The school where I teach isn’t in a typical setting. The Benton County Juvenile Detention Center is a place where I’ve come to understand that children and youth don’t wake up and decide to become criminals; they are almost always victims of trauma themselves.
This facility where I work is often filled with hostility, anger and complex emotions. That is, until my wiggly, silly partner, a Canine Companions facility dog named Halpert, walks through the door of my classroom.
My students, ages 10 to 21, spend their days in class, but every night, they return down the hall to cells. It’s a lonely and challenging environment and I do my best to build relationships. One especially tough part is the rule prohibiting all physical contact within the facility.
However, my Canine Companions facility dog, Halpert, can provide high-fives, fist-bumps and unlimited hugs. He gives the kids the comforting interactions they crave through the tasks he learned during his expert training – including providing deep pressure therapy.
“I’ll never forget one especially challenging young student who had never heard a kind word about himself and had joined a gang to find acceptance.”
One day, the student and Halpert were playing fetch, but Halpert kept bringing the ball back to me. ‘You have to encourage him, tell him he’s a good boy,’ I urged the student. He looked at me, puzzled, and said, ‘I don’t say that stuff to anybody.’ But a few moments later, I heard him whisper the sweetest, most hesitant ‘Good job, Halpert. Good boy.’ In that moment, Halpert broke down barriers that had taken a lifetime to build.
When a young girl I had just met found out she was being removed from her mother’s custody, Halpert sat with her while she sobbed into his fur – able to be there for her in that moment in a way no one else could.
Halpert’s impact is profound. Most facility dogs in the criminal justice system work with prosecutors and victims. But Halpert is different – he’s here for the kids that society often forgets.
Halpert’s loving, playful demeanor makes neglected, traumatized and angry students he meets every day feel like a million bucks.
When Halpert enters, it’s like a wave of calm follows him. Anger and hostility melt away. Sometimes he brings laughter and smiles and sometimes he brings tears of vulnerability, but he always brings a positive shift.