With the recent tragedy of a Brownfield High School teacher passing away Wednesday morning August 30, 2023 at the high school, Brownfield ISD felt it would be good for the high school students to have all school counselors and others on hand Tuesday, Sept. 5, if a student needed to visit. Also on hand, was a special group from Lubbock ISD, called Muttley Crew which is a play on words for the band Mötley Crüe.
Muttley Crew of Lubbock ISD is a group of loving, caring therapy dogs who are a part of the crisis team at LISD and are ready to assist students and adults during times of tragedy and crisis. BISD Assistant Superintendent Melissa Vera talked about having all nine school counselors on hand, which includes two of the district’s licensed professional counselors (PLC) and one social and emotional learning counselor (SEL). Also, Amy Smallwood, M.Ed., LPC, CSC, of Region 17 Education Service Center was at BHS as well.
“The therapy dogs have been huge as far as students just coming in and being able to come in and just sit with the dogs. We’ve had anywhere between 10-12 dogs here rotating throughout the day. The kids have really resonated with them (dogs) being here just to create a resource to break down barriers.” When asked if this was planned prior to the death of Ms. Wilkins, Ms. Vera said, “no… this is part of the death. We needed to get the different resources available.” Ms. Vera went on to say, “Even some kids who haven’t wanted to talk about something have opened up a little bit with dogs present.”
Brownfield Education Center Counselor Sheryl Doty said, “I think this is the best thing we could’ve done today… the kids have really responded well with the dogs, and the dogs responding with the kids. It was a good day with all these kids.”
TownTalk also spoke with Chastin Powell, LPC and Abby Giboney, LPC Associate about the therapy dogs. “We are here doing crisis counseling in case something comes up with a student and the therapy dogs are here for the students… whether they want to talk to us or not, a therapy dog is a great way of expressing emotions and getting some comfort. Especially for kids who might not be comfortable talking to someone… they just kind of need a little bit of support. So we are grateful they are here… the kids have loved it.” said Powell. Giboney echoed that saying, “There has been a positive reception… just they all want to come up and say hi. That doesn’t mean you have to come to talk to the counselor. It’s a good entry for the students to open up.”
One hand at BHS was Lisa Brown, a counselor at Lubbock Estacado and one of the members of the LISD Crisis Team and the Muttley Crew. Brown said, “We are the Crisis Team for the district (LISD) and in addition, we have the Muttley Crew which also has some community partners. So we just don’t do Crisis in the district (LISD), we’ve been to Uvalde, we’ve been to Andrews, we’ve been to Snyder, we’ve been to Abernathy as a crisis team.”
The Crisis Team for LISD has been around for a while, and the Muttley Crew has been with the Crisis Team for about five to six years. According to Brown, the Muttley Crew started as a program that I want to take my dog to work. It turned into a large organization that is doing “great work for the kids and teachers as well.” Brown went on to say about how the program was doing at BHS, “I was just talking to Ms. Vera… and it’s the smile on a kid’s face the minute they see a dog. It’s not something you get to see on a campus often, and of course, the dogs as well light up when they see the kids.”
