Out of the dark:
University of Saskatchewan research looks at how therapy dogs aid veterans
SASKATOON Paul de Groot needed something to pull him out of the darkness — by the leash, as it turned out.
Participating in a U of S-led project partnering veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse with psychiatric service dogs has changed his life.
“When I got brought into the program and met Raven, things changed,” De Groot said, gesturing to the large black dog nestled by his feet. “It’s an amazing experience, to be back, basically, in the land of the living. I haven’t had that for years.”
The latest stage of the project, backed by $1.4 million in funding, was announced at the National Issues of Substance Conference on Nov. 26.
Research lead Colleen Dell was awarded $850,000 from Health Canada, on top of $175,000 from the U of S and $360,000 from AUDEAMUS, a non-profit service dog organization run for and by veterans.
Because there isn’t a standardized national service dog organization, the project is about creating a tool box for organizations to use.
“When we talk about addiction, we say ‘no door is the wrong door,’” Dell said. “The way I envision it is it’s like a cookbook. We’re able to say, ‘This how peer support might work for you,’ and that might be one recipe in the book.”
This will be accomplished through training the dogs with technical skills, like waking a veteran from a nightmare, and researching the human-animal bond and the broader role dogs can play in socialization.
De Groot and Raven are one of five RCMP and military veteran and dog pairs involved.
De Groot was living with trauma from a nearly two-decade military career. Losing the structure and camaraderie that comes from military life after he retired only compounded the problem, he said.
“In the military we have fire buddies and you watch your buddy’s back, your buddy watches yours. You don’t get that when you get out in civilian life. That dies the minute you take your uniform off and you walk away. But Raven is your buddy.”
Dell wanted to ensure the research was patient-led, as the participants were the ones with knowledge and experience to draw on. The veterans have become members of the project team and participate in meetings to direct how the work should be done.
“What was really important was that we were able to train a service dog alongside the veteran, and that just broke down every barrier,” Dell said. “Because it wasn’t any more Dr. Dell and the subject, but we were connecting on a level where it was just us and the dogs.”
De Groot was in remission by the time he joined the project in the spring of 2018. He lost a lot of the excess weight he had gained near the end of his career, but the underlying factors were still there, he said. Raven has changed that.
“(Raven) gets me out of the dark. I couldn’t ask for a better buddy,” de Groot said, choking up. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“Nothing would have helped me out — she did."