Throughout the semester, the Student Wellness and Counselling Centre (SWCC) at MUN has been providing students with mental health support services, including both virtual and in-person visits with mental health professionals, as well as a variety of morale-boosting activities and workshops. A particularly popular event among the student body has been the regular Oasis session in the University Centre, where students get the chance to eat popcorn, participate in relaxing arts and crafts, and meet with local therapy dogs trained to provide comfort to students undergoing stress.
Towards the end of the Fall 2022 semester, representatives from the MUN Engineering Society reached out, alongside a representative of St. John’s therapy dogs, to request a change. According to the report by the therapy dog, a seven-year-old miniature poodle named Muffin, the dogs were having difficulty addressing the sheer amount of stress that the engineering department was producing towards the end of finals week.
“We like to know we are effective in our jobs,” Muffin stated, as translated by his handler. “Therefore, moving forward, we recognize that engineering students at MUN represent a higher stress output than the average dog is equipped to deal with. We would rather address this stress at the root than continue to try to mitigate the problem by looking adorable.”
Muffin revealed in an interview with Memorial University that therapy dogs are able to accurately measure an individual’s stress level on a scale of zero to twelve, with twelve representing critical panic, overwhelming, and tension. The average student a dog encounters in the University Centre will come in at about a three or four, with seven and eight being more common around finals week.
Engineering students, Muffins stated, have an average CPSS (Canine Petting Stress Score) of around eleven.
Rather than continue to try and soothe these difficulties that students experience in the fast-paced, highly competitive major, the university has opted to prevent future high-stress levels within the department altogether. From January 2023, the SWCC will be hosting Engineering-specific mental health workshops.
While still providing the usual relaxation and mindfulness services like popcorn and painting stations, these workshops will focus on several local therapy dogs who obtained at least a B.S. in several disciplines of engineering and will provide tutoring and problem-solving services in exchange for pets and treats.
Memorial University looks forward to welcoming Yona, a Siberian Husky and Civil Engineer currently employed by the United States government to build harbours in Alaska; Twinkles, a pug with a YouTube channel where he uploads mechatronics tutorials; Andy, a French Poodle with a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering from McGill; and Boomer, an Australian Shepherd with specialized training to help students sniff out ideal work terms for their interests.