekend retreats.

But let me tell you why I am talking to you.

I have gone to multiple pieces of training with mom and spent weekends sitting on her lap as she studies topics like mindfulness, trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing and even animal-assisted therapy. She wants to make me the best I can be at my job. She also works with dozens of volunteers helping them to become certified mentors so that they are better able to address some of the issues our students face.

Those mentors come from many diverse backgrounds. They are retired, employed and even current college students. They are or were teachers, entrepreneurs, managers, or even a Catholic sister. The training they receive helps them to become certified mentors so that they can help to ‘ignite the spark’ in each of our students. Some mentors volunteer weekly, some a couple times a month and some help at weekend activities. Mom is always recruiting new potential mentors to serve the growing group of students throughout Sheboygan County.

Thanks to training from UW, Mental Health America, and Healthy Sheboygan County 2020, these mentors can provide the skills and support to make a difference in the future of over 50 students.

But it takes volunteers like you to make the difference for these young women. Come have coffee with mom and me to find out more about how you can fit into this picture. For more information, visit Horion4Girls website www.horizons4girls .com, email info@horizons4girls.com, and/or call (920) 254- 1584.

Faith is a Certified Therapy Dog with Horizons4 Girls in Sheboygan.