HABRI Central

Kevin’s talk focuses on his efforts to help combat veterans turn down the stress after returning from war. Recalling his own intense anxiety from childhood, he shares his grandmother’s teachings of nature and using the five senses to feel calm. Through this connection to the natural world, he also recognizes the role animals can play in counterbalancing stress. But, instead of tame animals, he relaxes the battle-scarred warrior dynamic with the help of lions, tigers, cougars, and leopards. In his talk, he walks us through the extraordinary experience. As a Manual Therapist for twenty years, Kevin has logged over 30,000 hours of clinical practice focusing on improving physiological structure and function. Empowering individuals to achieve wellness, he is a professional speaker/trainer and maintains a thriving bodywork practice. Kevin has also logged thousands of fieldwork hours in human-animal interaction studies. Combining this fieldwork with his extensive training in human physiology, he created The CATalyst, a human-wild animal interaction experience and an extraordinary approach to wellness and peace. The CATalyst program is offered free to combat veterans.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

1. Animal-assisted activities
2. Animal roles
3. open access
4. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
5. tigers
6. veterans
7. Zoo and captive wild animals