22. June 2009 by admin.

I am constantly amazed at the life-altering connections we make every day here at CBR YouthConnect – with our programs, our youth, and the greater communities we serve. This was driven home yet again at our first Colorado Handicapped Children’s Program, sponsored by the local Otero County Health Department and hosted by CBR this spring. Accompanied by a local news reporter, I walked into the Oak Lodge building on campus, which we volunteered to the cause. I watched as the program’s physicians, therapists, receptionists and a host of others greeted and worked with the steady flow of grateful families who traveled to the clinic from the nine rural counties served by the health department. I was drawn to one little boy who was extremely affected by cerebral palsy. He sat in his wheel chair with an attentive, obedient dog beside him. The mix-breed dog wore a bright orange vest inscribed with the words “Companion Dog – I am working – PLEASE DO NOT PET.” This dog was proud, on task, and knew exactly what he was doing. I complimented the boy’s father on how the dog was so stern and well-trained. He chuckled and said that when he takes off the vest the dog is a “nut. He loves to play and run.”However, the minute the vest is strapped on, the dog becomes focused, controlled and obedient. His one and only job is the safety and well-being of the child. The father told me that the boy and dog eat, sleep and do everything together. If the child has a seizure, the dog immediately alerts the parents. If the boy falls or needs help, the dog rushes to retrieve the parents.
I was about to say what an exceptional dog this was, when the father emotionally confided, “You know. This is one of yours—from your New Leash on Life Program. Other than what he received here, he has never had any additional training. This dog saves my son’s life.” I was speechless. We know that the more than 200 dogs from local and regional animal shelters brought into our New Leash on Life program the past 12 years have made a big difference in the lives of our boys on campus. Caring for and training the dogs over a 10-week period help our youth become more responsible, compassionate individuals. What I saw before me was proof that once unwanted dogs that are lovingly trained by often hurt and neglected young men can make a huge, huge difference in the lives of those who adopt them.mNot all that long ago, this very dog sat in an animal shelter waiting for another chance at life. He was given that by a young man who also needed another chance at life. Guided by the gentle care of our staff and program, that youth was able to train this dog to become the companion, friend and lifesaver he is today to another child in need.
The reporter next to me exhaled and said, “Now, that’s a story.” And, indeed, it is—the kind of story that occurs time after time thanks to the magic of CBR and the power created in the healing relationship between a troubled young man and his dog.

— Martin Masar, Executive Director, CBR YouthConnect

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11. June 2009 by admin.

Working in the Admissions and Needs Assessment department at CBR YouthConnect affords me the opportunity to meet many people at conferences and special presentations across the United States. Some of these people include: social workers, case managers, juvenile probation officers, parents, judges, special educators, and attorneys. As often as I travel away from my own home, I am struck by the attention that our referral sources and CBRYC staff give to making sure that each child or adolescent that ends up being placed with us has a meaningful as well as therapeutic experience. That led me to think about the degree of emphasis that we place on making sure “our boys” feel as much at home during their stay at CBRYC as they would in their own homes.

Henry Van Dyke wrote a poem called “A Home Song” that summarizes well how we try to make CBRYC feel like “home” for our clients:

A Home Song
“I read within a poet’s book
A word that starred the page:
“Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage!”

Yes, that is true; and something more
You’ll find, where’er you roam,
That marble floors and gilded walls
Can never make a home.

But every house where Love abides,
And Friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home-sweet-home:
For there the heart can rest.”

– Henry Van Dyke

You see, I really do believe that “home is where the heart is,” and for most of the boys who end up at CBR YouthConnect, “home” has often been associated with trauma and neglect, or maybe it has never existed before in their lives. As boys arrive at CBRYC, they quickly learn that we are neither stone walls nor marble floors. We create home through our relationships with each person who steps onto our 320 acres. We build trust through everyday conversation with the boys, through helping them learn to solve problems effectively, managing their emotions appropriately, and thinking critically. Our boys learn that they are much more than clients; they are human beings worthy of dignity and respect. In the course of their time with us, they start to feel at “home.” Now, home may be defined differently by each boy who stays at CBRYC, but the common denominator for each of those boys is connection: connection to the staff, connection to the other boys, and connection to their inner strengths.

Even when our boys leave CBR YouthConnect, they know that they have someplace they can truly call “home,” where they are respected, where they always have someone who will listen to them. As Henry Van Dyke wrote, “But every house where Love abides, And Friendship is a guest, Is surely home, and home-sweet-home: For there the heart can rest.” I like to think that CBRYC is that place where love and friendship can be found for each boy, regardless of his past impressions of home.

SUBMITTED BY: NATALIE VAN NOTE

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