By Chad Klassen

TRU celebrates 5 years of therapy dog cuteness

Mar 15, 2018 | 3:56 PM

KAMLOOPS — Every Thursday, as Thompson Rivers University students walk down Student Street on campus, they can’t miss the fluffy, tail-wagging cuteness of therapy dogs, bringing many joy and stress-relief.  

“I think it’s fantastic. Being away from home and being away from my own dog, being able to come here and meet someone else’s dog,” said TRU student Conner Lee, who’s from Whitehorse. 

Thursday marked another therapy dog visit on Student Street from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. There was a St. Patrick’s Day theme as TRU’s Wellness Centre celebrated the fifth anniversary of the partnership with the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program. 

“It started out as a nine-week pilot project to see what the uptake would be and the feedback was so positive that we just had to see it continue. I can’t imagine the campus without the program,” said TRU wellness coordinator Chelsea Corsi. 

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For the students, especially at this time in the semester when deadlines are looming on final projects and final exams are just around the corner, taking even a few minutes out of their day to unwind is worth it. 

“It definitely gives me an escape from that,” said student Katrina Ross. “This can just really take my mind off things and help me relax a lot.”

TRU nursing student Angela Clarke said she’s “in the middle of midterms and projects are going crazy, and it’s definitely a pretty stressful time right now. But TRU does a great job providing services to decrease the stress of students.”

Corsi noted the partnership with the therapy dogs has been the most successful wellness program in her 13 years at TRU. 

“It provides an opportunity for TRU, the Wellness Centre, to show students and employees that we care about you, we want you to feel good, we want to improve your mental health,” she said. “The volunteers have been amazing. They’ve donated thousands of hours of their time to come every week from September until April every year for the past five years for four hours.”

For the volunteers, they do it for the students, knowing it puts smiles on their faces, even for the few moments they stop by. 

“We just find it so valuable and rewarding to bring a little joy to the kids that come here,” said therapy dog volunteer Bridget Jensen. “It’s just a very popular program and I hope it goes on forever and ever.”