The Dog Blog is Back!

Decreasing the feelings of loneliness and detachment from their loved ones, is always a goal of ours when we’re dealing with the adolescents living at New Hope.

With that being said, we’re excited to announce that we’ve been able to restart our Animal Activities at New Hope Treatment Centers!

Paws Together is a local organization in Rock Hill.   On the day of our restart, New Hope was able to have 17 of our residents engage with 5 of their wonderful dogs.

We did pre and post tests that measured the moods of our youth before and after they had some time with the animals.  Overall, they ranked a 9-10 overall enjoyment with the experience.

Here are some of the remarks that our youth had about the experience:  “They helped me get bad thoughts out of my head”,  “It makes me feel like I’m home”, “They remind me of my dog”, and “I get happier”.

I think we can all relate to these thoughts.  Who doesn’t love a good snuggle with their pets when we’ve had a rough day or just need some downtime?

Thanks again to Paws Together, and to our Rec Team for allowing our youth to experience some comfort and connection with their dogs during their healing and treatment while at New Hope!