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National Organization for Animal Assisted Crisis Response |
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Man's best friend helping Man |
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AACR Board of Directors |
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Cindy Ehlers, CTR, CTSS, CCR: Founder and President |
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Cindy is the Founder and President of the National Organization Animal Assisted Crisis Response (National AACR) with over 17 years of broad-based professional experience with pet dog training and animal behavior, including 9 years as a Delta Society Pet Partner and ? years as a Delta Society Licensed Team Evaluator, Instructor, and Speaker Representative. She has experience with curriculum development, training, and evaluation of animal behavior and animal assisted crisis response teams and team leaders. She teaches ongoing 5 week Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) courses and has taught AACR courses throughout the United States since 1999. She has volunteered professionally since 1998 developing programs that specialize in providing animal assisted emotional support to children, teenagers and adults whose lives have been affected due to life changing events, crisis and disaster.
Cindy founded HOPE Crisis Response after assisting NOVA in providing animal assisted therapy with her Delta Society Pet Partner, Bear, in response to the tragic high school shooting May of 1998 in Springfield, OR With her Keeshond, Tikva, and three other HOPE Crisis Response Teams, Cindy traveled to New York City in a request from the American Red Cross after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center . She has received national recognition for assisting Red Cross mental health in bringing emotional support and comfort to firefighters, police officers and other responders at Ground Zero.
Education: Certified Trauma Responder (CTR), Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists Certified Trauma Services Specialist (CTSS), Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists Certified Crisis Responder (CCR), National Organization of Victim Assistance (NOVA) Certified Pet Dog Trainer for Community Emergency Response Teams, FEMA Applied Dog Behavior Specialist, Association of Pet Dog Trainers
Affiliations: Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists International Critical Incident Stress Foundation |
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Gale Lothrop: Vice President |
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Gale and her Belgian Tervuren, Mysti, have been involved in therapy dog work since 2002. This work is something she had wanted to do for many years but did not have a dog that was appropriate. As she searched for a new dog, she knew that having the qualities for therapy dog work was the highest priority. Since beginning this work, Gale has been instrumental in the formation of two therapy dog organizations and currently visits at an assisted living facility and a special education class with Mysti. She also assesses and trains individuals and their dogs for this work.
Gale and Mysti became a certified AACR Team in 2006 and an Evaluator in 2007. She was also the lead in planning and executing the AACR Team Training Workshop in Nebraska, no small task. Gale has been the assistant director of a Victim/Witness program in a Colorado District Attorney's office and worked with the survivors, and families, of felony crimes. With her background, Gale brings the expertise needed for work in animal assisted crisis response.
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Amy Wurst: Secretary and Treasurer |
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Amy is Vice President of Henry Wurst, Inc., a third-generation family owned and run printing company headquartered in Kansas City, MO. She lives with two amazing therapy dogs, Cabernet (collie) and Sake (mutt). Cabernet and Amy became a Crisis Team in June 2005. Little did they know that their training would be put to the test so quickly when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast 2 months later. They worked locally at the Red Cross where displaced families were being processed, then spent a week in Louisiana bringing smiles and relief to hundreds of elementary students and nursing home residents.
Amy is actively involved in several organizations that provide pet therapy in local hospitals, nursing homes and libraries, including Pets For Life, Delta Society Pet Partners, Children’s Mercy Hospital Pet Pals, and R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs).
Education: BS in Engineering Management, Southern Methodist University MS in Industrial Engineering, University of Arizona.
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Julie Krogh, DVM: Medical Advisor and Advisory Bord |
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In 1987, Julie began a program with registered therapy dogs at local hospitals and mental health facilities in Terre Haute, Indiana. Now, seven groups are visited on a regular basis with all age groups represented including people with emotional, physical, mental and developmental disabilities. In 1997, Julie received the Hamilton Award for volunteerism in recognition of outstanding contributions to the cause of mental health and service to the developmentally disabled. In 2001, she served on the advisory board at Saint Mary of the Woods College for development of an occupational therapy program.
Julie is also AACR certified with both of her dogs. With them, she also participates in disaster response with the Wabash Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Education: BS in Animal Science, Kansas State University (1978) Graduate work in Animal Nutrition Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State (1983) Licensed DVM in Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska
Affiliations: Disaster Action Team Member - Wabash Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross
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Barry Myers: Advisory Board |
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Linda Myers: Advisory Board |
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Joyce Powers: Advisory Board |
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Debby Ganser: Board Member |
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Debby is a faculty member and lead crisis intervention counselor in the Counseling Department at Lane Community college in Eugene, OR, where she also teaches Crisis Intervention classes. She started crisis intervention work in the late seventies in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with a focus on working with survivors of sexual assault. She continued working general crisis "hot lines "over the years and began to incorporate disaster response as a mental health provider with the American Red Cross. In that capacity, Debbie responded to the World Trade Center disaster in New York City in 2001. More recently, in September 2005, she and her dog Gertie, responded to Hurricane Katrina to support evacuees in Kansas City, MO, and in Eugene, OR.
Debby and Gertie do visits at f the local hospitals and nursing homes in Eugene, and sometimes she takes Gertie to school with her where everyone is delighted to say they know her. They are also considering joining the R.E.A.D. local program as well. Gertie is a mostly white border collie, and Debby is so pleased with her gentle demeanor that she has dubbed Gertie her "border colleague".
Education: Debby has her master's of Science in Counseling and is a National Certified Counselor. |
