About Veterans Moving Forward
Mission: Provide service dogs to veterans with physical and mental health challenges.
Vision: Be the premier, national, not-for-profit organization for veterans seeking and receiving assistance/service or skilled companion dogs at no cost to the veterans. Be the most effective and trusted resource to provide canine therapy for veterans. Optimize veterans’ employment in distributing service dogs to veterans to meet growing demands. Make a meaningful difference in the lives of our veterans and increase their safety and independence within their environment.
Goals: Assist at least 10 percent of our nation’s veterans and their families in need of assistance dogs to move forward with their lives – with greater comfort, access and interaction within the community.
Offer employment opportunities for veterans and partnerships with Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) to leverage the talents, skills, dedication and commitment of veterans to support fellow veterans in all aspects of our operations.
Create a more dynamic impact within the veteran community through the participation in and expansion of a coalition of organizations providing service dogs.
The Need: There is a critical need for the use of dogs in the rehabilitation of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and physical disabilities. Download two recent reports to learn more about the numbers of veterans served and those in need of our support.
Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Office of Inspector General, Office of Audits & Evaluations. Veterans Health Administration: Audit of Guide and Service Dog Program (July 7, 2010). http://www4.va.gov/oig/52/reports/2010/VAOIG-10-01714-188.pdf
RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research. Tanielian, Terri and Lisa H. Jaycox, ed. Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery. California Community Foundation, 2008. http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG720.pdf
Model:
- National program specifically designed to provide veterans with skilled companion and service dogs.
- Network of trained “comfort” and therapy dogs for major military treatment facilities, hospitals and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers, Outpatient Clinics (VAOCs), and Vet Centers. All animal-assisted activities/therapy based on Delta Society® standards.
- Employment of veterans and partnership with Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) to assist veterans — leveraging the talents, skills, dedication, and commitment of veterans to support fellow veterans in all aspects of VMF operations.
- Education for private, public and military health care professionals via primary and continuing education.
- Participation in and expansion of coalition of organizations providing service dogs to create a more dynamic impact within the veteran community.
Services:
Comfort Dogs: Provide opportunities for motivational, educational, recreational and/or therapeutic benefit to enhance quality of life for veterans by providing comfort and unconditional love to seriously ill or confined veterans.
Therapy Dogs: Participate in animal-assisted therapy with specific goals, objectives and progress documented by a health care professional within the scope of practice of his/her profession.
- Occupation therapists: daily living skills or vocational skills
- Physical therapists: gross motor skills (walking; strength training) and physical contact/touch
- Certified therapeutic recreation specialist: for motor skills, sports, recreation, or leisure
- Psychologists: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), socialization, mental stimulation; motivation to participate in therapy and recovery
- Speech therapists: vocalizing commands to dog
If you would like to apply for a dog team, please complete the follow Application for Comfort Dog Team and return it to us via email to applicant@vetsfwd.org.
Facility Dogs: Work at the side of a professional care-giver, health care practitioner, or physical or occupation therapist to engage veterans in activities to stimulate healing and recovery.
Assistance/Service Dogs: Assist an independent veteran with a physical (visible) or mental health challenge (invisible) for 5 – 7 years of assistance or service 24/7/365. Fully-trained dogs are capable of bringing calm to a veteran with PTSD and/or performing at least three specific tasks to mitigate the veteran’s disability.
- Retrieve dropped items
- Open/close doors
- Turn on/off light switches
- Carry items
- Alert in emergency
Other (Guide, Hearing or Seizure) Service Dogs: Perform special service tasks like guiding someone who is blind, alerting someone who is deaf, or alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure.
History: Founders Karen Jeffries and Bob Larson, friends and former colleagues, spent the last couple of years working separately toward the inevitable founding of Veterans Moving Forward (VMF). Karen, a service-disabled veteran with 24-years of proudly wearing the naval uniform, spent 18 months raising and training an assistance dog with the hope that he would be placed with a veteran. Bob, an entrepreneur, managed the construction of an outpatient clinic for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Independently, they realized they wanted and needed to further serve veterans. Together, they knew they could create and successfully operate a not-for-profit foundation to make a difference in the lives of our nation’s veterans and their families.
While there are many organizations providing assistance/service dogs to individuals of all ages with physical and mental health challenges, veterans are under-served. Only eight veterans received financial support from the VA in FY2009 year, and estimates are less than 150 veterans received service dogs through private placement in 2010. We at Veterans Moving Forward, can and will do better to meet the critical need for rehabilitating veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and physical disabilities through the use of canine therapy – the medicine without side effects.
We are motivated to honor the veterans who served and the Wounded Warriors who volunteered to protect the freedom of all Americans.
