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Our five-day program is designed for children with emotional and behavioral disorders, special needs, and at-risk behaviors. The goal is to help foster emotion-regulation skills and self-esteem by facilitating encounters with wild dolphins. 

The first day serves as an introduction. Clients will meet the staff and learn a bit about dolphins and the local environment. During this time, clients will undergo basic assessments of self-esteem, emotion-regulation skills, and other relevant measures used for continual program evaluation and improvement. Water skills will also be assessed at this time and clients will become familiarized with the equipment that will be used in the water, including life jackets and masks. Children will have the option of a snorkeling mask or a full-face mask. In the evening, everyone will participate in a sunset tour designed to foster familiarity and comfort with the boat and the process of finding dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico. 

On the second day, clients will become familiarized with the process of jumping off the boat, with staff supervision, in shallow water. Once clients are comfortable getting on and off the boat, we will start trying to find the dolphins. When dolphins are found, clients will have the opportunity to get in the water with them, under the supervision and direction of staff and the boat captain. 

The subsequent days will involve four-hour boat trips into the Gulf of Mexico to find and swim with the wild dolphins. The autonomy of the dolphins is as important as the comfort and safety of clients, meaning that there will be times when the dolphins are not interested in interactions and times when dolphins are unable to be found. Staff will optimize on these circumstances to help foster emotion regulation and coping skills. 

Staff will help clients process the experiences both on and off the boat using active listening and therapeutic communication. The emphasis will be on the relationship between humans and animals, unconditional positive regard, emotion regulation and coping skills, and methods to foster a sense of connection and social support. If relevant, posttraumatic growth and processing through past trauma histories will also be included. 

The program will end with a wrap-up session, including post-program assessments for clients to help with continual program evaluation and improvement.