{"id":8125,"date":"2023-09-11T09:04:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T13:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=8125"},"modified":"2023-09-08T09:59:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T13:59:13","slug":"get-to-know-shakesha-alexander-19-helping-animals-help-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2023\/09\/11\/get-to-know-shakesha-alexander-19-helping-animals-help-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know: Shakesha Alexander ’19, helping animals help others"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ShakeshaAnimals have played an important role in shaping the life and work of Shakesha Alexander \u201919.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Detroit Mercy Social Work alumna remembers playing with cows and horses during childhood summers on her family\u2019s Mississippi farms and growing up alongside household dogs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those moments sparked a love for animals, which Alexander now uses as director of animal-assisted interventions for the River Rouge School District. The program was launched in 2021 and utilizes a team of therapy dogs and a variety of handheld pets to support the mental health and well-being of local students and staff.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we do here is evidence-based programming,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cWe focus on creating psychological safe spaces for adults and children.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The animal-assisted interventions program operates out of the Pup Culture Lab, a renovated classroom at River Rouge\u2019s STEM Academy which Alexander calls \u201cthe happiest place in the district.\u201d The Pup Culture Lab is decorated with sofas, pillows and colorful art of cartoon dogs to create a relaxing environment for visitors.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ShakeshaSix dogs are in River Rouge\u2019s program, including cavalier King Charles spaniels Rumi and Sir Bentley, who is Alexander\u2019s personal dog; labradoodles Lola and Bailey; a schnauzer and shih tzu mix named Frankie; and Kodi, a goldendoodle. Alexander said the dogs have multiple AKC certifications and will start training to become service-trained facility dogs. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot only does it help with stress and the brain\u2019s ability to learn and remember certain things, but having programs like this in the schools helps to improve students\u2019 communication abilities,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cAnimals are vehicles for conversations.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pup Culture Lab is also where the program\u2019s \u201cSeries of Fortunate Events\u201d takes place. These \u201cspecial relationship-building events\u201d were designed by Alexander to help the program\u2019s therapy dogs socialize while impacting River Rouge students in different ways.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reading with Rumi allows students to practice and improve their reading ability in a safe space. Bonding with Bailey introduces students to dog training techniques and helps them develop leadership skills. Coloring with Kodi lets students work on arts and crafts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students work on class and homework assignments during Learning with Lola. Quiet study time is the focus of Studying with Sir Bentley. Fridays with Frankie is an event where an entire classroom spends time watching cartoons or movies with Frankie.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Series of Fortunate Events just promotes social and emotional learning to improve academic outcomes,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cWe use these tools to prepare the students to be more effective in their learning and we get a lot of support from the teachers and staff.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexander, who is married to former Titan student-athlete and men\u2019s basketball coach Bacari Alexander \u201999, came to Detroit Mercy to further her education as a non-traditional student. Alexander said she learned of the University\u2019s Social Work program after Assistant Professor of Social Work and Department Chair Janet Joiner spoke to the Detroit Mercy men\u2019s basketball team about it. That led to a conversation with Joiner about Alexander\u2019s future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI sat down and talked with Dr. Joiner and when we had that conversation about how I could still work with animals as a social worker, I was just hooked,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cThere was nothing else that I wanted to do.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wanting to become a veterinary social worker, Alexander went through University of Tennessee’s Master of Social Work and Veterinary Social Work Certificate programs after graduating from UDM in 2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As she began her career search, River Rouge started developing its animal-assisted interventions program to help students with mental health and other issues that were amplified by the pandemic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt all fell into place,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

River Rouge\u2019s animal-assisted interventions program features more than just dogs. Its Teacher\u2019s Pet program lets students interact with handheld animals in the classroom, from guinea pigs and rats to chinchillas and tortoises.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s opened new windows for the students while also helping them feel more comfortable around animals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are great learning opportunities, and the program helps students interact with staff and teachers and learn more about animals,\u201d she said. \u201cSome students are used to seeing dogs in a negative light, so we\u2019re able to introduce them in a brighter light. They\u2019re interacting with these dogs knowing that they\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Watching students interact with the animals in River Rouge\u2019s animal-assisted interventions program is something that Alexander enjoys.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the kids sit down, reading to the dogs and playing fetch, it\u2019s just a sight to see, because a lot of them have never done this,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Animals have played an important role in shaping the life and work of Shakesha Alexander \u201919.\u00a0\u00a0 The Detroit Mercy Social Work alumna remembers playing with cows and horses during childhood summers on her family\u2019s Mississippi farms and growing up alongside household dogs.\u00a0 Those moments sparked a love for animals, which …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":8133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2023\/09\/shakeshaalexander_peoplewithdogs_side.jpg?fit=400%2C267&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-273","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8125"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8135,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions\/8135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}