At the Center for Child Protection, we build hope into everything we do and it’s reflected in the client events we host, the clients we serve and the efforts we make to educate the community. That’s why we work with the intention of forever changing someone’s life for the better.
Last month, we hosted our first annual IronPaws, a new event built on the Neuro-Sequential Model of Therapeutics, a core principle for building relationships. For our kids, relationships can be scary but learning to trust and communicate can help create positive, safe and nurturing experiences that promote engaging interactions with others.
The more healthy relationships a child has, the more likely he will be to recover from trauma and thrive. Relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love.
Bruce D. Perry, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook
Over the course of five weeks, 20 of our therapy kids, members of our staff, Austin Police Department and Travis County Sherrif Office Detectives met on the ROPES course, located here at the Center for Child Protection, to build safe, supportive relationships and learn new skills to cope with past trauma. By using movement and gentle physical challenges, like walking on a thin wire, or sprinting through the pull of a parachute; our kids learned to feel a sense of pride, confidence and accomplishment.
As we reflect on the effects of the IronPaws event, we are proud of the transformations we saw from shy kids that started out with limited social skills into strong leaders with newfound confidence. Through this activity, the kids who were distracted and distrustful at first learned that adults can be safe and protective. As the event came to a close, the kids found joy among spectators cheering them on with genuine pride, despite their unfamiliar faces.
Thanks to you and your support, IronPaws was a successful client event for our kids, families, friends, staff and partner agency detectives. We know IronPaws left positive imprints of a supportive community for these children that can last a lifetime.
