Arizona non profit uses donkeys as therapy animals
TUCSON, Ariz. - They’re not thinking about the future, they’re not worried about the past, they just wanna be present and enjoy life," Dr. Genie Joseph said.
Dr. Joseph sits in a circle, urging participants to take a deep breath, focus on the moment and follow the donkey's lead.
"We just feel the awareness of other beings and their spirit and their energy," she said.
Dr. Joseph has a PhD in pastoral counseling psychology. She's an animal chaplain and the executive director of the Human-Animal Connection and nonprofit organization.
She has been using therapy dogs and horses to treat various forms of PTSD and anxiety for years but recently started doing nothing with donkeys.
"So a great therapy animal is a great human reader," Dr. Joseph said. "They’re able to read human emotions, and they want to give them peace and calling."
"After my husband passed, I found that horses were really calling me and soothing me through my grief and I thought well, there has to be more," Maureen Jaret said.
Jaret moved from New Jersey to Oregon after her husband passed away, then to Tucson seeking relief from her grief. Her work with the non-profit, with Junior the donkey, brought her a sense of peace she never thought she would feel again.
"She has helped me through this whole journey of learning to love and open up," Jaret said. "The healing that the animals do for you, and then we do turn to the animals."
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Junior Don Quixote, that's his full name, is a special animal. He was rescued days before being sold on a meat market, and the people who come spend time with him say he knows he serves a larger purpose.
"Incredible. It was a day that I didn’t realize under so much stress, and he took it all away from me. I actually was crying. I was in tears," Carolyn Shelton said.
"I felt a lot more grounded, more centered, and just more connected with the Earth," David Keller said.
"When a donkey comes up to you, it’s not because of something you said or something you’re wearing, it’s because of your energy," Mike McWhirter said.
"So we invite people to this workshop to give them an experience of being peaceful with a donkey, and we tell him right away is this is a workshop where you’re going to do nothing and with very little training," Dr. Joseph said. "You can learn to do nothing because there’s so much in our world – we’re busy, we’re doing, we’re doing, we’re doing, and that’s a wonderful thing, but if we only do that, and we never have any human beingness [sic], then we can get out of balance we can easily get burnt out."
Junior works with veterans, children and adults with special needs. Anyone who needs a lesson in slowing down to "Do Nothing with Donkeys."
