Meet Queenie, our Justice Facility Program dog!
Queenie is a Golden Retriever – Labrador cross. She was bred, raised, trained and generously provided to our program by the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS). PADS is accredited through Assistance Dogs International (ADI), which adheres to the highest caliber of training standards available. Queenie was trained for 3 years for her role as a Justice Facility Dog, and was chosen for her calm and stable temperament.
Justice Facility Dogs such as Queenie have been known to help people in some of the following ways:
- Relieving symptoms of stress and anxiety
- Lowering and sustaining a person’s heart rate
- Lowering blood pressure, breathing and dissociation (*Johnson, 2010 cited below)
- Helping people to return to an adaptive level of functioning;
- Providing cathartic and healing touch;
- Increasing oxytocin levels and reducing the negative effects of stress hormones;
- Helping improve cognitive functioning;
- Promoting unconditional acceptance and non-judgmental support.
Further research outlining the impact of Justice Facility Dogs such as Queenie can be found here in Victims of Crime Research Digest No. 15: “Pawsitive” Directions: An Update on Dogs Supporting Victims of Crime, authored by Susan McDonald and Naythan Poulin (link)
Queenie can assist in a variety of different circumstances:
- Attending meetings at Hollyburn with clients to provide comfort during emotion-filled conversations;
- Supporting witnesses by attending pre-trial interviews and sitting with vulnerable witnesses when they testify;
- Supporting victims during forensic interviews by police;
- Supporting clients at challenging meetings at hospitals, doctors appointments, or as negotiated.
“I didn’t want to have to go to court. I didn’t want to have to tell my story again. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that I would see Queenie and she would help to absorb my pain.”
– Client Testimonial
For more information about our Justice Facility Dog Program and Queenie please call 604.618.5863 or email pcustance@hollyburnsociety.ca.
*Johnson, Rebecca A. 2010. Psychosocial and therapeutic aspects of human-animal interaction. In Human-animal medicine: clinical approaches to zoonoses, toxicants, and other shared health risks, ed. Peter M. Rabinowitz and Lis A. Conti, chap. 5, 24-36. Maryland Heights, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.