Artist, Thomas Dreamer, a former resident at Barrier Free Living’s Transitional Housing shelter for people with disabilities, shares how why he “Gave Back” by painting a dynamic mural at the shelter.

The shelter works with formerly homeless people with disabilities to find permanent homes and thrive in their communities.

I’ve always been a cat person.

When I moved into my lower Manhattan apartment in 1990, my cats came with me. At that time, pets weren’t technically allowed in the building, but the landlord looked the other way as far as cats were concerned.

Some years later, the building was sold and the new landlord changed the policy to allow both dogs and cats. My neighbor across the hall adopted a beagle named Molly from a city shelter. I learned that she was taking Molly through pet therapy training, a concept that intrigued me.

I soon learned from Molly’s owner that pet therapy dogs were different from service dogs, in that they are not serving one person only, the way a guide dog for the blind might. They work with their owners (referred to as handlers in the pet therapy world) to bring comfort and calm to people. I found a definition of pet therapy on a general information site called Healthline:  

Pet therapy is “a guided interaction between a person and a trained animal. It also involves the animal’s handler. The purpose of pet therapy is to help someone recover from or cope with a health problem or mental disorder. “

In reality, the benefits of pet therapy go far beyond that definition.

Pet therapy animals are involved not only with persons with acute health problems or mental disorders, but also with persons who are disabled, have experienced trauma, or are elderly, or are children who may or may not have behavior or learning problems.

For nearly two decades, Barrier Free Living has used pet therapy in its work with both people with disabilities, and survivors of domestic violence with disabilities at its shelters and programs. When Patricia Motus arrived at Barrier Free Living’s Transitional Housing program as the Occupational Therapy Consultant twelve years ago, there was already a therapy dog named Luca who visited once a week with her handler.

Patricia observed the beneficial effect Luca had on the residents with disabilities, and when Luca passed away, Patricia took her dog Nina, a French bulldog, through pet therapy training. Nina then became the pet therapy dog at the BFL transitional housing site downtown.

Motus says pet therapy is “great for everyone, not just the residents but also the staff. Jobs can be stressful and having the calming presence of the dog around can diffuse the stress.”

A resident at Transitional Housing made a pen-and-ink drawing of Nina on a T-shirt to express gratitude for the pet therapy sessions. When I visited Patricia in her office, I saw that the shirt was framed and occupied a central place.

Through Patricia, I connected with Audrey Hendler, founder and driving force behind A Fair Shake for Youth.

Audrey founded the organization in 2010 after teaching with Puppies behind Bars and observing the beneficial effect the pups had on the inmates.  Audrey started A Fair Shake because she recognized that therapy dogs might help youth to build empathy and self-esteem and thereby reduce such problems as bullying. Audrey and her therapy dog Lucy are now one of 35 pet therapy teams currently involved in A Fair Shake.

The organization focuses on middle school youth (ages 11-13), partnering with public schools and community agencies in Manhattan, the South Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, primarily in lower-income neighborhoods. A Fair Shake is currently active in ten sites, throughout the city including Barrier Free Living’s Freedom House domestic violence program.

A Fair Shake has a ten-week curriculum, where participants learn to cooperate with each other to teach the dogs such things as going through the obstacle tunnel. The youth learn compassion and respect for each other while interacting with the dogs, notes Audrey. The youth learn to communicate with each other and with the dogs, and strengthen their communication skills and ability to interact in social situations.

At Freedom House, Audrey has modified the curriculum to take into account the fact that the age range of the participants goes beyond 11-13. Any child/youth residing at Freedom House who wants to participate is allowed to do so. This is different from the program in the middle schools, in which the schools may have specific selection criteria for participation. Audrey says the Fair Shake teams working at Freedom House find the work especially rewarding, as they witness the participants, whose lives have been disrupted by domestic violence, learn to communicate with the dogs, the handlers, and with each other.

“The kids (at Freedom House) come to believe in themselves,” says Audrey. “ They learn that they are smart, and they come to realize that they should treat people the way they want people to treat the dogs, with kindness and respect. The kids get a lot out of the interactions and communication with the dogs; they succeed with the dogs and it helps them see that they can succeed in other ways.”

Pet therapy, clearly impactful, is yet another, perhaps less conventional, way that Barrier Free Living serves its residents.

Staff and residents at Barrier Free Living’s Transitional Housing program gathered for a Thanksgiving feast this November.

CEO Paul Feuerstein was on hand to wish the team and residents a safe and happy holiday.

Barrier Free Living (BFL) team members were on hand at The Network’s (Supportive Housing Network of New York) 2017 Network gala on October 18th at Capitale.

BFL’s  Paul Feuerstein (photo top right) and LeShan Gaulman, Program Director at BFL’s Transitional Housing (photo top left) joined BFL colleagues Scott Hess, Director of Communications and Tiffany Williams, Housing Specialist at Transitional Housing (in photo below, at right).

The Gala honored Commissioner & CEO RuthAnne Visnauskas of NYS Homes & Community Renewal as Government Partner of the Year, and Deutsche Bank as Private Sector Partner of the Year, and, as Residences of the Year: DePaul’s Carriage Factory Apartments and Volunteers of America – Greater New York’s Creston Avenue Residence.

Tenant of the Year honorees were :  Robert Offley of Urban Pathways, Milagros Bursey of the YWCA of Rochester, and Kimathi Witt of Concern for Independent Living.

Felipe Sepulveda, Director of Social Services at Barrier Free Living’s (BFL) Transitional Housing program, was among those honored at the first ever Lifesaver Awards Ceremony in New York City on October 5.

The awards, held by the Department of Health, honored 67 people who saved a collective 255 lives with the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.  First Lady Chirlane McCray and Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett attended the ceremony.

Felipe, who trained earlier in the year on how to administer the life-saving naloxone, acted quickly on the September evening when a resident in a wheelchair was in distress at BFL’s transitional housing program.

“I really focused and did what needed to be done,” said Sepulveda.

He added that to stay calm, he drew on his past experience as an Emergency Medical Technician working in  New York City’s Emergency Medical Services system.

The Health Department has given out more than 45,000 naloxone kits so far this year. The drug can be found over the counter in many pharmacies for free with insurance or at a low cost, and can also be obtained at training sessions held by DOH or other groups.

The story covers an MTA bus demo the students worked on with the shelter residents.

Read more.

Students from the Bronx Academy of Letters stopped by Barrier Free Living’s Transitional Housing shelter this June to donate health products to the residents.

The students met with program director LeShan Gaulman (in photo above), to learn about the program which offers shelter to formerly homeless men  and women with disabilities. The students also plan to donate similar products to Barrier Free Living apartments, a complex for survivors of domestic violence with disabilities in the Bronx.

The staff at Barrier Free Living’s Transitional Housing program prepared a special meal in honor of Father’s Day this weekend.

The program offers shelter, case management and occupational therapy to formerly homeless men and women with disabilities.

Volunteers from Moody’s served fruit smoothies, made de-stress balls and talked up the benefits of healthy living at Barrier Free Living’s (BFL) Wellness Fair this June.

The FPWA connected the company to BFL, and Moody’s sponsored the fair with a charitable donation. The Moody’s volunteers joined the agency’s Occupational Therapy team which coordinated the event, along with LeShan Gaulman, shelter director.

Activities included chair yoga, booths with information about vitamins, ways to alleviate stress, and smoking cessation, along with a very popular fresh fruit smoothie area.

“Watching the volunteers interacting and sharing information with our shelter residents was incredibly inspiring,” says Scott Hess, BFL Director of Communications. “It was really a joyful event rich in information. Our OT team did a knock out job, and the volunteers brought joy and light to the shelter.”

BFL’s transitional housing program serves formerly homeless people with disabilities.

LeShan Gaulman, program director at Barrier Free Living’s Transitional Housing program has contributed a chapter to the newly published book  Fatherhood in America: Social work perspectives on a changing society.

Gaulman, who also teaches Introduction to Social Work at Lehman College, wrote a chapter entitled Homeless Fathers.