Durham Chronicle 17-18 Issue 12

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10 The Chronicle April 24 - 30, 2018 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Campus The benefits of pet therapy Rachelle Baird The Chronicle Many people are aware of service animals and what they do. There are guide dogs and dogs who can even detect when a medical episode is about to happen, such as a seizure. But they may not know animals are also used for therapy. These animals can ease anxiety, stress and depression. Robin Voisey, a veterinary technician and professor of Durham College’s Animal Care program, said therapy animals provide emotional support and will visit schools, hospices, hospitals and even occupational therapy places. She said any dog can be a therapy dog. She said services dogs are with their owners full-time, and are highly trained working dogs. Some wear vests indicating not to touch them because they have a job to do, and they are always on the job. There have been a few service dogs seen around campus, Voisey said. At the Whitby campus where she teaches she has seen one dog. Voisey said dogs are sometimes brought in to help children read. If a child is nervous to read or struggles with reading, simply placing a dog beside them helps them read better because they feel the unconditional love. Some people are unaware of other animals which are used in therapy. Cats, small companion animals, and even horses are used as well. Voisey, a horse owner herself, said there are benefits of using horses in therapy. Voisey is involved with a program called Equine Assistant Learning (EAL). It is a program which uses horses as therapy. “I’ve seen just mind-blowing changes,” she said. “Where someone feels comfortable enough to allow the layers of onions to peel from them, and with horses. The horse sends out unconditional love and things happen to the person that are completely out of their control.” Voisey said one time she met A young girl with her therapy cat. I've just seen mind blowing changes. a woman who was nervous of horses, who had never been near a horse before, and was actually quite frightened. “The horse just took its time with the woman, and the woman burst into tears because she had never had anyone take their time with her like the way this horse did,” she said. She said rats can be considered service animals, meaning they can be with their owners all the time, much like the dogs. She said rats are loving and clean animals. They will sit in their owners’ sleeves and help them throughout their day. St. John Ambulance is a non-profit organization with a therapy dog program. It visits long-term care facilities, hospitals, schools, and provides companionship for those who need it. Marsha Seens is the community services coordinator for St. John Ambulance. “We don’t have a standard breed,” she said. “Goldens and Labs are very common. We also have a lot Golden Doodles and a lot of mixed breeds.” Seens said animals must be calm at the start of the program, over the age of one, and cannot be over the age of ten. They also have to be well socialized, behaved, and walk well on a leash. To qualify for the program, the dog must start off with an orientation, then an “interview” and screening process, and finally an evaluation. She said it can take up Photograph by Rachelle Baird to a couple of months for the dogs to be qualified and not all will qualify for the program. Seens has seen changes in people who have been involved in the program. She said students who have been worried about exams have gone into them with confidence after being with these dogs. She said children with disabilities or challenges who have high energy levels will calm down when the dog visits them in the classroom. When St. John visits long-term care facilities she said there are changes in the person’s demeanor, and the animals make them feel so much better, especially if they cannot get out due to health issues. She said just having these animals come in is beneficial. DC resources can help students with anxiety The Zen room help students with stress Cory Philipsen The Chronicle The first time going to university or even college can be a difficult time for anyone, especially if it is their first time leaving home. But there are many supports for them on campus. If you are dealing with troubles with schoolwork, you can book an appointment with peer coaches, including Roshni Vijay, a peer coach at the college. According to Vijay, the signs of anxiety can differ from person to person. However, they may fidget with their hands, cut themselves off from the environment around them, or fumble and appear pale. Even though the signs are similar, she says anxiety tends to be somewhat like adrenaline. Vijay says the reason for this could be linked back to the idea of the fight or flight instinct. But anxiety is more related to fear or reacting to danger. However, she says there are ways to help someone who deals with anxiety. There are many kinds of services like this both on campus and outside of Durham College and UOIT to help students. One such service is the Peer Coaching, which can help students understand and figure out when to do the assignments as well as how to do them. There is also SALS and the Access and Support Centre. There are also people in the Health and Wellness Centre who can assist with mental health issues. These services are free, all students need to do is ask. Dani Bobak is a student in the Foundations in Art and Design Program who has dealt with anxiety for a while during school. “It would have been helpful if I knew that they had things on school to help,” she says. There is also the Zen room, located in room C111. It is an area that is mainly used to help with both spiritual well-being and other aspects of wellness. Students can meditate here and talk to some of the coaches about problems. The room isn’t meant to be for any specific person or group of people. It’s mainly a place where students can take time away from work, to keep them from feeling overwhelmed. There are things such as colouring, soft music, books and even a couple of board games. Places like this are meant to help people and to work on easing them into new environments. If not for places like this, and services like that, people wouldn’t be able to speak out about their problems and difficulties, according to Vijay. She says that the Zen room is a place where students can relieve their problems by talking about them. “If I don’t give you the space to talk or be yourself, then there’s no reason for the services,” she says. Vijay says speaking with others about the problem can help people work through it.
Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca April 24 - 30, 2018 The Chronicle 11 Diversity at Durham, what students can expect Peter Fitzpatrick The Chronicle Durham College’s Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Transitions has been busy reaching out to the campus community and creating awareness through recent events and workshops, with more to come in the future. Jordan Tan is a Music Business Management student as well as an organizer of the Durham College LGBTQ+ Network, the college’s LGBTQ+ group on campus. He is also a team member at the office. He has organized several workshops and events on campus including LGBTQ+ Mix and Mingle, and the recent Asexuality 101 workshop in March. “It was a great turn out,” Tan said. He hopes students can use these workshops to learn skills outside of school. Tan later promoted drug safety with a Harm Reduction 101 workshop in March. “Drug use is a pretty popular and hot topic among youth right now, so it’s a great skill to learn how you can reduce harm during special circumstances,” he said. The workshop was presented with the AIDS Committee of Durham Region and aimed to explore the safer use of alcohol and drugs common at parties, and ways to reduce harm caused by these substances. Another member of the team, Shauna Moore, the first-generation student coordinator for the office, says her team is celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion for all groups. According to Moore, the office plans to extend its reach by creating a stronger presence in The Pit, as well as by holding more events to raise awareness of diversity issues. Photograph by Peter Fitzpatrick Director of the Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Transitions, Allison Hector-Alexander (left), and First Generation Student Coordinator, Shauna Moore. She said this initiative has already generated a positive outcome for her team, creating more traffic since as early as January of this year. “More traffic and more awareness, people are more aware of us,” she said. Members of her team have also been asked to give presentations outside the campus in the community. Their outreach is growing larger with their most recent cultural event. On March 8, as part of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, Moore’s team held an event in The Pit, encouraging students to talk about what feminism meant to them. More than 180 students participated in the event. PFLAG YA supports young adults in Durham Jasper Myers The Chronicle The transitional time from childhood to adulthood can be stressful for many people. For those who are LGBT it can come with specific challenges, but one group in Durham Region aims to give support. PFLAG Young Adults (YA), a group specifically for 18 to 29-year-olds, was created for young adults by young adults. “PFLAG YA was created out of a necessity for our youth here in Durham Region,” said Donny Potts, vice-president of PFLAG Canada and a PFLAG YA facilitator. “There was that space between our youth programs and adult stuff. We had a lot of young adults that needed a space.” PFLAG YA was started almost three years ago by PFLAG Canada – Durham Region. The idea came from Camp Rainbow Phoenix, a youth leadership camp, for 13 to 17-year-olds, run by PFLAG Durham Region. Young adults who were “aging out” needed a group to cater to their specific needs. There was nothing else for them, so PFLAG Durham Region took their suggestions and PFLAG YA started to take shape. PFLAG YA facilitators Donny Potts and Lisa Pare. “As a need has been there, it’s been fulfilled,” said Potts. He said the need for such a group wasn’t there in the years before, but the population between the ages of 18 and 29 in Canada is larger now. According to Statistics Canada, in 2016 about 6.2 per cent of young people ages 15 to 34 identified as gay or bisexual. As well, another Statistics Canada survey in 2014 found that almost half of LGB youth 15 Photograph by Jasper Myers to 34-years-old reported they experienced discrimination in the five years prior. PFLAG YA is a first of its kind for PFLAG Canada. It aims to meet once a month and provides a supportive and social atmosphere for young adults who are part of the LGBT community, as well as their allies. “They have a space where 18 to 29-year-olds, who aren’t bargoers, who want a space to connect, that’s what they’ve got,” said Potts. “It’s grown. We have about 15 young adults that attend now, and they take care of their programming.” Potts and Lisa Pare are the facilitators but they recognize the group is made up of young adults, so they let members decide what they do each month together. “We’re facilitating the group more on the lines of just kind of keeping the structure, where the YA group itself is more facilitating the group,” said Pare. The group decides on outings or meetups for each month, such as games nights and bowling. The majority of the members are college and university students. Members pay to go to outings, but Potts and Pare make sure everyone can participate regardless of their financial situations. But now, Pare wants to see what else the group can do. “I would honestly like to see a meeting, and then do something fun. Where the meeting we’re picking what we’re going to do and then we can talk about any issues they want to talk about or anything brought up,” Pare said. She wants to see what volunteer or charity work is out there for the group as well. The YA group has had its ups Apart from events, the office also offers multiple services for students including information and referral services, advocacy and support, and harassment and discrimination investigations. It also offers training and education services for classes. The education services involve members of the team going out to classrooms and groups, to talk about diversity issues with them. “I’ve gone out to a couple of different classes and talked to them about what we do and about the whole inclusion piece,” said Moore. The office has also been working with a new health promotions initiative. The coordinator of this initiative is Heather Bickle, a wellness coach here at the school. According to Bickle, health promotions is a new area on campus that wants to help students become empowered to make educational health decisions, keeping them happy and healthy. Her office is in C111 in the Gordon Willey Building. Moore wants students to stop by the office if they have any questions. “We love to see to people and say ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing,’” she said. The Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Transitions is located in the Student Services Building in SSB 120. and downs, according to Potts, but has been positive for PFLAG Durham Region and PFLAG Canada. “It’s a program that national is looking at, and there’s been talk that it could be a program that we could create to share amongst our 50-plus chapters.” Potts said other chapters across the country would be able to implement a program like this if given the proper tools. “It’s something that’s needed,” said Pare, “because I find that there is a large number of LG- BTQ young adults that really are looking for the linkage to the community, the support to know that they fit in.” PFLAG Durham Region also has PFLAG T & T (Teens and Tweens), and the YA group is starting to work with them to integrate members who are aging out, hoping to alleviate some of their anxiety. Joining is as simple as showing up to one of their meetings. The PFLAG Durham Region website has information on where they meet and how to join their Facebook group. PFLAG YA meets on the third Thursday of each month, and hopes to run an annual retreat each summer, something they’ve done once before.
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Durham Chronicle 17-18 Issue 12

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