Tagged With "therapy dogs"

Imagine you are a newborn baby in an intensive care unit. Maybe you were born prematurely, or didn’t get enough oxygen during the delivery. There might be an IV in your tiny arm, with a small board holding it down so you can’t rip it out. You might have a tube going into your nose. You are alone, finally stabilizing after a traumatic event. But then, the doctors come in. “It’s as if you are finally safe in your nice warm bed and suddenly, out of nowhere, someone rips the sheets off of you,...

Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...

Therapy dogs are used in a wide variety of environments and circumstances but, broadly speaking, they are dogs whose presence is designed to help alleviate stress, promote feelings of well-being and sometimes help with a process of rehabilitation or healing in humans other than their owners.

More and more people have adopted pets over the last year , as spending time with animals is a research-backed way to lower stress and anxiety. And yet, you don’t need to own a pet to reap the stress-reducing benefits. If pet adoption isn’t an option for you, you can still find comfort in visiting a friend’s pet, visiting the dog park on your lunch break, or taking a trip to a petting zoo over the weekend. They calm our nerves in high-pressure situations When we’re feeling particularly...