Pace University’s Dr. Kimberly Collica-Cox Honored for First-ever Jail-based Parenting Program with Animal-assisted Therapy S

PLEASANTVILLE, NY (May 25, 2017) - Can therapy dogs help female inmates to bond with their children and become better parents?

That’s the question behind Professor Kimberly Collica-Cox’s two-year research study, called Parenting, Prison, and Pups, in which she looks at the benefits of Animal-assisted Therapy (AAT) in helping inmates who have been separated from their children to reestablish a meaningful connection.

Collica-Cox, PhD, associate professor, Criminal Justice and Security at Pace University’s Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, was honored by the Good Dog Foundation at its gala on May 18 for her role as the principal investigator in the study and for her nearly 19 years of work in prison-based peer programming.

The study, in partnership with the Good Dog Foundation, was put into practice this past spring as part of a parenting program with inmates at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), a federal jail, in Manhattan. It will begin this fall at the Westchester County Department of Correction (WCDOC), a county jail in Valhalla, New York. The Good Dog Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3), is a globally recognized leader in therapy dog team training, deployment, and research.

“Dr. Collica-Cox has proved herself a leader in prisoner health reform and peer-to-peer counseling. With Parenting, Prison, and Pups, she has turned her attention to the problem of reuniting female inmates and their minor children and rebuilding mother-child bonds. Her idea – to combine an evidence-based parenting curriculum for prisoners with AAT – is nothing short of innovative. The Good Dog Foundation is proud to be her partner in this effort,’’ said Bruce Fagin, executive vice president, The Good Dog Foundation.

Rachel McPherson, president and founder of Good Dog, said that the Parenting, Prison, and Pups study was prompted by Animal-Assisted Therapy’s (AAT) growing popularity which resulted in (government and private agencies) funding evidence-based studies to better understand the effectiveness of AAT in numerous therapeutic settings.

“Over the next year and a half, we will be working closely with Dr. Collica-Cox and Dyson College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Criminal Justice,” said McPherson. “We will co-develop an AAT cohort to the parenting curriculum that introduces specially trained therapy dog teams at pivotal moments of the 14-week series of classes. And we will assess how the therapy dogs improve inmate ability to grapple with complex emotions, learn to trust, and struggle to learn.”

Collica-Cox holds a PhD and MPhil in criminal justice from CUNY Graduate Center and an MA from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she also received her undergraduate degree. Prior to teaching, Collica-Cox worked for a New York women's correctional facility, coordinating an HIV prison-based peer education program, and for a New York jail supervising their jail-based transitional services unit.

“One of the truly unique aspects of Dr. Collica-Cox’s involvement with the Good Dog Foundation and her parenting course for inmates, is that her strategy is finally an effort that can help women in prison get their lives back and learn new behaviors,” said Joseph Ryan, PhD, professor and chair of Criminal Justice and Security at Pace. “We thank the Good Dog Foundation for agreeing to work with Dr. Collica-Cox on this wonderful program.”

“This is a very exciting project,” said Collica-Cox. “We are happy to partner with experts in the field, such as the Good Dog Foundation, MCC and WCDOC. Disruption to the mother-child bond puts inmate children at high risk for mental health issues and future incarceration. This pilot program, which gives female inmates AAT as part of an evidence-based parenting curriculum, is a unique and easily replicable way to help them restore the mother-child bond and improve self-esteem. If successful, this pilot establishes a model that can become a focus of public policy to help address aspects of the mental health crisis in U.S. prisons.”

About Dyson College of Arts and Sciences: Pace University’s liberal arts college, Dyson College offers more than 50 programs, spanning the arts and humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and pre-professional programs (including pre-medicine, pre-veterinary, and pre-law), as well as numerous courses that fulfill core curriculum requirements. The College offers access to numerous opportunities for internships, cooperative education and other hands-on learning experiences that complement in-class learning in preparing graduates for career and graduate/professional education choices. www.pace.edu/dyson

About Pace University

Pace University is a comprehensive, independent University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County. Nearly 13,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the Lubin School of Business, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, School of Education, and College of Health Professions. http://www.pace.edu

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