Covenant House Vancouver

I checked in with Jesse, one of our mental health clinicians and guardian of Walter, our therapy dog-in training, this week to see how it was going. Jesse helped me understand more about how Walter and therapy dogs in general assist with counselling. Besides the general soothing effect a dog can have on someone who is stressed, therapy dogs provide a welcome distraction for people whose therapy session may be getting intense or uncomfortable.

Jesse explained that in a recent session he had a client who was getting to a rough spot in telling his story and clearly needed to take a break. Often the client is not aware of this or if he/she is, doesn't know how to stay "I need a break". So in this case, the client distracted the situation by asking if Walter "always snores when he's sleeping". A quick segue away from the pain was all he needed.

Jesse laughed telling me that young people who can't remember his name just call him "the guy with the dog".