Takoda Therapies · Texas
Biofeedback AAT dogs.
They assist you in real time.
Detection dogs. Recreation Therapy with biofeedback AAT — activity-assisted therapy — for veterans, first responders, and adults with special needs. Four phases of development. There is a fifth phase we will talk about in person.
Since 2022
Dogs in the work. RT for a decade before that.
Chris Griffin, CTRS
VA CCN / TriWest, Region 4. Authorized care is active. Public directory listing may follow.
Camp Fiona
501(c)(3). Students, the dogs, and a camp still to come.
Our Mission
Welcome to Takoda Therapies at Camp Fiona
Takoda Therapies at Camp Fiona supports veterans, first responders, and adults over 18 with special needs who are dealing with PTSD, TBI, trauma, and behavioral issues. The work is Recreation Therapy with AAT biofeedback dogs. The dogs detect and assist in real time.
We teach you to stop the fight/flight cascade. With enough practice the regulation runs on its own.
TT aims to build a holistic healing experience through Meditation, VR, Massage Therapy, Hypnosis Therapy, Aquatic Therapy for TBI individuals, and Therapeutic Recreation (AAT) Biofeedback Therapy to name a few that will allow the individual to heal. This work is not only PTSD — TBI is one of the things we take care of too. A Biofeedback bootcamp for those still active not needing the service animal is also in the future — not until we have expanded and the work is further along. At the moment, breeding itself is in the distant future, as is putting stationed dogs in first responder stations — Police, Fire, and so on for those not wanting a service dog but wanting self checkups. That is something we do want to do.
Lastly the hope is to be able to spread the movement by offering valuable learning opportunities for college students interested in working with kids with disabilities through a class elective (still in the works). By offering a camp that shows all therapies available in the State programs gives the student an opportunity to experience them all as well as the kids on the waiting list — which in Texas can be 8 to 9 years. That wait is the main reason we need more therapists. It also allows them to see our new RT Biofeedback (AAT) dogs. It's a great opportunity to educate them on what's available as well as allow the students see if this is something they could do as a career. Camp Fiona, the 501(c)(3) base, will adhere to the best practices of service dog training but also introduce new advances in service dogs that allow a more autonomous way forward.
Takoda Therapies is the practice. Camp Fiona is the 501(c)(3) — students, the dogs, and a camp still to come.
VA CCN / TriWest, Region 4. Authorized care is active. Public directory listing may follow.
The journey
Four phases you journey through in the development.
Everyday stress, addictions, triggers, tics, and emotional trauma. Sleep, supplements, and exercise toward better mental and physical health. The path is longer for some and shorter for others. It is always better with family. If family is available, we would be surely blessed if they could help in the process — it always is better when they are part of it. Everyone follows a path, but the challenges alter that path as they go. There is a fifth phase we will talk about in person.
Takoda Therapies
Fight or flight partners.
All part of Takoda Therapies. These are dedicated service dogs for TT.
“In the past years of my life I was only able to get three maybe four hours of sleep. Now I get seven to eight. In dogs I trust.”
The 501(c)(3)
Camp Fiona educates students, and takes care of the dogs.
A 501(c)(3) dedicated to educating students, training and taking care of the dogs, and eventually running a camp for students who want to see if one of the therapies is a field they might go into. Named for the first dog Chris ever worked with special-needs children — the one who loved getting dirty, who lived sixteen years after losing her back legs, who never stopped making time. Takoda is the practice. Camp Fiona is the home we still have to build.
The Fiona story