June 16, 2021

UCalgary Nursing Wellness Dog program cancelled due to COVID

Update to our faculty on this mental health and wellness initiative
Jack Wellness Dog

When we set out to establish a wellness dog program with "Jack," Christi Lange's Australian Labradoodle, our goal was to add to our program of mental health and well-being for students, faculty and staff at UCalgary Nursing. While we are still dedicated to wellness for our community and are embarking on other initiatives, sadly, this program has become a casualty of COVID. A significant training window was lost due to pandemic restrictions and we have had to abandon this worthwhile project. We have advised our partners and thank them so much for all their collaboration.

Jack continues to thrive at home. And we still believe wellness and therapy dogs can greatly benefit our lives in many ways. When we can all gather again in person, we will look at connecting with campus groups to bring in dogs for support.