Conservation Education in Rural Sichuan: The Road to Conservation Social Work is Not Paved—but Filled with Good Interventions

(Apologies for the cheesy title)

It’s been an exciting 9 days, having just returned from traveling in 2 rural counties in Sichuan province. On the 5th of July I set out with Professor Sarah Bexell, another staff member from the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding’s Conservation Education Department, and 6 college students. We’d already spent 3 days together training for the summer camps we were going to lead (LINK) and we were ready to get started. Our first day involved a charter bus ride to relatively nearby Le Shan (famous for its giant stone Buddha carved into the mountain side), a bus across the city, another charter bus to E’Bian, and a city bus ride– and the trip took all day. The trip was a good opportunity for me to see Sichuan outside of Chengdu. The region is incredibly mountainous and has a lush green environment due to heavy rainfall and excellent clay-rich soil. Our ride took us winding through mountains very different than the Rockies. These mountains bore more of a resemblance to cliffs or ridges rather than gradually sloping mountains. As we snaked on roads along the Dadu and Min rivers, we cut across ridges that generally had grades steeper than 45 degrees. This region is home to the Yi people. The Yi are an ethnic minority who live in the southwestern provinces of China. The dominant ethnic group in China is the Han. Like whites in the United States, Han control most of the wealth, power, and official positions. Yi speak their own language, in addition to Mandarin, and have a distinct culture. Traditional clothing incorporates a black vest or jacket embroidered or brocade with gold and bright colors. Adult women also wear headdresses of a similar style.

The children from our first camp, in Ha Qu. Pictured are several boys in traditional Yi clothing (embroidered black jackets or vests).

In E’Bian we met the staff of Heizhugou nature reserve, who would collaborate with us to plan the nature hikes and bird watches in the camp. The next morning we set out for a 2 hour bus ride into the mountains to reach Ha Qu (pronounced ha-choo), a village less than 10 miles from the nature reserve. (Nature reserves in China are protected lands where only staff are supposed to be admitted and even they are restricted from the centermost regions. In reality, illegal collection of wildlife and plants is present; poachers and mushroom and bamboo shoot collectors illegally enter reserves.) We had 20 students from a nearby village and their teacher join us in Ha Qu—meeting us there as the village could accommodate the camp’s needs. Half of the town had recently been reconstructed with western development funds. While eastern and coastal China has seen huge development and modernization, central and western China has remained a network of small villages. While Ha Qu had electricity and plumbing before the redevelopment, even afterwards few people had cell phones and many homes still had earthen floors. We were informed that $4 million RMB (roughly $626,000 US) had been invested to construct 2-dozen houses complete with balconies and multiple indoor bathrooms, a restaurant, a plaza, a general store, and a community center. The village lay in a river valley surrounded by mountains and we took several hikes up to ridges similar to wild panda habitats. The high mountains were also inhabited by leeches, which we encountered on our second day.

The redeveloped region of the village of Ha Qu.

We ran similar camps at both sites for 8-12 year olds: scavenger hunts, nature hikes, water and bird walks, games involving animals, camouflage, or habitats, and a final performance which resembled a talent show. Videos below shows a bird watching trip and camp members performing in Ha Qu. My role in the camp was that of an English teacher. The Ha Qu campers had some preliminary knowledge so we went over basic introductions and phrases, animals local to Sichuan, words for the environment (tree, leaf, etc.), colors, and numbers. We played the hokey pokey (a huge hit) and sang nursery rhymes. We performed “I’m a little teapot” for the finale. Each camp lasted 3 days.

After the first camp we drove back to E’Bian, took a bus to Ma’Bian (the next county), and a car to Sha Qiang The trips together took nearly 2 days. The most exciting part was the road to Sha Qiang, the village where we held the second camp. We spent the trip winding through the mountains, half of the time on unpaved roads while traveling 40 miles/hour (video posted below). Sha Qiang was a small village with one a single road that deviated from the main thoroughfare. We stayed in the local school’s dormitory with half of our 26 campers—because some of them lived as far away as a 2-hour walk. Our second set of campers were just as friendly and engaged as the first. While they had less experience with English, they still loved the hokey pokey (and danced it in the final performance). The area had experienced heavy rain and storms the day before our arrival. As mentioned Sichuan is a fertile region with steep mountains, this is combined with an intense harvesting (one might categorize it as pillaging) of natural resources. Nickel mining is an especially prevalent industry—on our trip we passed more nickel-laden trucks than all other vehicles (although motorbikes were the dominant presence). Agriculture and construction have also increased in the region. Mining and logging has resulted in a loss of natural growth, resulting in rock falls and land slides after heavy rains. While these are natural occurrences, human activity has greatly increased their frequency. When traveling, our car frequently had to dodge fallen rock. This also extended our travel time as traffic was often limited to a single lane on a two-directional road. Overall the trip was an extended roller coaster ride that was quite fun and worth filming.

A view from one of our nature walks in Sha Quang, Ma’Bian.

The trips gave a great perspective on how large Sichuan province is. The shortest route between Sha Qiang and Chengdu was 7 hours total although both cities are in the same province. Coming from the East Coast, it was still surprising that one could travel 7 hours in one direction and remain in a single state. The camps were also a great opportunity to spread basic information on animal welfare and conservation with the aim to have children teach their peers and families. Our counselors were local college students in order to help spread conservation education at the university level as well. One significant barrier to the camps, however, is the cultural attitude towards animals in China. While many people in the US have pets and can be tempted to appreciate animals when shown pictures of cuddly, baby mammals, Chinese culture is overall very different. Domestic animals in rural areas are working cats and dogs—or sources of food or income. Wild songbirds are caught in cages for singing competitions. Pets are often luxury objects appreciated for their ability to act cute and move. Very few people I’ve encountered treat animals as Americans would, making it difficult to increase the human-animal bond. That’s not to say that our campers were apathetic to animals though—quite the opposite. They just needed a little extra education—and have their work cut out for them. We wish them the best.

A bird watching walk in Sha Qiang, MaBian. This shot was taken after I crossed this delightful bridge.

I’ll be off to visit a few sites in Chengdu and travel around the country for the next week. My internship is winding down but ahead are still visits to Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, the Le Shan Buddha, and the terracotta warriors of Xi’an—and one final blog post.

Videos:

Here is a video taken during a bird-watching nature hike nearby Heizhugou nature reserve.  We had 20 campers from a nearby village.  On our hour-and-a-half trek we climbed up a nearby ridge and spent time looking at the wildlife.

The finale of our camp performance included a group song with all Chinese counselors and all 20 campers.  This is taken in the village square at Ha Qu near Heizhugou nature reserve.

This video was taken on our route back from the village of Sha Qiang, where we held our second camp.  We’re en route to the county seat, Ma Bian.  The trip lasted nearly two hours- half of which was on unpaved roads.

Chinese Organic Farming and Community Mobilization

My host grandmother and my colleague weeding on the Quan family farm

Hello!  This is Jocelyn Durkay, concentration year, community track student at GSSW.  I’m spending 6 weeks this summer in southwestern China studying global social work practice with Visiting Professor Sarah Bexell.  I’m blogging about my experiences this summer- this is post number 2.  During this past week I had the amazing opportunity to visit a co-operative farming community in Anlong county outside Chengdu, Sichuan province.  I’ve always had a penchant for gardening and growing produce and held my foundation year internship with GreenLeaf, a youth-led urban farming program in northeast Denver.  I found this week to be a valuable social work experience, as well as a valuable farming experience.

The co-op community of Anlong Village was launched in 2006 with the help of Chengdu Urban Rivers Association (CURA) and other NGOs.  The project involved collaborating with farmers, who lived upstream of a major river that feeds into Chengdu, to switch from chemical farming (using of pesticides and herbicides) to eco-farming.  Eco-farming in China refers to a number of different practices including organic farming and high land productivity in order to avoid pollution and environmental degradation, to conserve resources, and to create healthy food.  In practice this means creating almost zero waste, growing organic produce, and selling the food to urban residents while educating them about the importance of chemical-free produce.  Even human and livestock waste is converted into clean-burning methane gas and organic fertilizer!  One of the larger farms in the village offers eco-tourism opportunities where visitors can stay at the farm in order to work, explore, or play on the nearby river’s beach.

Anlong Village is a pilot project that many organizations hope to duplicate.  I learned a great deal about Anlong and its farmers during my stay there from Monday – Saturday of last week.  I stayed with the Quan family (pronounced Chen): a grandfather, grandmother, and their teenage granddaughter.  It was a fantastic homestay experience where I was able to enjoy local, fresh, organic food at every meal and had some opportunities to work on the farm.

Me with my hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Quan

As I mentioned earlier, this was not just an opportunity to experience nature, culture, and agriculture but also a social work learning experience.  I had the opportunity to speak with four heads of households about their switch to eco-farming, through the translation assistance of a colleague.  These farmers had spent all (or most) of their lives as farming– initially participating in traditional farming techniques, then chemical farming, and now eco-farming.  Chemical farming rose to popularity in the 1980s because of the high demand for food to combat mass starvation from a population boom.  Chinese colleagues informed me that with the rapid rise in China’s urban development and modernization, farming has become somewhat synonymous with peasantry.  These farmers are reclaiming the occupation, however, through technical knowledge and concerns for public health.   Young people in Anlong are remaining on their family farms instead of moving to cities, helping slow the loss of a generation of Chinese farmers.   As mentioned, the initial impetus for the formation of Anlong Village stemmed from river pollution.  This river is used for laundry and for swimming by residents and guests alike.  The river water is also diverted to water the fields and has a direct connection to human and animal consumption.

Health benefits extend to farmers’ daily lives as well.  One farmer spoke of the positive health his mother has experienced since switching to organic farming.  Previously, she’d needed daily medication and had poor reactions to breathing pesticide-ridden air.  Now her health has improved enough that she does not need medication.  Another farmer spoke of how he made the decision to protect his family’s health, helping feed others healthy food was a secondary consequence.  That same farmer spoke of the concern he now felt for others who consumed chemically treated produce.  He’d seen farmers spray food with pesticide in the morning and sell the same produce later that day.  All four farmers spoke of feelings of pride they’d developed for their produce and their customers.  Previously they’d sold their produce to wholesalers while now they know their CSA customers by name and feel a concern for their health.  Farmers also spoke of their connection to their land, wildlife, and the act of farming—aspects they did not speak of when explaining their previous use of chemicals.  Several of them spoke of new responsibility they felt to the larger environment, demonstrating feelings of empowerment.  Farmers discussed the sense of community they felt with other eco-farmers, recognizing they had collective power and strength.  Additionally, all four farmers spoke of how they enjoyed their lifestyle and would not choose another occupation than eco-farming.  After completing my Research Methods & Design assignments on horticulture therapy, I found this last point particularly interesting and wondered if this supported research on positive mental health affects of horticulture experiences.

The Anlong Village co-operative was incredibly inspiring but they are currently fighting a losing battle against hyper-industrialization and urbanization.  The Chinese government is attempting to buy farmer’s homes in order to demolish them and relocate families to urban high rises (requiring a long commute to their farmlands).  Additionally, I could not see the sun through Chengdu’s smog clouds until my fifth day on the farm.  When showing my hosts’ granddaughter photos of Denver, she commented on how blue the sky looked and how she’s never seen sky like that in her hometown.

MORE ON ANLONG VILLAGE:

CURA’s official site, http://www.rivers.org.cn/en/

An article about the community, featuring the eco-tourism farm, http://zesterdaily.com/world/travel/going-organic-in-china/.

 

WORKS CITED & RESOURCES:

Dammon Loyalka, M. (2012). Eating bitterness: Stories from the front lines of China’s great urban migration. Berekely, CA: University of California Oress.

Wang, H., Qin, L, Huang, L, & Zhang, L. (2007). Ecological agriculture in China: Principles and applications. Advances in Agronomy, 47(10): pp. 181-208. DOI: 10.1016/S0065-2113(06)94004-8.

My host preparing lunch on a traditional Chinese stove while I feed the fire underneath to cook the food

China, Pandas, and Global Social Work Practice

An image of a Red Panda in the wild

My name is Jocelyn Durkay and I’m a community track student at GSSW- and I have the amazing opportunity this summer to attend a GSSW internship in China with Visiting Professor Sarah Bexell.  As a participant in Professor Sarah Bexell’s International Social Development course (co-facilitated by PhD student Eric DesMarais) I had the opportunity to learn of her work at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding.  Professor’s Bexell’s expertise is wildlife conservation but she also focuses on education.  Conservation education is vital because if residents near a protected area or urban residents (in Chengdu or in the United States) do not know their role in wildlife and habitat loss, they cannot mitigate or prevent further loss.  Her course also gave me the opportunity to design a development project on conservation and community development training for staff in Myanmar’s protected areas.

This research opportunity aligned with my first internship experience in China: shortly after my arrival, I joined Prof. Bexell in Beijing for Red Panda Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA), a red panda conservation planning meeting.  Red pandas are smaller than giant pandas, resembling more of a raccoon than a panda although they share the same habitat and food (see attached picture).  I was able to observe two sessions of the event, which involved 26 individuals from China, several Western nations, and Myanmar.  (Myanmar and the Chinese Yunnan province share red panda habitats.)  After designing a vision for red panda conservation, the group broke into two focus groups to explore red panda population dynamics and threats to the population.

I attended the threat breakout group sessions, which identified bamboo collection practices, poaching, road and dam construction, mining, ecotourism, and timbering as leading sources for population loss.  Attending these sessions was helpful in learning the direct implications of rapid industrial development on ecosystems and animals.  I found myself also examining the United States’ role in this habitat and wildlife loss, as China produces so many of the products that our country consumes.  Even though I live far from China, my lifestyle and consumption has a direct impact on Chinese ecosystems.  Not only am I responsible for loss that has already occurred but by continuing to live the way I do now, I am responsible for future loss that will result as the country works to satisfy global product demands.  I have already seen this in person through my initial visit to Chengdu, the industrial capital of southwest China, where visibility is measured in hundreds of feet, not miles, due to smog and pollution.  (In fact the city is constantly congested, placing into perspective the smog cloud I have seen over Denver when returning from the front range.)  Relatively young buildings are stained by pollution and the rain is acidic.  This is a city of 14 million people and I can only imagine the health consequences this generates for residents.

On a more positive note, I also had the opportunity to explore several areas of Beijing.  Our hotel was located near the 2008 Summer Olympic complex.  I visited Tian’namen Square, the Forbidden City, the summer palace, the Great Wall, and one of the Ming dynasty tombs.  While these experiences were breathtaking and enjoyable, they also provided me with historical knowledge and an understanding of current cultural perspectives.  For example, despite the large number of foreign tourists visiting the Great Wall many Chinese citizens still have limited contact with foreigners.  This is especially true as foreign visitors were restricted during the Community Revolution and subsequent years.  I had Chinese tourists ask to take their picture with me, including entire families, which was a very surprising experience.

I am excited to experience what this internship has to offer.  Next week I will be visiting a rural area outside Chengdu where 8 families have began an organic farming cooperative to attain greater control over their food and health!

Jocelyn

Snogging with Giraffes

Over winter break, I was lucky enough to participate in the Conservation Social Work course in Kenya.  It was a life-changing experience that has completely changed my outlook on life as well as impacted my professional goals.  The Conservation Social Work in Kenya course is offered to concentration year students and is part of GSSW’s animal-assisted therapy program (although you are not required to be in the animal-assisted social work certificate to participate).  Throughout the fall quarter, we met every couple of weeks for class and then we traveled to Kenya for 2 weeks over the winter break.

It would take me pages and pages to describe my entire Kenya experience, but here are a couple of stories from my trip:

• This is the fun story…We had the opportunity to visit the Betty and Jock Leslie-Melville Giraffe Center where we got to feed and pet rescued giraffes.  After getting to know them a little bit most of us chose to get up close and personal with the giraffes, allowing them to eat pellets of food off of our lips.  It turns out giraffes are quite slobbery kissers and have large, black, sand-papery tongues.  (If you would like more information about the Giraffe Center, you can go to www.giraffecenter.org.)

 

 

• This is the sad story…We had the chance to explore Kibera, which is the largest slum in Africa (and the 2nd largest in the world, behind India).  As we walked through the slum, we heard children chanting, “How-are-you?” and “Muzungo, muzungo!” (“white person, white person!”); we saw mounds of trash, mangey dogs, and lots of people; and we smelled cattle legs being grilled on fires.  It was extremely intense and like nothing else I have ever seen in the United States.  All of the homes were made of mud and sticks with sheet metal as rooves.  Most of them had a “store” on their front porch and when you walked into the home there was generally one 10 foot by 10 foot room that 5-7 people lived in with no bathroom.  Most of us were completely speechless and even now, it is hard to really describe what it was like to visit Kibera.  Although it was sad and emotional, it was also frustrating on a larger scale.  The Kenyan government does not acknowledge that there are 3 million people living in Kibera (they say there are only several thousand).  They do not have any kind of medical care or job security.  In fact, the only time the government pretends to care about what is going on there is during election season.  Overall, it was an amazing experience to interact with the community and to see the struggles they are experiencing.

• This is the perspective-changing story…In one of the villages we visited called Kasigau, I spent some time interacting with a family in their home.  When it was time to make lunch, they said that it was customary for the visitor to slaughter a chicken.  I had no idea how to react–I didn’t want to be disrespectful to the family, but there was no way I was going to be able to kill a chicken by myself.  Thankfully, one of my translators actually did the slaughtering, but I did help with the rest of the process.  While the whole thing was going on, one of the 13 year old girls asked me if I didn’t eat chicken.  I told her that of course I eat chicken, so then she asked me why this was such a big deal for me if I ate chicken.  I then had to explain to her that in the United States, we generally go to a grocery store to buy packaged chicken that no longer resembles a bird.  She could not understand this whatsoever–it just did not make sense to her that there were factories that supplied this type of food to us as consumers.  It really made me think about how disconnected we are from the food we eat in the United States.  As I have reintegrated into our society, I find myself passing by the meat sections in the grocery store and feeling sick because of how inhumanely those animals were most likely treated.  This experience really changed the way I think about the food I am putting into my mouth.

 

Overall, Kenya was an amazing experience and there are plenty more stories where these came from.  While we were in Africa, our class actually attempted to blog about our experiences.  So if you are interested in learning more about the things we did while we were there, you can visit http://learn2conserve.wordpress.com

Denver Family Institute and GSSW

As many of you may have noticed, GSSW offers tons of ways for you to customize your MSW degree. These offerings are there in conjunction to the multitude of internship opportunities to give you specialized knowledge in areas that you are interested in practicing once you have graduated.

A list of certificates can be found at: http://www.du.edu/socialwork/programs/msw/concentration/certprograms/index.html

I specifically have been interested in the Animal Assisted Social Work Certificate. That is what I came to DU to pursue. Little did I know that I could also go after another certificate (not all will allow you to do two, so please check to see if your interest allows you to go after two certificates). After spending a lot of time in the classroom and time in the field I have decided that Families and Couples are my favorite population. They are who I want to work with in a clinical setting after graduation. DU’s joint program with Denver Family Institute (DFI)  is a great way to get additional specialized training and intense supervision in that particular area. This last weekend I spent 6 hours on Saturday interviewing for the few slots they hold open for GSSW students. Luckily, I got one!!

This means that during my concentration year I will be taking classes at DU and at DFI. I will have two sets of supervision each week and will be working directly with clients, honing my skills as a couples and family therapist. When I am done with my classes at DFI (one day a week for an additional year after GSSW graduation). I will have all the classes required to take the LMFT exam (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) along with hours clocked toward my LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker). Talk about kill two birds with one stone. I am beyond thrilled!

If you have an interest in working with couples and families, I urge you to look into the DFI/DU program offered here at GSSW. It is a unique learning experience that adds focus and richness to your educational experience at GSSW!

Visit DFI’s Website here: http://www.denverfamilyinstitute.org/

Happy Trails!

Cori

Track / Certificate / Program Information Sessions 2011 part 2 (VIDEO)

The following track / certificate / program information sessions are intended for students as they plan their concentration for the academic year 2011-2012.  Requirements and specific offerings change from year to year, so always check your student handbook for accurate information.

Finally Figured Out What to be When I Grow Up!!!!

Although I have always known that I wanted to go into the field of social work, it seems like my choice in concentration within the field changes on a weekly basis.  Coming into graduate school, my ultimate goal was to run my own non-profit that brings service-learning into the schools and into after school programming, specifically targeting high-risk populations of youth.  During my first quarter of school I constantly went back and forth between the clinical and community track.  I am passionate about working with high-risk youth so part of me wanted to focus on the clinical high-risk youth track, but another part of me wanted to learn the skills I would in the community track because they would be extremely beneficial to my ultimate career goals.  By the end of my first quarter, I had settled on the clinical track because I want to have a clinical internship (specifically school social work) next year and not a community internship.

Throughout this whole decision process, I had also been considering participating in the animal-assisted therapy certificate.  This past week, GSSW provided information sessions on the different certificates so I decided to attend the animal-assisted session.  Even though I thought it was definitely something I wanted to do, I found that I was in it for the wrong reasons.  I think that involving animals in therapeutic programs is a really interesting concept.  The classes required for the certificate are very focused on the science behind animal-assisted therapy and it just isn’t something I’m interested in learning about.

I have been working with a family at my internship this year that has dealt with a lot of trauma and it has become a passion of mine, so I also decided to attend the information session on the interpersonal trauma certificate.  After listening to the director of the program talk about the certificate, I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do.  In order to complete the certificate, your second year field placement needs to be focused on working with clients who have experienced some kind of trauma.  I have decided that I really want to try out school social work next year and, luckily, it looks like there are plenty of school sites that offer trauma related social work internships.  So, I decided that when I grow up, I want to be a school social worker focusing on interpersonal trauma!

To all of you who are still undecided about what you want to concentrate your studies on, please don’t worry about it!!  Your first year at GSSW is all about figuring out who you are and what you are passionate about, so enjoy every second of it and take advantage of all of the learning opportunities you can.  I promise you will figure it out (even if it changes every week for your entire first year)!!

Exciting times in the field office

A few weeks ago I presented in a day-long conference called Social Work Forum 2011.  This was a day designed for current BSW students and others thinking about getting their MSW.  There were representatives from several different MSW programs as well as presenters from a lot of different social work agencies.    The idea was to talk about all of the many opportunities that are available to MSW students after graduation.  I was really proud to be there from GSSW as I was reminded of the ways that students can specialize in our program both in our tracks and certificates as well as in the field.  No other school that was there had such an innovate, specialized program.  My mother would have told me that it is not good to be boastful but that is how I felt…….maybe proud is a better word.  Our students have so many choices that sometimes the biggest challenge is to narrow down the focus.

This is really true in field and we are so aware of it this time of year.  In anticipation of students beginning their search for next year’s internship we are working fast and furiously to update our data base.  We are also opening lots of new agencies that want to partner with us for internships.  This week we opened agencies dealing with conservation social work, animal-assisted social work, and cutting-edge substance abuse treatment.

The other really exciting thing is that several of our students have been accepted to participate in Project Bosnia, a summer-long internship working in post-war Bosnia, specifically Sarajevo.  The students are interested in social justice, conflict resolution, restorative justice, human rights and trauma.  I am working on setting up their internships so I am in touch with the United Nations, the International Red Cross, and some of the War Crimes Tribunals. In case you’re curious, here are some pictures of Sarajevo.

 

While some students intern in Bosnia, China or elsewhere around the globe, many others look for placements in rural Colorado, downtown Denver and everyplace in between. Some students live north of Denver in Boulder and look for internships there while others live about an hour south in Colorado Springs so they want to find an internship down there.  That way they only have to drive into Denver for classes and can intern closer to home.

As we gear up for our incoming and continuing students to start searching for next year’s internship, it is a busy, hectic, and exciting time in the field education program.

Clinical, Families and Everything in Between

It’s track selection time here at GSSW.  You choose a track before you begin coursework if you are an Advanced Standing student, and before 2nd year if you are a two year student.  “Track” refers to whether you will study Community or Clinical practice and specializations within the clinical track.

I’ve chosen to go down the Clinical Families track, intend to get a Trauma Certificate, participate in the Denver Family Institutes certificate program (if I am admitted) and dabble a bit in Adult and Late Life courses.  If I am admitted to DFI I hope to also work towards my LCSW and LMFT post-graduate.

Choosing a track can be challenging but the beautiful thing about Social Work is that choosing a track does NOT limited your career opportunities in the future and many people cross back and forth between clinical and community work throughout their careers.

GSSW Scholar publishes on animal-assisted interventions

One of the unique programs at GSSW that really sets the school apart from other schools of social work is the energy and enthusiasm around the human-animal interaction. Not only does GSSW offer a certificate in animal assisted social work practice for MSW students and a post-MSW training program, but we are lucky to have on faculty scholars and practitioners who have extensive experience in the area of animal assisted interventions. Recently, faculty member Philip Tedeschi co-authored two chapters that offer an excellent foundational understanding of animal assisted interventions as well as the ethics around incorporating animals into practice.

The first, co-authored with GSSW Research Faculty member Kate Trujillo and GSSW Dean James Herbert Williams appears in a new book, The role of pets in children’s lives: Human-animal interaction in child development, health, and therapeutic intervention.¹ The chapter not only lays out the ethical considerations organizations and practitioners need to take into account when considering incorporating animals into their work, but also lays out the case for the need for evidence-based practice research in this area. 

The second chapter is co-authored by Jennifer Boggs and GSSW Faculty Member Frank Ascione and appears in the book Innovative interventions in child and adolescent mental health.² In this chapter, different models for animal assisted interventions are laid out, along with different components in the animal assisted intervention. The chapter provides a comprehensive look at the different types of programs that exist, how animal assisted interventions are integrated into different theoretical models, and outlines the evidence of the benefits of animals in the lives of humans.

Together these two pieces provide an excellent foundation for newcomers to animal assisted interventions, and give the experienced social worker who has integrated animals into their practice an overview of the evidence for the efficacy of this work.

¹Trujillo, K., Tedeschi, P., & Williams, J.H. (2010). Research meets practice: Issues for evidence-based training in HAI. In McCardle, P., McCune, S., Griffin, J. A., & Maholmes, V. (Eds.), The role of pets in children’s lives: Human-animal interaction in child development, health, and therapeutic intervention, (pp. 199-216). Baltimore, MD: Brooks Publishing.

²Boggs, J., Tedeschi, P., & Ascione, F.R. (2010). Animal assisted approaches to child and adolescent mental health. In Norton, C. L. (Ed.),  Innovative interventions in child and adolescent mental health, (pp. 96-124). New York, NY: Routledge.