**All media below is the opinion of an individual student and therefore does not represent or speak to the values of Vestavia Hills High School and Vestavia Hills City Schools**
Image courtesy of Vestavia Hills City Schools
Last May, Vestavia Hills Elementary West added a cuddly companion to their staff.
Merlin is a four year old black lab who provides comfort to the students at the school, calming kids who have a hard time focusing and lifting students spirits when they are down.
Teachers and parents have found the school’s addition to be helpful across many emotional problems children face when it comes to school.
This type of comfort would be very beneficial to students at the high school.
The last four years I have been at the high school, I have walked into class hearing many of my peers mention how they are stressed, tired, and anxious. The large loads of homework, out of school activities, multiple tests a day, hormones, college admissions, and relationships (just to name a few stress inducers) cause many students to feel unmotivated in spirit and overloaded with work.
Currently, about one in every five teenagers struggle with mental health, and not every teen is comfortable with the conventional methods of treating mental health problems such as counseling and medication. This leaves many teenagers struggling in silence.
But a service dog may be an alternate solution to easing the struggles of high school students.
I personally have found pets helpful to my own mental health. I have fallen victim to the stress of school, but run to animals as an escape. Volunteering at the Humane Society and working at a veterinarian clinic has helped me stay grounded and calm during my hardest times as a teenager as the animals’ joy always brings a smile to my face.
Beyond personal benefit, studies have shown that dogs help peoples’ mental and physical well being. They are always there to listen without judgment, be by your side, greet you with excitement, and make you laugh. Petting a dog even chemically lowers the release of cortisol, a stress hormone, and raises the levels of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone.
I asked fellow students if they believed a service dog would be helpful and many believed they would.
Erin Visser said she believes that the addition of a service dog “would be very beneficial to students’ mental health.” She mentions how “high school, especially senior and junior year, are highly stressful,” but a service dog would provide “a go-to way to distress.”
Miller Murray agrees saying, “a service dog at the high school would help ease stress for students, particularly for those having a bad day.” She continues into the important fact that “therapy dogs exist because their presence is enough to ease emotional distress.” And even outside of individual benefit, she believes “a service dog would improve and relax the atmosphere of the school.”
Both staff and students at the high school would have higher spirits in a relaxing environment where they have a friend to go to when they are down. A service dog, like Merlin at West, would provide this environment. A dog at VHHS would, without a doubt, minimize the ever prominent stress of high school.
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