Maui Pet Therapy♥♥♥Haku Baldwin Center

Welcome and mahalo (thanks) for visiting! My name is Shannon, Director of the Pet Therapy and Animal Education Program for the Haku Baldwin Center (formerly Maui Animal Aloha Center). I'm still adding to this page (blogging when I can), accepting friend requests and returning messages (sometimes it takes awhile, but I do reply!) Make yourself comfortable and look around. If you love animals or like what we do, please join us as a friend and post your comments! Tell your friends about us... we love the support! If you are a band or have a MySpace music profile, you'll need to send me a personal message before I'll add you as a friend. REGARDING BULLETINS: SEND THEM TO MY INBOX IF YOU WANT TO BRING IT TO MY ATTENTION. I welcome your comments and messages! Mahalo (thank you) for visiting our profile. Enjoy your visit to my little corner of paradise!!!!!!

The Pet Therapy program offers Animal-Assisted Therapy and Animal-Assisted Activities by bringing therapy animals to patients and residents to improve wellness. The interaction with our wonderful rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, dogs and FurReal cat promotes improvement in physical, social, emotional and/or cognitive functioning (thinking and intellectual skills). The benefits extend to all ages (children to the elderly), including patients/residents recovering from comas, rehabilitating from surgery, trauma, illness, brain injuries, physical and mental disabilities, aging and hospice.

FACILITY VISITS:
Our scheduled facility visits are M/W/F mornings. We visit Kula Hospital, Hale Makua Kahului and Wailuku, Maui Adult Day Care Elima and Nisei (Oceanview), ARC of Maui, as well as Hale Makamae in Kula. Each summer in June, we join Camp Imua in Kahakaloa for activities for Maui's children with disabilites.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:
The Pet Therapy Program visits up to 800 patients/residents each month. As the Director of the program, I cannot get to all of them by myself and can reach more people, touch more lives, with your help!! Join us to help make a difference, not only in our community but especially in the lives of others.
Contact me now if you would like to be a volunteer. Spend time with the fuzzy, feathered and furry ones... it's fun!

ANIMAL EDUCATION:
Humane animal education classes are offered weekly by appointment. Enjoy learning about our animals and seeing our Center. We discuss the responsiblities and needs of taking care of rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks, chickens, horses, goats, dogs, cats and pet fish. We accept students and educators from Elementary, Special Education, Middle Schools, as well as Groups from special interest groups (churches, 4H, scouting, etc). If you would like to schedule a field trip to our Center, please contact us by emailing a request to: INFO@BEHYPNOTIZED.COM

INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE:
The Pet Therapy Internship Program offers training and education for students, graduates, volunteers and professionals interested in Pet Therapy and utilizing AAT or AAA in the healthcare fields. The hours you spend volunteering as an unpaid intern can fulfill community service requirements for college entrance or as adjunct training in your specialized field.

Our Center offer Therapeutic Horseback Riding for children with disabilities on Mondays and Tuesdays from 2-4 pm.

Disabled riders learn balance, coordination and self-assurance while receiving therapeutic muscle stimulation from the activity itself. Poise, posture, strength and flexibility improve. A horse's gait has similarities to the human walk. Riding the horse helps strengthen spine and pelvic muscles, improves posture and coordination, and increases joint mobility.

Volunteers are needed for our program. It requires 4 people for one rider, 2 side-walkers, 1 person to lead the horse and an instructor.

In Hawaii, we have a custom that we remove our shoes before entering the door of someone's home. Unless I am publishing, similar to that custom I prefer to leave my title at the door with the slippers (you probably call them flip-flops), so please just call me Shannon. Now for the official credentials (for what it's worth). My undergraduate degree is in Psychology and I hold a Doctorate in Clinical Hypnotherapy (specializing in medical hypnosis by physician referral). I'm still in private practice (16 years), though as you can imagine only part-time, as my other specialty working with the Haku Baldwin Center is a full-time passion.

I personally train the therapy animals, employees, interns and volunteers working with us. Most often, there's some new fuzzy, feathered or furry animal living in my home that I'm imprinting or working with for the program. Yes, I do bring my work home with me (sometimes I keep them)! These special little beings touch lives in many miraculous ways and I'm so blessed to be a part of it all. I've loved animals for as long as I can remember. My earliest memory is just learning how to walk ... focused on being able to get my awkward toddling self to touch the fluffy soft tail of our family cat.

When time permits, I publish a newsletter, "Shannimal's Friendly Tails - True Stories of Animals Helping People Heal", research and publish findings in various journals on the health benefits of human-animal interaction in the clinical environment, as well as write articles and consult in my fields of expertise.

LECTURES, CONFERENCES, TRAINING:
With sufficent notice, I can lecture or provide training for interested organizations looking for a specialist to teach or speak at their conference, workshop, health fair, or facility about AAT/AAA, training therapy animals, or on the health benefits of the interaction of animals and people. I would love the opportunity to work with your organization. Have your representative contact me in the early planning stages of your event.

Please contact me by email:
INFO@BEHYPNOTIZED.COM