A program designed by an Orangeburg attorney to foster compassion in children with the help of rescued dogs is gaining more national and international exposure.

Cheri Brown Thompson founded Healing Species, a violence prevention program using abandoned or abused dogs, in 1999 after her work as a lawyer opened her eyes to how many violent criminals first abused animals.

The program has since garnered national attention, with groups coming from as far away as Texas and New Zealand to receive the training they’ll need to start their own chapters.

Thompson said the program, which already includes 11 instructors, 15 dogs and a curriculum of 12 published lessons, has also expanded to include what she calls a “compassion outreach” component. It is also being eyed by a Los Angeles producer who is working to develop a television pilot about Healing Species.

Click here to view the television pilot for The Healing Species.

She is anticipating the development of satellite chapters in Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Ga.; New Jersey and New Zealand. A thriving chapter is already based in Seattle, Wash., she said.

A group of 10 women recently came for a three-day training session, which included shadowing Healing Species staff as they worked with children at Sheridan and Whittaker elementary schools in Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five.

This semester, the program is also being implemented in alternative schools across the state, as well as in Lexington School District 1, Richland District 1 and the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Click here to view a WIS-TV story on Chery Brown Thompson's work with The Healing Species.

“They get to see the logistics of how it works as well as the actual curriculum happening. The ladies have got their initial certification training. Once they get their school sites in their area, then we fly out to them and do what we call a fidelity check,” Thompson said. “We make sure things are going according to our procedures and policies and provide technical support for them practically 24-7.”

The Healing Species program also has a new office located at 496 Farnum Road thanks to an anonymous donor who purchased an eight-acre spread of property that already came equipped with a house. The house was converted into what is now the Healing Species Woodlands Sanctuary.

“For 10 years now, we have worked out of my house,” Thompson said.

Thompson said the Healing Species program has brought her and her staff in contact with many youths who live in poverty. As a result, they are now providing food and financial assistance for families, as well as medical or other care for family companion animals.

Click here to view the first lesson plan of The Healing Species program.

She stressed that the services will be determined on a case-by-case basis and are dependent on funding. Thompson also said Healing Species is not a replacement for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Click here to view a video on vivisection used by Thompson as her staff to discourage animal testing. 

“Right now we are still not equipped to shelter. This is truly for indigent, emergency situations,” Thompson said.

She is now looking forward to working with producer Monique Sorgen on a potential TV pilot on the Healing Species program. A pilot is filmed as a test episode of a program.

Sorgen has already worked with the likes of famed actress, entrepreneur and former model Kimora Lee Simmons, Thompson said.

“What they really want to do is follow some of the children and show what they learned at Lesson One and ... how almost instantaneously they begin to bond with the dog. Through that bonding, they learn first-hand the concept of mercy. That’s the path to leadership, respect and power. They don’t have to fight their way through life,” said Thompson, who is proud of the program’s growth.

“The proof is in the pudding. The kids literally have a transformation,” she said.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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