Pictured from left are SRU alumna Sue Anderson with her collie, Danny; SRU social work major Cassandra Spirnock; assistant professor of social work Yvonne Eaton-Stull; SRU social work major Maura Vulakovich; and SCI-Mercer Prison psychology manager Cynthia Wright with her Shih Tzu Ginger.

SLIPPERY ROCK — A university professor and a prison psychology manager are taking a four-legged approach to managing inmate anxiety.

Yvonne Eaton-Stull, assistant professor of social work at Slippery Rock University, teamed up with Cynthia Wright, the licensed psychology manager at the State Correctional Institute in Mercer, to create a canine anxiety- and stress-reduction program among inmates at the prison.

The women, along with two SRU students and an alumna, take two trained therapy dogs to a special area of the prison where 10 male inmates meet in a group setting once per week to discuss their anxiety and stress.

The students, Middlesex Township resident Cassandra Spirnock and Maura Vulakovich, facilitate the group meetings each week.

So far the group has met eight times in the 10-session program. The project will continue through May with two other 10-man groups, making a total of 30 inmates participating in the program.

The group will ultimately use the program as research into the effect of canines on inmate stress and anxiety.

Spirnock recalled the very first session, when the nervous inmates filled out their evaluation forms and wondered how the sessions would go.

“We finished the evaluations and brought in the two dogs,” she said. “It was almost like they turned into different people.”

She said the dogs’ presence caused the tension in the room to disappear and the inmates became comfortable and talkative, sharing stories about dogs they had as children.

A full story appears in Monday's Butler Eagle.