
While moving to Wilmington and buying her first car have been huge accomplishments she achieved on her own, Danielle still accredits her grandmother as the person who helped shape her into the woman she is today. She is soft spoken, yet observant, and of course a huge dog lover. She is an incredibly dedicated young woman with a knack to get things done. Cece really sets the bar high for paws4people and we are forever grateful to have her on our team! While Cece has the ability to give some of the most sound advice, her personal motto is really something that rings true for our program, “What strikes the oyster, doesn’t damage the pearl.” Even though we cannot control every aspect of our lives, nothing can prevent us from aspiring to be our best selves.

When Cece is not coordinating training she helps paws4people Advocates ensure clients are continuing to follow the process to fulfill their goals. She not only oversees the paws4prisons program, working closely with the WV DOC Administration, but she also helps with the training and instructing of students and clients working towards their final certification in Wilmington, NC. She is fierce, yet kind-hearted, and above all else, Cece is honest!Īs our Deputy Executive Director Training Programs and Client Services, Cece has her hands full. She encourages staff, students, advocates, inmates, and clients alike, to figure out the problem and work it through toward the desired solution. For many of us, Cece is a pseudo mother figure of paws4people. Terry was honored as ION TV’s Everyday Hero in 2015 and was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award in 2016.Ĭece was born and raised in South Carolina, where she inherited her parent’s strong work ethic and deep-rooted Southern Values. He has also expanded the utilization of this unique Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog/adjunct psychological therapeutic intervention application to other psychological diagnoses such as: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Dissociative Amnesia (DA), Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and most importantly, PTS resulting from Sexual Trauma (ST). Terry has supervised the placement of every paws4vets Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog with a Client since 2008. He developed training protocols and methodologies wherein a Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog is used as an adjunct medical device that enables each Client to manage his or her PTS symptom set. In 2009, after a decade of training and working with his Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dogs, he turned his attention to helping Veterans with PTS. There, his Dogs worked with hundreds of special needs students, helping them to exceed their Individual Educational Plan requirements utilizing animal-assisted instruction. From 2002 to 2006, Terry and his Assistance Dogs worked in several special needs classrooms, where he developed training protocols and methodologies for Assistance Dog utilization within the special education classroom environment. In 1999, he began training his own Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dog to help mitigate his CPTS symptoms. Most importantly, she is mom to her Ambassador Assistance Dog, WYATT, and her Scent Detection Facility Dog In-Training, HOBBS.

She has also served as an adjunct faculty member of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. She is the Program Director and Instructor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington Assistance Dog Training Program, the first and only comprehensive Assistance Dog academic certificate program at a state university. Kyria serves as Executive Director of paws4people. Kyria was a 2010 Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year finalist the winner of the 2011 IKEA Life Improvement contest the winner of WILMA Magazine’s Women to Watch in 2014 the National Points of Light award in 2015 and the 2017 Coastal Entrepreneur Award – Non-profit in 2017. While managing multiple Assistance Dog Training Programs, Kyria completed a Master’s Degree from Liberty University in Human Services-Marriage and Family Counseling, during which she assisted in the development of cutting-edge utilization of Psychiatric Medical Alert Assistance Dogs as adjunct therapeutic interventions within Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure Therapy techniques. She then attended Bergin University of Canine Studies, earning a certification in Service Dog Education. Kyria graduated from West Virginia University summa cum laude from the Honors College with Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Religious Studies, and Speech Pathology and Audiology, with a specialization in Disability Studies. During middle school, high school, and college, Kyria worked with her certified Therapeutic Facility and Educational Facility Dogs in nursing homes, hospitals, and special education classrooms.
