Changemaker
Lorin Lindner
TL;DR
The clinical psychologist behind Serenity Park and the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center, whose reciprocal-recovery model pairs veterans with rescued animals.
Dr. Lorin Lindner is a clinical psychologist who has spent her career pairing people recovering from trauma with animals recovering from the same. She counseled homeless veterans in Los Angeles and became clinical director of New Directions for Veterans in 1997. After years of caring for rescued parrots, she founded the Earth Angel Parrot Sanctuary near Ojai and, in 2005, Serenity Park, a sanctuary on the West Los Angeles VA campus where veterans with PTSD care for abused and neglected parrots.
In 2009 she bought land in Frazier Park, California and co-founded the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center, home of the Warriors and Wolves program featured in our film. She wrote about the Serenity Park years in Birds of a Feather (St. Martin's Press, 2018).
Lindner calls the model reciprocal recovery, animals and people who have both been through trauma, healing each other through daily care and the slow build of trust. It started with parrots and grew to wolves, wolfdogs, horses, and the veterans who look after them.
Why OGSP Recommends It
Lorin is the person behind both sanctuaries in our orbit, Serenity Park, which her book Birds of a Feather tells the story of, and the wolfdog sanctuary in our film. The reciprocal-recovery idea is hers.
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Key Takeaways
- Lindner has built her career on one idea, pairing people recovering from trauma with animals recovering from the same thing.
- She founded Serenity Park for parrots and veterans in 2005, then co-founded the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center for wolves and wolfdogs in 2009.
- Her book Birds of a Feather tells the Serenity Park story.