A new Bright Spot Therapy Dog Training Class got underway this past Sunday at Animal Alliances on Damon Road in Northampton.
Held in two 2-hour sessions, our Northampton classes are very popluar for people who want to learn the skills and techniques necessary to visit people in both health care and educational environments.
The second session will be held on June 1st. Teams have two weeks to practice the skills presented in Sunday’s class.
Our Bright Spot trainer Dawn Kimball will build on those skills in the next session, introducing advanced techniques and offering tips for handling the different types of patients a team might encounter while visiting.
Each team that successfully passes the class will be scheduled for an evaluation conducted by one of our Bright Spot evaluators at a nursing home. Holding the evaluation at an actual facility offers the team an opportunity to demonstrate their skills with real residents.
Those teams that pass their evaluations are eligible to become certified Bright Spot Therapy Dog members. Dawn tells me that this group of dogs and handlers is off to a promising state. We look forward to welcoming this group as new members.
We have many facilities throughout Massachusetts and other states in New England that are looking for a regular Bright Spot Therapy Dog visiting team.