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Warrior Canine Connection enlists recovering Warriors in a therapeutic mission of learning to train service dogs for their fellow Veterans.
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Veterans train service dogs for wounded warriors in Baltimore City courtroom

November 2, 2022/0 Comments/in WCC in the News /by WCC Comms

BALTIMORE (WMAR) — It’s an unusual place to train dogs but in a Baltimore City courtroom, it’s serving a deeper purpose.

“It is a wonderful thing to watch. I think it’s therapeutic for the veterans,” said Baltimore City District Judge Halee Weinstein. Watch the full story from WMAR News 2 Baltimore.

https://warriorcanineconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white.svg 0 0 WCC Comms https://warriorcanineconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white.svg WCC Comms2022-11-02 15:18:102022-11-02 15:18:10Veterans train service dogs for wounded warriors in Baltimore City courtroom

Warrior Canine Connection Launches Program in Asheville Veterans Treatment Court

November 20, 2018/in Press Releases /by WCC Comms

Service Dog Training Program Helps Wounded Veterans Avoid Incarceration 

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Warrior Canine Connection is offering a new program to support the Veterans Treatment Court in Asheville, North Carolina. Working with the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court, the WCC program utilizes service dog training as a community service option for Veterans involved with the criminal justice system.

“We are honored to be able to provide service dog training as a community service option in participation with the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court,” said Rick Yount, founder and executive director, Warrior Canine Connection. “Several Veteran participants have shared that they feel good about their volunteerism — helping to train the dogs but what they didn’t realize going in was just how much the training of the dogs would end up helping them. That’s a powerful testimonial to the impact these service dogs in training are having on our nation’s Veterans, and we’re thrilled to be providing this service in Asheville.”

The Asheville-based program marks the sixth WCC program working with Veteran Treatment Court programs, including four sites (Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) in California and in Baltimore. The VTC program utilizes WCC’s Mission Based Trauma Recovery (MBTR) model in which Veterans work to overcome the stress of combat by training service dogs for their fellow Veterans.

One Asheville participant shared the following thoughts on his participation in the VTC program:
“I love working with Clifford. As a combat-wounded Veteran, I have struggled physically (32 surgeries) and emotionally; to make human connections and to find my tribe after the Marines has been difficult. I think this is because I just don’t feel safe in my own skin, let alone around others. Working with Clifford, I feel normal. I feel like a person again. Who knew that working with these dogs would help me feel more like a human. Because of the work we are doing in WCC, I am able to speak to other people [now]. The best way to put it — Clifford keeps me calm. He is always happy to see me. And he responds to my moods. I am learning that I can control how I feel. And instead of being alone with my thoughts, I am often focusing on Clifford.”

Veterans involved in the courts are often required to complete a set number of community service hours. The dog training — offered through WCC — is one of the options on the docket. Training takes place on a weekly basis at the courthouse and Veterans can participate within the WCC program for the duration of their VTC commitment.

“I am so excited to have the VTC working with the Warrior Canine Connection,” said Honorable Judge Marvin Pope. “WCC (Amy and Clifford) has brought a new sense of joy into the courtroom that directly mirrors our non-punitive and supportive approach. I am seeing Veterans that are otherwise isolated and reserved (from unaddressed PTSD symptomatology) coming to life. Through this new modality, Veterans are learning critical skills of self-regulation, pro-social development and self-soothing. While we are training the service animal, it is actually a mutual process of growth and healing.”

The program teaches Veterans how to work with service dogs in training which helps not only to meet their legal community service obligations but also fulfills a time-honored military tradition of Warriors helping Warriors. In doing so, the Veteran can also benefit from skills development in communication, confidence building, accountability, emotional regulation and patience to promote an act of service while receiving a therapeutic benefit.

Starting in 2008, states and counties in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs created a system of Veterans Treatment Courts throughout the nation. To date, these VTCs have used treatment to help rehabilitate more than 10,000 Veterans with mental health and/or substance dependence and legal issues. Despite these efforts, tens of thousands of Veterans continue to need similar assistance.

For some Veterans, symptoms of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury can contribute to their misconduct, such as increased risk-taking, self-medication and other behavioral issues that result in their subsequent, and sometimes repeated, involvement in the criminal justice system.

The WCC VTC Program was developed and implemented thanks in part to a 2017 grant provided by the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The Foundation had provided a previous 2016 grant to WCC to oversee a feasibility plan to use service dogs as a community service option.

 

For more information, please contact Beth Bourgeois, Warrior Canine Connection, at beth.bourgeois@warriorcanineconnection.org or 719-216-3206.

 

About Warrior Canine Connection
Warrior Canine Connection is a pioneering organization that utilizes a Mission Based Trauma Recovery model to empower returning combat Veterans who have sustained physical and psychological wounds while in service to our country. Based on the concept of Warriors helping Warriors, WCC’s therapeutic service dog training program is designed to mitigate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other challenges, while giving injured combat Veterans a sense of purpose, help in reintegrating back into their families and communities, and a potential career path as a service dog trainer. For more information, visit www.warriorcanineconnection.org.

About Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court
The mission of the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) is to promote public safety through accountability and responsibility. The Veterans Treatment Court utilizes a non-adversarial, team approach to providing a host of mental health, addiction, trauma, behavioral, and psychosocial services and supports to veterans facing non-violent felony charges. We assist and support Veterans and their families as they move through a coordinated effort among the court and community-based Veteran services while improving their quality of life. Buncombe County is now on the cutting edge of recovery-based diversion court programs and serves as an example for criminal justice reform. Learn more by visiting www.buncombeveteranscourt.com. For more information, contact VTC Coordinator Kevin Rumley at (828) 259-6601.

 

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Warrior Canine Connection Launches Program in Baltimore City Veterans Treatment Court

June 13, 2018/in Press Releases /by WCC Comms

Service Dog Training Program to Help Wounded Veterans Avoid Incarceration 

BOYDS, Md. – Warrior Canine Connection announces it is offering a new program to support the Veterans Treatment Court in Baltimore. Working with District Court in Baltimore City, the WCC program utilizes service dog training as a community service option for Veterans involved with the criminal justice system.

“The Veterans Treatment Court Program has had a positive impact on those involved in our program at our California sites, and we are honored to provide the same service to Veterans involved in the District Court in Baltimore City in hopes that we will see similar outcomes,” said Rick Yount, founder and executive director, Warrior Canine Connection. “The VTC program offers a productive and rewarding community service option for Veterans involved in the legal system and is, at the same time, helping to produce much-needed service dogs for their fellow Veterans.”

The Baltimore-based program is in addition to WCC’s current VTC programs in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties in California. Many Veterans have received value from the mental health benefits associated with the canine-focused community service program. The VTC program utilizes WCC’s Mission Based Trauma Recovery (MBTR) model in which Veterans work to overcome the stress of combat by training service dogs for their fellow Veterans.

As an extension of WCC’s programming, partner organization Assistance Dogs of the West has offered WCC’s training model in the Veterans Court Program, Second Judicial District, Santa Fe, New Mexico since 2014. Judges Stan Whitaker and Christina Argyres of the SJDC Veterans Court Program have enthusiastically embraced the dogs as part of their program and the tremendously positive effects they have on the lives of Veteran participants.

Veterans involved in the courts are often required to complete a set number of community service hours. The dog training — offered through WCC — is one of the options on the docket. Training takes place on a weekly basis at the courthouse and Veterans can participate within the WCC program for the duration of their VTC commitment.

“The service dog training opportunity brought to our Veterans Treatment Court by Warrior Canine Connection has been something our Veterans can really relate to,” said Judge Halee Weinstein, Baltimore City Veterans Treatment Court. “One of the most important aspects of our VTC program is re-instilling the sense of duty to the community, and training dogs that will go on to assist other Veterans helps rebuild their connection with the entire community of Veterans.”

The program teaches Veterans how to work with service dogs in training which helps not only to meet their legal community service obligations but also fulfills a time-honored military tradition of Warriors helping Warriors. In doing so, the Veteran can also benefit from skills development in communication, confidence building, accountability, emotional regulation and patience to promote an act of service while receiving a therapeutic benefit.

Starting in 2008, states and counties in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs created a system of Veterans Treatment Courts throughout the nation. To date, these VTCs have used treatment to help rehabilitate more than 10,000 Veterans with mental health and/or substance dependence and legal issues. Despite these efforts, tens of thousands of Veterans continue to need similar assistance.

For some post-9/11 Veterans, symptoms of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury can contribute to their misconduct, such as increased risk-taking, self-medication and other behavioral issues that result in their subsequent, and sometimes repeated, involvement in the criminal justice system.

The WCC VTC Program was developed and implemented thanks in part to a 2017 grant provided by the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The Foundation had provided a previous 2016 grant to WCC to oversee a feasibility plan to use service dogs as a community service option.

For more information, please contact Beth Bourgeois, Warrior Canine Connection, at beth.bourgeois@warriorcanineconnection.org or 719-216-3206.

 

 

 

 

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