Philadelphia: Therapy dogs help students with "calming presence"

Jan 4, 2018, Philadelphia Public Schools, The Notebook: Dogs provide a calming presence at trauma-informed school http://thenotebook.org/articles/2018/01/04/dogs-provide-a-calming-presence-at-trauma-informed-school Lakeside educators say the dogs provide a general calming presence and can sometimes spot a student who is under stress and go over to them. “They provide safety and trust,” says Beatty, who generally brings Cobalt to group counseling sessions. … In one case, she recalls, a girl just starting at Lakeside was so withdrawn that she had to spend her first few hours alone in an office until Cobalt was able to coax her out. … Says former Lakeside student Zavier Bouayad-Ramey, now back at Bensalem High School: “I can’t get mad or frustrated when I’m around the dogs.”