Final exams are stressful. Every spare moment of time is all about studying, and tight, worried stares replace cheerful faces as students prepare for the scenario that could make them or break them.
This is why for the last five years Camosun College has been bringing therapy dogs to both campuses during exam time, offering some cheerful, fuzzy, canine companionship to those suffering from exam anxiety.
Camosun director of learning services Sybil Harrison believes that bringing in the therapy dogs has brought positivity into an otherwise anxious time of year.
“It’s something that we saw happen in other institutions,” says Harrison. “Then one staff person [library technician Jennifer Stenberg] came to me and asked, ‘Can we do this?’ I said, ‘Yes, go for it!’”
Harrison says that as soon as exam season starts nearing, the Camosun staff gets ready for the dogs again.
“We are in the fifth year of doing this, where we work with St. John Ambulance,” she says. “They have volunteers who have dogs certified to do this work, to be therapy animals. So around the end of the semester, we invite them on campus. The dogs come on site with their owners, and they are just available to be loved and cuddled. It’s as awesome and basic as that.”
Harrison says that the whole point of the therapy dogs is just what their name says—therapy—and that the dogs know exactly what to do.
“Every time you see them, you just sort of melt,” she says. “These dogs, they go through some training, and they are just so suited for this purpose. They just ooze with love. They really are quite amazing.”
Harrison is familiar with the general stress level rising on campus during exam time and recognizes that there is a need for different kinds of support.
“Every student is challenged with busyness and worry this time of year,” says Harrison. “There are also other students who perhaps have greater challenges with mental health; this time of year pushes them into anxiety and depression. We know there is a whole spectrum around these sorts of things, and we want to make indications to students that we, the college, care about students and what they’re going through.”
First-year Psychology student Jaycee Constantine agrees that the dogs are helpful to students.
“They just put me in such a good mood,” says Constantine. “It really helps the atmosphere on campus go up.”
Constantine says that the room full of dogs offers an escape from the anxiety that accompanies exam week.
“Everyone in here seems so happy, so welcoming,” says Constantine. “You get to just enjoy yourself, relax, take your mind off the studying and the exams coming up. You feel way more relaxed playing with dogs than sitting in a stuffy classroom or the library,” she says with a laugh.
Harrison says that the dogs on campus are proof of people’s need for support and connection.
“I always say that I think it’s a deeply human thing to want to connect, to want to be loved,” she says. “Sometimes it happens with another human being, but often it’s an animal. Whether it’s a dog or a cat, it’s still such a human need, that connection. If we all had that opportunity to feel and share a little more, the world would be a much better place.”