Board of Directors
Cindy Ehlers, CTR, CTSS, CCR: Founder and President
Cindy is the Founder and President of the National Organization Animal Assisted Crisis Response (National AACR with over 17 years of broad-based professional experience with pet dog training and animal behavior, including 9 years as a Delta Society Pet Partner and ? years as a Delta Society Licensed Team Evaluator, Instructor, andSpeaker Representative. She has experience with curriculum development, training, and evaluation of animal behavior and animal assisted crisis response teams and team leaders. She teaches ongoing 5 week Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) courses and has taught AACR courses throughout the United States since ????. She has volunteered professionally since 1998 developing programs that specialize in providing animal assisted emotional support to children, teenagers and adults whose lives have been affected due to life changing events, crisis and disaster.
Cindy founded HOPE Crisis Response after assisting NOVA in providing animal assisted therapy with her Delta Society Pet Partner, Bear, in response to the tragic high school shooting May of 1998 in Springfield, OR With her Keeshond, Tikva, and three other HOPE Crisis Response Teams, Cindy traveled to New York City in a request from the American Red Cross after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center . She has received national recognition for assisting Red Cross mental health in bringing emotional support and comfort to firefighters, police officers and other responders at Ground Zero.
Education:
Certified Trauma Responder (CTR), Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists
Certified Trauma Services Specialist (CTSS), Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists
Certified Crisis Responder (CCR), National Organization of Victim Assistance (NOVA)
Certified Pet Dog Trainer for Community Emergency Response Teams, FEMA
Applied Dog Behavior Specialist, xxxx
Affiliations:
Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
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Amy Wurst: Secretary and Treasurer
Amy is Vice President of Henry Wurst, Inc., a third-generation family owned and run printing company headquartered in Kansas City, MO. She lives with two amazing therapy dogs, Cabernet (collie) and Sake (mutt) and a therapy dog in training, Allie (collie). Cabernet and Amy became a Crisis Team in June 2005. Little did they know that their training would be put to the test so quickly when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast 2 months later. They worked locally at the Red Cross where displaced families were being processed, then spent a week in Louisiana bringing smiles and relief to hundreds of elementary students and nursing home residents. They have also responded to the Parkersburg tornado and Hurricane Ike.
Amy is actively involved in several organizations that provide pet therapy in hospitals, nursing homes, shelters and libraries: Pets For Life, Delta Society Pet Partners, Children’s Mercy Hospital Pet Pals, R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs)
Education:
BS Engineering Management, Southern Methodist University
MS Industrial Engineering, University of Arizona
Affiliations:
Board Member – Special Olympics North Carolina
Board Member – Humane Society of Greater Kansas City
Aquatics Sport Director – Special Olympics Missouri
Volunteer Advisory Council – Children’s Mercy Hospital
E-mail: awurst@henrywurst.com
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Diane Anderson: Board Member
In 1999 Diane first became a Delta Society Pet PartnerÒ and in 2000 completed the Delta Society’s Scholars Program and became a certified Pet Partner Team Instructor and Evaluator. Over the last ten years Diane has registered three other dogs as Pet Partners and has evaluated more then 600 teams.
In September 2001 Diane first became involved in Animal Assisted Crisis Response when AACR teams from Oregon came to NY in response to 9/11. In January 2002 Diane attended the 4 day AACR training in OR as a Team Leader and assistant to Cindy Ehlers. Since that time Diane has worked with Cindy through both HOPE AACR and National AACR as an instructor and evaluator for national trainings. Diane has chaired committees that developed AACR training standards and qualifications. In 2009, Diane and Siberian Husky Meisha became a certified NAACR team.
Diane has a master’s degree in Social Work and is a New York state Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Alcohol & Substance Abuse Counselor. She is the Assistant Director of HIV Services at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers NY, where she has worked for the last 13 years. Diane spent the first 12 years of her career working with individuals with developmentally disabilities.
Affiliations:
- National Association of Social Workers #885477711
- International Association of Canine Professionals – #3318
- Delta Society – Pet Partner, Team Evaluator & Instructor #33420
- National AACR – Evaluator/Instructor/Team Leader / Handler-dog team #102
- The Foundation for Service Dog Support – FSDS Evaluator #20
- American Red Cross – Mental Health
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Debby Ganser: Board Member
Debby is a faculty member and lead crisis intervention counselor in the Counseling Department at Lane Community college in Eugene, OR, where she also teaches Crisis Intervention classes. She started crisis intervention work in the late seventies in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with a focus on working with survivors of sexual assault. She continued working general crisis “hot lines “over the years and began to incorporate disaster response as a mental health provider with the American Red Cross. In that capacity, Debbie responded to the World Trade Center disaster in New York City in 2001. More recently, in September 2005, she and her dog Gertie, responded to Hurricane Katrina to support evacuees in Kansas City, MO, and in Eugene, OR.
Debby and Gertie do visits at f the local hospitals and nursing homes in Eugene, and sometimes she takes Gertie to school with her where everyone is delighted to say they know her. They are also considering joining the R.E.A.D. local program as well. Gertie is a mostly white border collie, and Debby is so pleased with her gentle demeanor that she has dubbed Gertie her “border colleague”.
Education: Debby has her master’s of Science in Counseling and is a National Certified Counselor.
Email Debby: gertiesmamma@gmail.com
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Julie Krogh, DVM: Medical Advisor and Advisory Board
In 1987, Julie began a program with registered therapy dogs at local hospitals and mental health facilities in Terre Haute, Indiana. Now, seven groups are visited on a regular basis with all age groups represented including people with emotional, physical, mental and developmental disabilities. In 1997, Julie received the Hamilton Award for volunteerism in recognition of outstanding contributions to the cause of mental health and service to the developmentally disabled. In 2001, she served on the advisory board at Saint Mary of the Woods College for development of an occupational therapy program.
Julie is also AACR certified with both of her dogs. With them, she also participates in disaster response with the Wabash Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Education:
BS in Animal Science, Kansas State University (1978)
Graduate work in Animal Nutrition
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State (1983)
Licensed DVM in Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska
Affiliations:
Disaster Action Team Member – Wabash Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross
Email Julie: goldiedog@worldnet.att.net
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Amy Linder
Amy J. Linder has been involved in the fire service for over 15 years, serving in the rank of firefighter, engineer, lieutenant, EMT, and deputy fire marshal. Amy and her canine partner, a Dalmatian named Cody, deliver an interactive fire safety program. Cody demonstrates the potentially life saving skills of testing a smoke alarm, dialing 9-1-1, crawling low under smoke, going to a designated meeting place and Stop, Drop and Roll. Amy and Cody are also active in their local therapy dog group visiting at the hospital and participating in special events. Amy and Cody are certified as a Type I, national crisis response team and responded to Northern Illinois University in February, 2008 following the tragic campus shootings and returned to the NIU campus in April 2008 and February 2009.
EDUCATION:
B.S. Safety and Health Management, Central Washington University
Emergency Medical Technician, State of Oregon
AFFILIATIONS:
Deputy Fire Marshal – Eugene Fire and EMS Dept.
Board Member – People and Animals Who Serve
Disaster Response Team – Sacred Heart Hospital
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
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Kay Scott
Kay has been involved with animal assisted crisis response since immediately after September 11, 2001. A New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor, Kay currently works with her second crisis response certified dog, Spirit. Kay is also a Delta Society Pet Partner, Pet Partner Instructor and Pet Partner Evaluator. In these roles, she has 10 years experience providing therapy dog training and evaluation services. Kay was a member of the HOPE Crisis Response Board of Directors before joining National AACR.
Kay is currently working on her Ph.D. in Social Work at Fordham University. She hopes to do her dissertation on animal assisted therapy. In her professional life, Kay is the Director of The HOPE Center at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, NY. The HOPE Center provides comprehensive care for individuals living with HIV and AIDS. In her position at HOPE Center, Kay is responsible for writing and administering federal, state and county grants totaling almost $1.5 million dollars per year.
Education:
MS, Social Work, Columbia University
BS, East Carolina University
Affiliation:
International Association of Canine Professionals – Professional Level Member.
E-mail Kay: kscott@highlands.com
Kay Scott, LCSW-R, CASAC
International Association of Canine Professionals #2131
www.4pawprints.org
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Pat Seybold
Patricia ‘Pat’ Seybold is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Council on Developmental Disabilities. She has held this position for the past five years. She holds a Masters in Therapeutic Recreation and a Masters in Dispute Resolution. Her career focus has been providing supports and services to individuals with disabilities. She has been a supports coordinator, a teacher, an affordable housing provider and a service provider. She has lived in Colorado, Arkansas, London, England, Kansas and Michigan prior to coming to Kentucky. Pat lives in Frankfort with her husband. She has one son who resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. In her spare time she enjoys therapy work with her dogs, hiking and gardening.