Image: Eden Gross
By Eden Gross Summer 2023 Collaborator at Power in Place
Lisa Buckley sits with her dogs on a wicker chair outside of her home recalling the story of the Irish wolfhound therapy dog named Ezra, who would often be compared to a table by students of the Lyme-Old Lyme school district. The students would sit around Ezra, occasionally making eye contact with each other and even talk about their day as they pet him. One day a student sitting alone with Ezra mentioned to the handler that they were new to the district and had no one to sit with at lunch. This moment of opening up offered staff the opportunity to intervene and offer support and resources for the student that felt brave in speaking on an issue they were facing.
The beauty of this moment is the mission of Lisa Buckley’s strength after the loss of her son, Tim. Reflecting upon Tim’s struggle with mental health and substance abuse issues, she recalled the special connection between her son and Tip, the dachshund that sits on the project's logo. Buckley speaks of Tim’s own experience of receiving emotional support from Tip, who never questioned or passed judgment on him. Buckley could recognize then the link between animals and emotional regulation and used that understanding in 2018 when founding Project Paws, a non-profit dedicated to connecting therapy dog teams to the Lyme-Old Lyme school district.
The project has also been able to provide financial assistance and training to school staff and those in the community. The project currently has 12 trainers which include staff, such as counselors and teachers that work in what are called facility teams to provide support to the community. Buckley says that her grief from a tragedy has been turned into collateral beauty, one that inspires her in this project. Her work not only extends outward in the community but within the project where Buckley trusts in trainers knowledge and the experiences they have of animal therapy to improve the project each day.
In the four years of the project, Project Paws has hosted events such as candlelit yoga and presentations. As the elementary and middle school students move up in their schooling, the effects of their access to therapy dogs will only continue to show its benefit. Buckley particularly has an interest in the long term benefit of providing therapy dogs on attendance, as an alternative to leaving school when facing mental health issues.
To learn more about Project Paws, follow their website and their facebook!
Eden Gross is a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies. Her interests include cooking, gardening, and reading. After college she hopes to work in community care and activism which engages with reproductive justice.