At one Indianapolis juvenile detention center, residents are given the chance once a month to participate in a shelter dog training program.

The week-long Pawsitive Corrections program, run by the therapy dog nonprofit Paws & Think, is held at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center. Each month, five shelter dogs from Indianapolis Animal Care Services are brought to stay at the center for one week, where 10 residents conduct obedience training along with volunteer trainers.

Since 2013, more than 300 dogs and more than 600 incarcerated minors have been impacted by the program.

In order to participate in the program a resident must be on good behavior, said Kimberly Trimpe, Youth-Canine coordinator. Not only does it provide this incentive, but often the kids can empathize with the dogs they are working with.

“A lot of these dogs come from bad situations [and] have had neglect or abuse histories, too,” Trimpe said. “And that helps the kids to empathize, it really helps them understand communication and to be able to read the dog.”

Trimpe has been with Paws & Think since 2011 and said that’s when the Pawsitive Corrections program started becoming more regular after a period of intermittance.

Terrance Asante-Doyle, superintendent of the detention center, said in a 2017 video that the Pawsitive Corrections program not only is important to him but is a “mainstay” at the center.

“I see the impact it has on the youth,” Asante-Doyle said. “You can see the excitement that the youth have in just being able to interact with a canine.”

The first day of the program involves going over training strategies with the participating residents, and an emphasis on using positive reinforcement, Trimpe said. On Tuesday, the dogs arrive and stay until Friday, with the actual training lasting an hour each day.

“It’s amazing what they teach them in four days,” Trimpe said, adding that the hope is to eventually extend the program if circumstances allow.

Though training is only an hour long in the afternoon, volunteers are needed until the evening to spend time with the dogs and make sure their needs are met. Trimpe said they also encourage the detention center staff to allow the residents time with the dogs outside of their training.

Wendy Lane, longtime Pawsitive Corrections volunteer, said she has seen the program make kids more confident in themselves after their participation.

“I think the majority don’t hear what they do right, it’s always what they’ve done wrong,” Lane said. “Doing this program (has showed me) that they’re still kids that have the same wants and dreams as any other kid that’s not in that situation.”

Asante-Doyle said he has seen kids turn their behavior around immediately when they find out they can be part of the program.

“Not only does it help with behavior, but we’re also doing a service to the community as far as being able to help these dogs become more adoptable,” Asante-Doyle said.

A few years ago, Lane walked into her downtown CVS and the security guard stopped her. He recognized her from the program, and told her that he looked forward to it every day when he participated. 

“He said that program got [him] through having to be [in the detention center] … he still remembered his dog’s name,” Lane said. 

This encounter represents exactly what Paws & Think is trying to do with the Pawsitive Corrections program, Lane said, by leaving a positive impact on vulnerable kids.

Lane herself has benefited from the program: her therapy dog, Liza, was a shelter dog that graduated from the training before Lane adopted her in 2014. Today, she brings Liza to the detention center on Saturdays to interact with the kids and said it’s where Liza enjoys therapy sessions the most.

“The kids gave her a second chance, and I feel like she’s just like giving back to the kids,” Lane said. “I like to tell the kids that because the kids do make a difference in these dog’s lives. And hopefully the dogs and this program make a difference with the kids. I think it does, and I think that’s what keeps it going, because we do see changes.”

Source photo courtesy of Paws & Think.

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The two-story house with the white vinyl siding and concrete steps leading up to the door looks ordinary from the outside, but it isn’t.

On the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sits the Courage House, Wisconsin’s first licensed group home for housing displaced LGBTQ youth. Opened in 2019 by Courage MKE, a nonprofit dedicated to serving Wisconsin’s LGBTQ community, the home can house up to five youth at a time.

Residents come from the child welfare system, homelessness and the juvenile justice system, said Brad Schlaikowski, Courage MKE co-founder. LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in both the homelessness and juvenile justice populations, statistics that can often be traced back to non-affirming families and runaway behavior.

An estimated 20% of kids in the juvenile justice system identify as LGBTQ, compared to only 4-6% of the general youth population. LGBTQ youth are also more than twice as likely to experience homelessness than their heterosexual peers.

In 2015, Schlaikowski founded Courage MKE with his husband Nick after they began fostering young girls who identified as LGBTQ and heard what they were going through.

“The stories that they were telling us of their experiences in shelters and group homes were horrible,” Schlaikowski said. “One of the last ones that came to us … she literally had bloody patches in her head because the girls [at her group home] were pulling her hair out because she’s bisexual.”

The Schlaikowski’s decided to hold a fundraiser for a Milwaukee homeless youth shelter and ended up raising almost $16,000. They kept the momentum going, and eventually received enough community support to buy the house.

“The community response [has been] overwhelmingly humbling,” Schlaikowski said.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Schlaikowski said Courage MKE was about to make an offer on a second house that was going to be a drop-in youth shelter. However, this was put on hold due to financial uncertainty, he said.

Inside, the house is decorated with calming grays and blues, with pops of rainbow here and there, said house supervisor Jenna Sterr. 

Sterr, who has been at the house since April 2019, said she does everything she can to cultivate a family environment for the kids. On a typical day, she arrives in the morning to make breakfast and get them ready for school, and prior to COVID-19 she tried to get them out for weekend activities as often as possible.

One of the most important things for Sterr is to make sure each resident has someone in the house to look up to and share things with.

“I don’t think there’s one kid that has come into this house that I have not bonded with,” Sterr said.

Because the Courage House staff’s ultimate goal is to reunite each child with their parents, residents also participate in therapy sessions with their family.

The therapy sessions take place in a second building behind the house, which Schlaikowksi said makes things easier on the child.

“At least here, they’re still kind of home,” Schlaikowski said. “And so the family comes and they all meet in the back house … and it’s completely private.”

One of the most important things about the Courage House is that each child is free to be themselves, when they may not have had that opportunity before, Schlaikowski said.

“This is the first and only time in their life that they have been able to not worry about what someone’s thinking about who they are and how they identify,” Schlaikowski said. “My favorite part is when these kids just are able to … embrace who they are.”

For everyone working and volunteering at the Courage House, leaving an impact on each child’s life is a priority. Sterr recalled throwing a party for a resident’s birthday, and the boy told her he had never had a birthday party before.

“It just kind of shocked me,” Sterr said. “So we did all kinds of things for this resident … it was really just touching that all the other residents came together to make his birthday so special.”

The children aren’t the only ones that are impacted, Sterr said.

As a member of the LGBTQ community herself, Sterr said finding the Courage House filled a hole in her life.

“I 100% have found what I [was] missing,” Sterr said. “I really love that I am able to be myself and be open and teach the kids that it’s OK to be yourself and show them that you can be an adult and grow up and be who you are.”

Source photo courtesy of Courage MKE.

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