It’s no secret that most high-school students are stressed and overwhelmed. Here at NASH, there are few options to deal with anxiety and stress. 

Students can always sign up for an appointment to meet with their counselor to talk their problems out, but the counselor may not have an available time slot when a student is feeling particularly overwhelmed. Another point worth mentioning is that some days the counselors are out of the building, leaving any students in need to deal with their issues all on their own. 

Although NASH has made strides in aiding students with stress and anxiety, more needs to be done. Stress Reduction Week is helpful to students, with therapy dogs, yoga sessions, coloring activities, a pajama day, and many other diversions meant to lessen the stress of students. However, one week of de-stressing will not liberate students who have been drowning in stress since their freshman year. 

Along with this one week devoted to lowering the stress and anxiety of students, some teachers try to incorporate meditation in the classroom. If you don’t have one of the few teachers who practice meditation, this does absolutely nothing for you — sorry. Additionally, once the session is over all the stress and anxiety of being a high-school student comes rushing back.

Because of these reasons, NASH should seriously consider the idea of getting a therapy dog full-time, not just for one day during Stress Reduction Week. Not only do therapy dogs reduce stress, but they also help to alleviate anxiety. 

There are three main types of service dogs that help people in different ways: service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support dogs. Service dogs complete rigorous training in order to perform tasks for people with disabilities, like aiding in navigation, assisting someone who is having a seizure, and even dialing 911 for someone in danger. Therapy dogs strictly bring comfort to people who are ill or in poor conditions. They are typically calm and well-behaved and the comfort they give has a therapeutic effect on people. Emotional support dogs offer affection and companionship to individuals suffering from various mental and emotional conditions. Emotional support dogs are not trained in special tasks like service dogs because they aid people by giving emotional stability and unconditional love. 

You may be thinking, “Yeah, dogs are cute, but can they really help with anxiety?” A study conducted by The American Heart Association found that the anxiety of patients who were visited by therapy dogs dropped by 24% and levels of epinephrine, the stress hormone, was lowered by 17% in the same patients.  Kathie M. Cole, lead author of the study stated, “This study demonstrates that even short-term exposure to dogs has beneficial physiological and psychosocial effects on patients who want it … dogs are a great comfort. They make people happier, calmer and feel more loved. That is huge when you are scared and not feeling well.” 

In an environment containing a high number of stressed and anxious students, like NASH, an emotional support dog could be extremely beneficial to not just some, but all students.