Going to the Dogs

Tales from the Field: A Trip to TCOM

by Alex Baer

The five most thrilling and stressful words in the English language? “Your proposal has been accepted.” 

It was a fluke, right? 

I had submitted a presentation theme to the annual conference held by Transformational Collaborative Outcomes Management – TCOM, for short- is a social science and policy think tank centered at the University of Chicago, but more acutely known to Pathways staff as the creators of the CANS and FANS assessment tools. 

And so it was on a painfully ordinary day in May that I discovered that I would be presenting at a conference for the first time since grad school. Having been to other conferences, I knew what to expect. Or, at least I thought I did. For those who are not aware, I’ve had an interesting path before coming to Pathways. I previously worked for the Seneca Park Zoo as an educator and defended my master’s thesis on the drumming habits of woodpeckers. I’ve kept a soft spot in my heart for animals, and I am a passionate defender of the therapeutic potential of all "puppers," cats, and any scaled, feathered, or furry friends in between. Unfortunately, though I’m sure all readers and many Pathways staff can personally relate to how powerful our pets can be as stress relief, the research backing that is… somewhat lacking. Combine that with the costs of training animals and clinicians, and insurance companies are leery of supporting ‘support animals’. With my proposal, I was able to combine my two passions and explore the potential to help use the CANS tool to improve current research practices for animal-assisted therapists. 

The months leading up to it were familiar, at least: research, procrastination, and lots of anxiety, interspersed with a few special “eureka!” moments. My supervisor, Angie, was a great help during the process. Before I knew it, I had to get to Rochester International for a red-eye flight to Palm Springs. I blinked, and it was time to register for a full day of conference proceedings, which began with a speech from the founder of TCOM, John Lyons. John is two parts Bob Ross, and one part Alfred Adler – his soft baritone voice belies a fiery passion for doing what’s best for children, from clinical social work to designing statewide policies. This year’s conference was hosted in Palm Springs to commemorate the state of California adopting the CANS across their state programs, much as we do here in New York across foster care, behavioral services, and children’s care management. 

As I pen this at my desk, I can glance to my side and still see the stack of notepads filled with furious and nearly incomprehensible notes from each session. Each session was run by members of CANS users from all across the country, with some familiar Albany-ian faces to our staff.  From sessions discussing the importance of cultural competency in developing a care plan to more data-heavy lectures on measuring growth in populations of youth across a state, I was overwhelmed with the breadth and depth of use of the tool that I, and my staff, encounter every day. Soon, it came time to retire to my hotel room and prepare for my presentation. I arrived early to help set up and met other presenters during the poster session, who were similarly feeling the butterflies of performance anxiety. Like my comrades in cardboard, I had nothing to fear. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Much like the research and passion that drove the creation of the poster itself, I found that I had hit a node with passersby. All had a story of the restorative power of a furry or feathered friend, be it self-care via scritches and belly rubs after a long shift, or a years-long journey to help a client open up socially.  Several attendees offered cards, thinking that we had established a pet therapy program! 

After the chaos of my first day, Friday almost felt slow. I carefully chose my last session at the conference: an open discussion with staff from the California Department of Health and Children’s Services about using the CANS, and how to best use these tools to drive service planning. When it came out that I was a New Yorker, and that we’ve been using the CANS for years, I found myself passing on every detail I’ve learned and lived here at Pathways, from “the Golden Thread” of service planning to the simple bookkeeping of whether to use digital or paper copies of the assessment. All too soon, the poster session, and the conference itself, came to a close. I’m left with the memories and the connections, and a reminder that while some days may overwhelm me, that the services that we provide to families are invaluable, and are truly making a difference in helping children and families to access better behavioral and medical health. That night, I slept fitfully, too eager to share what I had learned. Or because of the time zone difference; I’m still not sure which.

As I boarded the tiny plane to Phoenix, I noticed through bleary eyes the first peals of dawnrise over the red rocks of the valley. I was reminded of a line by Cormac McCarthy. "The bones of cholla that glowed there in their incandescent basketry pulsed like burning holothurians in the phosphorous dark of the sea’s deep." For my first time seeing California, or a desert for that matter, it was painfully short… but beautiful nonetheless.