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Davenport's new therapy dog highlights school's campus mental health efforts

Onyx the therapy dog is Davenport University's newest full-time staff member and she's part of a multi-pronged approach to improving mental health on campus.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — During the summer months, Davenport University's campus is predictably quiet. But come fall semester, it will be crawling with students and it's a good bet that they'll all be looking around for the university's new therapy dog.

Onyx is two years old and was trained at Paws With A Cause in Wayland. Bringing her to Davenport is something her handler, Sgt. Brett Windsor has been working on for a long time.

"They had her for about two years and did a lot of that kind of initial training, and then she came here and we had about 16 weeks of training so I could understand her commands, and so we could teach the other people here at Davenport her commands," said Windsor who serves as the university's public safety supervisor.

"We usually go to events. In the fall, now that she's fully licensed, we're going to be doing classroom visits. And then on an as-needed basis, she works out of our Wellness Center with our therapy team to help the students in going through therapy."

Onyx is a non-judgmental companion who has already brought a lot of joy to campus.

"I think the most rewarding part is being able to see people have that interaction just kind of by surprises. I'll just be walking through and they see Onyx and their face lights up," Windsor said.

Davenport is one of the first universities in the state to have a therapy dog program. It's part of a direct response to an increase in mental health calls that the university's public safety team has received since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

A wellness center opened on campus in 2022 and staff members at Davenport are also being trained in mental health first aid.

"With that training, I like to compare it to like CPR. People who know CPR, they know the signs and symptoms of what a cardiac event could be. This trains people to know what signs and symptoms [of a mental health crisis] are. maybe some warning signs, and the resources to go to, to help that individual," said Dr. Amy Stahley who serves as the Dean for the College of Health Professions.

Davenport has also added programs in the mental health field to help improve the mental health work force in our area.

"The two degrees that have been designed are the Master of Science for Mental Health Counseling, and then the second one is the Masters of Science in Nursing, for psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners" Dr. Stahley said.

"Both curriculums, obviously, are solidly made by expert faculty who are in those types of careers who happen to be our full time faculty."

To learn more about mental health resources at Davenport University, visit their website.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, you can call 988 for free at any time of day to be connected to a trained crisis counselor who can help you. It's called the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

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