Animal Assisted Therapy
Lisa Peacock is the Founder of The Peacock Foundation and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is also Past President of Studio City/Sherman Oaks Rotary.
The Peacock Foundation logo looks like the spread-out tail of a peacock, but instead of being eponymous because of Lisa’s last name, it is actually the extended ten fingers of two hands joined at the wrists in a supporting gesture. The colors blue and green at first suggest the plumed bird too, but that is part of the design’s eye-catching appeal.
With the help of rescued animals from local organizations, MFT (Marriage and Family Therapist) Interns help at-risk youth to build positive relationships and learn how to better cope with life’s challenges. Creature/Comfort is designed to open up the minds and hearts of at-risk youth so they can have success and growth in their lives.
These young people may have suffered a life-changing family trauma, such as a parent being killed in an accident or a relative murdered. The authorities are concerned that they may go from being victims to potential perpetrators before they learn positive ways to cope with life and to ask for help. Peacock Foundations clients come from all over: Compton, Canoga Park, and Huntington Beach.
One grim statistic Lisa offered us is that the three leading causes of death for those ages 10-24, are accidental injury, homicide and suicide. In addition, it is estimated that 100,000 children in the greater Los Angeles area miss school every day because of fear of bullying. It actually makes them sick.
To help these at-risk kids, The Foundation both assists interventions (AAI) and offers Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA) to provide opportunities for individuals to relate to, care for, and to feel compassion for another living thing.
Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) are “any therapeutic intervention that intentionally includes or incorporates animals.” These sessions are an enhanced form of traditional therapy. They are facilitated by mental health professionals and often explore a client’s past experiences, sense of self, and world views.
Animal-assisted activities (AAA) “provide opportunities for motivational, educational, recreational, and/or therapeutic benefits to enhance quality of life.” These sessions aim to teach clients about the visiting animals or provide animal companionship, but they do not delve into an individual’s deeper psyche.
The Peacock Foundation has joined forces with the following agencies and organizations to offer animal-assisted interventions or activities to at-risk youth:
Los Angeles Police Service (Los Angeles, CA)
Door of Hope Transitional Housing Program (Pasadena, CA)
Hollygrove, An EMQ FamiliesFirst Agency (Los Angeles, CA)
Central City Community Outreach (Los Angeles, CA)
North Hollywood Jeopardy Program (North Hollywood, CA)
North Hollywood Explorers Program (North Hollywood, CA)
South Park Recreation Center (Los Angeles, CA)
Weingart Salvation Army (Hollywood, CA)
YMCA
Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood (Hollywood, CA)
Harbor View Center (Long Beach, CA)
McKinley Children’s Center (San Dimas, CA)
Peach Tree
Ronald McDonald House (Los Angeles, CA)
The eight-week program’s purpose is to introduce children and youth to mental health and counseling as a support system. It follows this pattern:
Week One: Introductions: Learning and educating about Therapy
Week Two: Making Friends: How do you recognize a positive relationship?
Week Three: Communication: Healthy Communication Skills
Week Four: Understanding and Recognizing Emotions
Week Five: Recognizing Anger: physically and emotionally
Week Six: Coping with Anger
Week Seven: Saying Goodbye: Learning how to let go
Week Eight: Goodbye
As an example of the unusual animals the Peacock foundation uses to build empathy and curiosity for others, Lisa produced from an orange handbag a gray lizard with dark brown bands across its body and tail. It was an Australian blue-tongued skink.
Lisa walked around the room, holding the lizard on a black towel, saying any one could touch the lizard, after first advising her they were going to do so. Blue-tongue lizards quickly become used to humans, she explained, and that's one reason why they are so popular as pets.
They are slow moving and even if they've never seen any humans before they are likely to just sit there and be picked up. Most any child would want to learn what an unusual creature like a skink needs as habitat, food and care. So they are a success as therapy animals, also, a youngster binds with them and builds a rapport which can be transferred to humans.
President Paul presented Lisa with a check to help her Foundation with its work.