A recent and excellent article in the New York Times observes the powerful interaction between a service member who suffers trauma and the service dog who provides empathy and can even sense tension and anger before outsiders (and perhaps even the handler) can. The article appears at: https://nyti.ms/2sDCprx and is aptly titled "The Empathetic Dog."
In a comment I posted on the NYTimes cite, I observed that many children who have high ACEs experience anger and stress and anxiety and have no way to express that effectively. And they have no one or no pet that can anticipate the feelings and help resolve them. (Yes, we have dogs that detect illnesses and seizures and low insulin.) And, these children lack empathetic relationships at home. In short, many children have no equivalent a service dog and they lack empathetic adults.
Surely trauma-sensitive schools can play a key role -- if the personnel are well trained. Compassionate schools play this role. And, we need more schools that recognize the role of empathy that is, for me, the beginning of reciprocity, a term I exam in depth in www.breakawaylearners.com. Indeed, reciprocity can begin with one person (pet) displaying vastly more engagement/empathy than another. But, and this is key, the empathy and engagement grow over time.
We would do well to reflect on the role and improve the prevalence of empathy in schools -- even if there is pushback among teachers and professors. I can hear some saying: this is not my job. Professors often have a quite narrow view of their role. But, sadly, if we want educational success, we need faculty (and teachers) who understand the students they serve and engage more completely.
This is not about coddling. This is not about helicoptering. This is not about student weakness. This is not about hyper-sensitivity. Consider the recent incidents of some of the campuses of our most famous educational institutions. The faculty are remarkably unable to be empathetic. Look at their body language and word use. Cross arms; lack of eye contact; fighting words; defensiveness.
No, we are not weak as people. This is about how to enable those who have been traumatized or have suffered from toxic stress to engage with others --- dog or human -- who are sensitive to their experiences and able to identify clues and signals and respond.
Would that service dogs abounded in homes and schools with high levels of trauma. There aren't enough dogs for the jobs. So, we humans need to step it up. Really. Time is a wasting'.
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