User:Andrew Gagliano/sandbox

The B.A.R.K. (Building Academic Retention Through K9’s) program is a therapy program at the University of British Colombia, Okanagan Campus, which aims to reduce stress and promote the socio-emotional wellbeing of the university students with the help of trained therapy dogs and their respective handlers.

B.A.R.K. UBC Okanagan
 For an updated list of available dogs, and their associated profile images visit http://bark.sites.olt.ubc.ca/?page_id=824 

Importance of Therapy Dogs
Quality time with animals such as therapy dogs has the power to combat stress and eliminate homesickness. It isn’t uncommon to hear of therapy dog programs to take place on college campuses as they’re trained to provide affection, comfort, and companionship. A few psychological benefits include helping to develop confidence within students, gives them time to relax, and studies have even shown an improvement within cardiovascular health.American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias has also done studies on the effects of therapy dogs and have found that regular interaction with them, even during non-stressful times, has helped patients improve their performance with daily activities. Therapy dogs are a more fun and exciting way to assist students in maintaining the well-being of their mental health.

Management of the B.A.R.K. program
This program operates under the management of Dr. John Tyler Binfet and receives support from the Associate Vice-President and Okanagan School of Education. Many community or student volunteers also participate in the program.

Organization of the B.A.R.K. program
a)     Intervention Studies - In this type of setting the students are paired with therapy dogs and the changes in their wellbeing or emotional state are carefully observed through assessments.

b)    Drop-in Sessions – In this type of setting, the trained dogs are brought to the university campus to aid the process of stress-reduction for the university members.

References :

Faculty of Education, B.A.R.K. , Retrieved February 01st, 2021 Category:Therapy dog Category:Ubc okanagan Category:University of british columbia