Making a PAWSitive Impact

According to the National College Health Assessment from spring 2015, stress and anxiety are the #1 and #2 academic impediments for KU students. By partnering with local organizations, Watkins Health Services addresses these issues by including animal therapy in our outreach programming.

The opportunity to simply spend time with and pet the certified therapy dogs has been shown to decrease anxiety levels in a little as five minutes. Research shows it can also help those dealing with stress, homesickness, relationship difficulties and more. 

Two popular student programs currently include animal therapy:

• Stress Busting Study Breaks are held in Anschutz and Watson Libraries leading up to and during finals week. The inclusion of certified therapy dogs is a great attraction for students who also receive bottled water for hydration, snack bars for refueling, stress relief balls, and materials on ways to manage stress and the importance of quality sleep. 

• Pause 4 Pups is held twice monthly on Wednesday nights. Teams of certified therapy dogs visit different residence halls to increase the number of students who benefit from access to these incredible animals.

Our goal is to raise $3,000 in order to increase opportunities for students to interact with therapy dogs. Expansion efforts include:

• Arranging therapy dog classroom visits on a monthly basis.
• Offering therapy dog hours at the health center once a month.
• Securing therapy dogs for wellness fairs and other student organization events.

Your gift can have a PAWSitive impact on the health and wellbeing of Jayhawk students!

Here are few quotes from participants during the fall 2016 semester:

“The animal therapy events are my favorite parts of the year.”

“The stress therapy dogs are the best. I look forward to them all the time, and wish they could appear more often.”

“Animal therapy events bring excitement and relaxation to everyone I know.”