(light inspirational music)
- [Amber] A lot of people think our mission
is about rescuing wolves, and that is part of it
but our true mission is about human empowerment.
It's non-traditional therapy.
Each of these animals brings a story with them,
a story of resilience, a story of overcoming trauma,
a story of being seen for who I really am
versus what someone else wants me to be.
The students and even the adults that come here,
they see themselves in those stories.
God, I relate to what that animal's been through
and wow, look how resilient
and how much healing that animal's going through
and so they often start to see, maybe I can heal too.
Maybe I'm a warrior too.
(calm music)
- [Student] I find that being outside more it's just,
it's so different from just being in school the whole time.
It's like a different experience
and plus when you actually take it all in,
it helps you think more.
- [Amber] Clearly, we have this ancient bond
and connection with dogs
and we've bred dogs to be here to please us
and the wolf is here to be a wolf.
These animals have limited option.
They end up at a shelter
and because they're not legal to own,
the option is they go to sanctuary or they get put down.
(calm music)
- [Teo] Many of us have pets for our own entertainment.
So the pet loves you and it's about
me, me, me, myself and I.
These guys don't respond well to that
and if you're not at a level that they are interested
in interacting with,
they just ignore you.
The wolf is the only animal that brings
this deep love and passion and obsession almost
and also this abhorrent hate.
And there's no animal that polarizes humans
in such a way, and I believe the wolf is a mirror for us,
the good, the bad, and the ugly in humanity.
Some of the things that make us human today
are things that I believe, and some scientists believe,
we learned from wolves.
The way a small tribe is organized is just like a wolf pack.
You have the leaders, the enforcers,
the warriors, the hunters, the caretakers,
and that's a very efficient way
how wolves have been organizing themselves for millennia.
(distant talking and laughing)
- [Amber] So I would love to hear,
I haven't read all the homeworks yet,
would love to hear anything that came up,
or you reflected on.
We don't rescue the kids, they're struggling.
The students when we're talking about something,
they're struggling, they're struggling to stay present
on the hike, they're struggling to climb the mountain.
We act like a wolf, and we just stand and be present,
and allow them to witness their own strength.
There's myths about a lone wolf,
and a lone wolf is always looking for a pack.
They're not desiring to be alone.
We feel the same about humans.
A lot of us don't get that connection from our families.
(distant voices)
And so this pack mentality offers a way to feel supported.
(calm music)
It's such a different experience,
if I'm going through something,
to try to heal myself versus being witnessed
and really seen by others, and that's the power of the pack.
- [Student] It's such a nice break
from what you normally do at school.
This is like one step forward in like being
more comfortable with unfamiliar things.
- [Student] I actually really enjoy being around them,
they help me out a lot.
Like I take out my comfort zone with them.
(bright music)
- [Amber] And sometimes we have humans in our lives
who have a lot of love...
We do pre-post tests, looking at students level of
self awareness, their connectiveness to nature,
and their ability to take initiative in their lives,
whether we look at it holistically of all the groups
at Wolf Connection, or each group on their own,
we see a significant increase in their lives
once they graduate the program.
We believe that what we learn from the wolves,
and the power of our deep ancestral connection
with them has the power to make deep change,
and then it's really us, as humans, who need to change
in order to protect our environment,
understand how sacred and special these animals are,
and to make the world a better place.
(bright music)
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