SOCIAL CAUSES
Canada’ s
Best Friends
by Janice Dudar
The St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog program has come a long way since its inception in 1992, with just one dog, Jenny, and her handler, Jim Newell. Today, there are about 3500 dog / handler teams helping to enrich Canadian communities from coast to coast. The healing nature of the presence of these dogs has made a difference in many lives.
Few might know this as well as Leslie Jack, Provincial Therapy Dog Advisor for Ontario. Her now-grown and well-adjusted son, Matthew, struggled with Autism and Tourette’ s as a boy and was greatly helped by the family’ s dog, a Labrador retriever named Spike. Spike made a profound difference in Matthew’ s confidence, communicativeness, and wellbeing; the dog seemed to always intuitively know when he was needed close by.
Seeing what a dog did for her own son was something Ms. Jack never forgot. The experience influenced her future involvement in all aspects of the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog program.“ Our volunteers inspire me every day,” she says,“ and I feel humbled and grateful to be a part of this program.”
Last year, there were more than 160,000 Therapy Dog visits in Ontario alone. The dog / handler teams at St. John Ambulance have to go through a rigorous screening and training process before being accepted into the program.
Services provided by the Therapy Dogs include pleasantly distracting patients awaiting treatment, boosting the morale of people in correctional facilities and helping soldiers suffering from PTSD. Through the“ Paws 4 Stories” program, the dogs also help children learn about safety issues and practice their reading skills.
“ The students with autism are especially settled,” says teacher Anne Nakasuji after a Therapy Dog visit to special needs students at Malvern Junior Public School in Toronto.
The dog / handler teams also work in collaboration with police and fire departments, the military, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, providing solace to victims of critical incident stress, crime, tragedy and abuse.
It has been well documented that dogs can have a soothing and calming effect on people. It tends to come naturally to them to provide support and comfort in so many ways. There is something about petting and interacting with a dog that seems to draw people out of themselves and away from their troubles.
St. John Ambulance welcomes potential Therapy Dog volunteers who are interested in helping the program“ bring small miracles” to communities across Canada.“ We see miracles every day,” says Leslie Jack, voice wavering,“ and many of those miracles are not small at all.” Subaru Canada, Inc. was recently announced as the Signature Sponsor for this essential program. For more information, please visit www. sja. ca.
TOP PHOTO COURTESY OF NITA PUNNETT; TOP RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF SUZIE FARROW; MIDDLE RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF LORI THWAITES. BOTTOM RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF LESLIE JACK.