Comforting Canine

My job gets much more stressful as it gets closer to the end of the semester. Working with college students with disabilities means that as stress increases so do symptoms of many different conditions. Stakes are usually higher at the end of the semester and there often isn't time to catch up or make up work. Many students are realizing for the first time that they probably should have sought support or talked to their professors earlier and are now trying to scramble to save their grades.

We end up having lots of tough conversations and teaching some life lessons this time of year. We also get used to tears in our offices and make sure to keep plenty of tissues on hand. It gets draining when students are coming in desperate for help right now and all we can do is give them suggestions for making next semester more successful. That's usually not much comfort to someone who will be dismissed if they fail a class or who came into UT as a straight A honors student and is now making Cs.

Thankfully in the midst of this stress and distress Morey was working his magic and helping us all get through it. One student came into my office and explained she was scared of dogs. I told Morey to stay under my desk and she was fine with having him stay at a distance. A few weeks later she was back in my office and when I reminded her I had a dog she said "I know, I remember because it's the first dog I haven't been afraid of." Good job Morey! During her appointment she even let Morey come out and lay on her feet and when it was time to leave she reached down to pet him and asked his name. Not bad for someone who had been scared just a few weeks ago!

Later that week I had a student who sat down in my office and immediately started crying. Through her tears she said "I'm sorry, it's just really hard to talk about this."  As if on cue, Morey came over and sat next to to her. She started petting him saying "But this makes it a little easier." I agreed that Morey is a good friend and she proceeded to tell me her troubles.

Morey seems to sense who needs a comforting presence and I was grateful for his ability to provide some encouragement and support for those students. We all appreciated having Morey around to provide some canine comfort!