The Darwin Centre is Combined’s regional 15-bedded inpatient unit, providing specialist mental health services for young people and their families. This week the Darwin Centre gained a new colleague, a 16 week old Springer Spaniel puppy called Kiara who has been introduced to the centre by her owner and CAHMS Psychiatry Consultant, Mike Foster.
Kiara is the centre’s new emotional support dog, and it was her first day on Thursday. The centre now has two support dogs, including another of Mike’s dogs called Rupert who has been a reliable presence at the centre but he has sadly been diagnosed with kidney failure. Kiara will bring some younger energy and it definitely looked like she was settling in already when we went to visit her and Mike.
Kiara’s role will be to facilitate conversation between Mike and service users on the ward, giving them a boost of self-esteem and oxytocin when playing with the puppy. Mike spoke of the research behind having an emotional support dog and the benefits it has revealed:
“Based on evidence in research, as well as service evaluation with our other emotional support dog Rupert, we know that having a dog at the Darwin Centre can be deeply beneficial for both the staff and service users.”
By the time we visited in the late morning, Kiara had already met one service user at the centre who had a very positive interaction with the friendly puppy and Mike explained how the dog would be based in the offices initially, getting used to the centre and then move onto the ward in the coming weeks as she adjusts.
Kiara has clearly been a welcome addition to the centre, Catherine Smith is the Ward Manager who seemed delighted with her newest team member:
“We’ve noticed that having an emotional support dog on the ward enhances engagement from the servicer users, Kiara brings warmth to the unit and puts a smile on the faces of everybody here!”
We look forward to following Kiara as she grows up and seeing how she provides a calming, affectionate atmosphere to our service users at the Darwin Centre.