A pet therapy program for students with special needs at Westlock Elementary School is helping kids overcome past trauma and re-integrate with their peers.
Now in its sixth year of operation, the program is partnered with Chimo Animal-Assisted Wellness and Learning Society (CAAWLS). It consists of half-hour “trust time” sessions where students with needs ranging from grief to ADHD interact with a therapy dog.
“I love it,” said student Kahlin Chartier. “It makes me feel really good.”
School counsellor Clair Vincent said the program helps kids develop trust, self esteem and socialization skills.
“It’s really good for trauma victims,” she said. “They don’t respond to anyone, but they will respond to the dogs. Kids who would barely talk at all suddenly become very confident.”
Handler Elizabeth Eddington brings in two dogs every Wednesday to help with the kids. She noted that it was just as much therapy for the dogs as for the students.
“Both of my dogs have been through abandonment,” she said. “It’s absolutely amazing when you tell the dog’s story and you see it click with the child.”
Vincent and Eddington both said they take the dogs to individual classrooms where kids will read to the dog and share their work with a non-judgmental peer.
Vincent also said that in the springtime, the dogs go out with kids to the playground and at Christmas the kids dress the dogs up in festive costumes.
Each therapy session is structured towards the needs of each student, though Vincent noted that helping kids learn relaxation techniques was a common theme throughout the program.
“Sometimes the whole goal for a half-hour is to get the student to relax with the dog,” she said. “Relaxing helps the kids with their school work.”
Teachers had nothing but good things to say about the program.
“I had a student who had gone through some trauma,” said teacher Erin Harder. “One of the only ways the student would discuss it was to talk to the dogs. It was amazing to see the student open up and watch how the dog reacted and knew exactly what the student needed. Months later, the dog entered the classroom and walked directly to that student and they were inseparable. You don’t realize the power these dogs have until you watch it in action.”
Vincent said Westlock Elementary School was one of the first schools in Alberta to implement the program. While the program is now popping up in schools around the province, she added Westlock is unique in that it has two therapy dogs working nearly six hours each week while most programs have one dog that only works for two hours.
“When we were first started six years ago, we had one dog who was exhausted by noon,” said Vincent. “Now with two dogs, we can go all day. The sky has no limit for us. For six years we’ve been doing miracles.
“Wednesdays are the best days of my life.”
