Dr. Debra Mims Archives - Spirit Magazine

What do you get when you cross a love of animals with a love of learning? Saint Leo University faculty members created the Interdisciplinary Approaches to Therapy and Service Animals course in 2017, and it now is being offered for its sixth semester.

Social work, education, human services, and criminal justice faculty teach this course, which provides an overview of human-animal interactions and the human-animal bond, and how those affect animals, society, and the work of those in “helping careers.”

Faculty members who are wild about animals combined their talents, knowledge, and research to create this popular course. Students learn about the social, physical, and emotional/psychological effects of human-animal interactions with interdisciplinary helping professions; educational benefits; therapeutic roles of animals; ethical and animal welfare considerations; and the connection between violence toward people and violence toward animals.

Saint Leo students get hands-on experience working with animals in various capacities. While dogs seem to be the most popular, they also work with other animals. In addition to University Campus, the course has been offered at the Ocala Education Center.

‘Dear Charlotte’ Helps Children

Dr. Rhondda Waddell, the course professor, sits with Joshua Hoffman reviewing their finished children’s book, “Dear Charlotte’s Story”

A page from Dear Charlotte’s Story: A Coloring Book

Last year, students even created a children’s coloring book, Dear Charlotte’s Story: A Coloring Book, and an accompanying website, Dear Charlotte, The Saint Leo Pig, based on one of Dr. Rhondda Waddell’s pigs. “This project came about after I was given a mini pig that no longer was living her best life,” said Waddell, associate dean of the College of Education and Social Services.

“During the course of the class, the students decided to create the website and book as a class activity,” she said.

“Then as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions on class attendance in-person, they wanted to offer something more that children could do while home on their computers that might put their minds at ease and distract them from the restrictions of confinement and generalized worry that comes from social distancing.”

And who can resist an adorable mini pig? “Anyone can enjoy the heartwarming story of Charlotte finding her forever home, and her interest in helping others,” Waddell said. Everyone can “enjoy her words of comfort and the joyful pictures of her animal friends.”

Then-student Joshua Hoffman ’21, a criminal justice major, was the author while Adrien Velez, 11-year-old brother of social work major Yulissa Velez, drew illustrations for the children’s coloring book. Then-students Allison Daul ’21 (biology major); Mike Simmons ’20 (criminal justice major); Jessica Skrelunas ’21 (psychology major); and Velez created a website using Wix.com to showcase the little pig.

“She lives with her newfound dog siblings, and sister, Cherry Moon Pie, who is another pig!” the website states in the “About Charlotte” section. “Charlotte is a happy girl who has gone through challenges just like me and you. We will share her advice and adventures with all of you!”

For author Hoffman, working on the Dear Charlotte project was a fun idea that “quickly became real,” he said. “Reflecting on the experience, what means the most to me is that we, in a unique way, took some of the core concepts of the class and applied them to the real world,” Hoffman said. “Service and therapy animals are very effective when supporting someone in an educational environment, and the same excitement and enthusiasm we had for Charlotte can now hopefully contribute to a child’s reading and writing skills through the Dear Charlotte project.”

‘Field Trips’ Still Part of the Plan

Dr. Jodi Lamb with horse at the Emerald M Therapeutic Riding Center

While holding classes online was challenging, Saint Leo’s faculty members made sure students had a great experience. “In terms of class field trips, we had planned for a visit to the Emerald M Therapeutic Riding Center,” Waddell said. “I went with another faculty member from education, Dr. Jodi Lamb, and filmed the entire tour with Emerald M director Lisa Michaelangelo, and it was awesome. I embedded the video into Prezi to share in class. Surprisingly, I received a complimentary email from Prezi saying it was a valuable video and addressed the COVID-19 ramifications on the farm, and that was a valuable learning experience.”

Special guests and their beloved animals were welcomed via Zoom. “We missed touching them, but it was still fulfilling to have this encounter with the animals and their handlers,” Waddell said.

The interdisciplinary class features many types of animal interactions and therapies from K-9 officers to equine therapy, and from therapy-service dogs for veterans to search and rescue animals.

Several faculty members shared their experiences from interdisciplinary perspectives. For example, Dr. Mike Campbell, associate professor of social work, spoke about his research in hospitals regarding volunteers and their therapy animals’ relationships to their volunteer work, and Dr. Debra Mims, associate professor of criminal justice, spoke about her work as a police officer with equines and her dog behavior training work.

Mims taught the course in Spring 2021. The owner of eight dogs, she knows the benefits the canines offer. Her dissertation described the use of therapy dogs to help victimized children talk about abuse. Mims’ animals include therapy, agility, obedience, and critical incident stress management team dogs, as well as Pasco County (FL) family court dogs. Mims also is the therapy dog liaison for the Region 5 Tampa Bay Critical Incident Stress Management Team, which responds in crisis situations.

“I definitely think this is a worthwhile course for students,” Mims said. “We discuss that as humans, we all have certain needs that must be met for us to be healthy: physically, mentally, and emotionally. Animals make great therapists, and we discuss how they can aid mental health issues, and the scientific findings that link mental well-being to the presence of animals.”

This Fall Semester, the course is being taught by Dr. Ospina-Kammerer (Dr. VOK), professor of social work. The College of Education and Social Services faculty plan on writing more children’s books, focusing on social justice issues and helping children overcome challenges.

When a person has a bad experience or is under stress, a common reaction is to seek help and solace from friends. Sometimes such a friend has four legs and a wagging tail. For nearly a century, dogs have been used as service animals. They help guide people who are visually impaired and assist those with other physical disabilities. They can also detect seizures and fetch medications as needed.

Therapy dogs fall into a different category. These animals are brought in to comfort those who have been victims of a crime or other trauma. They provide companionship and support to military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they uplift the spirits of those who are sick, and they help first responders open up about the violence they have witnessed.

In September 2016, the Saint Leo community grieved the loss of Alex “Pancho” Carrera, a University Campus student who passed away. In addition to receiving aid from Counseling Services and University Ministry, many students were comforted by Kashew, a border collie. Dr. Debra Mims, an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department, is Kashew’s owner and trainer. She has four therapy dogs (as well as three agility dogs and a cadaver dog), and she knows the benefit that therapy dogs provide.

“Alex was a student in one of my classes, and I believed the students would like having Kashew with us as we met for the first time without Alex,” Dr. Mims said. Just the process of petting a dog can help people relax and cope, she explained.

“Dogs are my therapy, too. … They help me clear my mind.”
—Dr. Debbie Mims

A retired police officer, Dr. Mims entered law enforcement following a family tragedy: the murder of her grandparents in their home. That experience—including working with victims advocates and attending a homicide support group—was life changing. She became a police officer in 1989, starting in the Plant City (FL) Police Department, and then transferred to the Tampa Police Department in 1993. During those two decades, she served as a member of the mounted unit and the bicycle squad; was a child abuse, elder abuse, and domestic violence investigator; and acted as a community service officer. Upon her retirement, she joined Saint Leo as a criminal justice instructor and went on to earn her doctorate. She wrote her dissertation on using therapy dogs to help victimized children talk about sexual abuse.

Handling therapy dogs comes naturally to Dr. Mims. She grew up around dogs and other animals, and was active in 4-H. She has seen firsthand how smart canines can be—and how critical they are in assisting with humans’ recovery.

Dr. Mims is a certifier for the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and helps dog owners determine whether their pets are cut out for the job. Therapy dogs need to have a calm and understanding demeanor. They need to tolerate physical discomfort, such as when a child might squeeze just a little too hard. And they need to have stamina for long days at a hospital or nursing home. Some dogs, even if they are well trained, may not be suitable, she explained. If they are easily excited or have too much energy, they might react too enthusiastically to people or be spooked by loud noises and quick movements.

In addition to Kashew, Dr. Mims’ other therapy dogs are Disco (another border collie) and Rascal and PePe (both papillons). She finds that the smaller dogs are often best suited to young children, while adults may favor the mid-sized border collies, but every situation is different. She and the dogs work with a volunteer critical incident stress management (CISM) group that has been called to crises throughout the country. The group responded to Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the Columbine shooting in 1999, as well as to the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL. In Orlando, 911 operators and first responders were able to talk about their experiences and emotions, encouraged by petting and interacting with the dogs.

Dr. Mims and her dogs also volunteer in Judge Lynn Tepper’s court in Pasco County, FL. Children come to family court on Wednesdays, and the dogs sit with them outside, providing companionship before they talk to the judge and testify.

One thing that Dr. Mims particularly likes about working with her therapy dogs is that they are always willing to try new things. “I like new things, and I never settle,” she said.

In addition, as she balances life as a professor, wife, and mother, “Dogs are my therapy, too,” she said. “They help me clear my mind.”