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Our History

Healing Species was founded in Orangeburg, SC in 1999 when attorney Cheri Brown Thompson created the Violence Prevention through Compassion Education™ curriculum. It all started with a single rescued dog who needed help and noticing the connection in animal abuse and other harmful crimes. 

Our Curriculum

Our curriculum was uniquely created by our founder specifically for combatting the lack of empathy found in many violent crimminals. Ours is the first ever animal-assisted Violence-Prevention curriculum to be endorsed by a state board of education.

Our Prison Program

Our Prison Program pairs inmate dog handlers with formerly abused and neglected dogs who are up for adoption and in need of socialization. Through this, we are seeing not only the lives of inmates changed for the better, but also the lives of many more dogs. The dogs that come out of our prison program are socialized and confident, house-trained, know basic training cues and commands, and are shown to have a much higher rate of placement success! 

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