Healthy Living • YMCA Youth Programs
High school students get some four-legged exam stress relief
30 June 2016 - by Todd Harrison
A day before writing her Grade 10 Math exam, YMCA Academy student Emily Thompson-Savage met a new friend: Kayle, a specially trained dog from Therapeutic Paws of Canada. Two dogs visited the school last week to help students reduce stress and refocus during the most anxiety-inducing time of the year.
Knowing she was going to spend time with the dogs helped Emily get in the right headspace for her exam. “They help me relieve my stress,” she says. “When I observe the calmness of them, it makes me calm — because I know that they’re happy, so it makes me happy.”
Susan Couprie, the school’s special education supervisor, was thrilled by the results of the visit. “Mental health is something that’s difficult to see, but I witnessed students’ stress immediately reduce when they met the dogs,” she says. “Best of all, it was something they could do on their own — one more strategy to put in their back pocket.”
The dogs’ appearance at The YMCA Academy — a high school in downtown Toronto for students with learning disabilities, anxiety, and a wide range of learning style differences — is the latest addition to a wide range of specialized supports, including counselling, assistive technology, mindfulness, and a whole-person, student-centred educational approach.
Beyond these supports, the Academy continues to focus student learning on issues of social justice, environmental stewardship, and physical, social, and emotional well-being — interwoven with Ontario’s high school curriculum. Classes consistently venture outside the walls of the school to experience their city and tackle issues vital to their local and international communities.
Just as the Academy creates and participates in a vital academic community at and around the school, the teachers, staff, and students also form a vital social community of learners. Together, they have created an environment in which students can and do succeed in every way.
There are still limited spots available at The YMCA Academy for the 2016-2017 school year. Visit the school’s website to find out more about the Academy, and book a tour.
Knowing she was going to spend time with the dogs helped Emily get in the right headspace for her exam. “They help me relieve my stress,” she says. “When I observe the calmness of them, it makes me calm — because I know that they’re happy, so it makes me happy.”
Susan Couprie, the school’s special education supervisor, was thrilled by the results of the visit. “Mental health is something that’s difficult to see, but I witnessed students’ stress immediately reduce when they met the dogs,” she says. “Best of all, it was something they could do on their own — one more strategy to put in their back pocket.”
The dogs’ appearance at The YMCA Academy — a high school in downtown Toronto for students with learning disabilities, anxiety, and a wide range of learning style differences — is the latest addition to a wide range of specialized supports, including counselling, assistive technology, mindfulness, and a whole-person, student-centred educational approach.
Beyond these supports, the Academy continues to focus student learning on issues of social justice, environmental stewardship, and physical, social, and emotional well-being — interwoven with Ontario’s high school curriculum. Classes consistently venture outside the walls of the school to experience their city and tackle issues vital to their local and international communities.
Just as the Academy creates and participates in a vital academic community at and around the school, the teachers, staff, and students also form a vital social community of learners. Together, they have created an environment in which students can and do succeed in every way.
There are still limited spots available at The YMCA Academy for the 2016-2017 school year. Visit the school’s website to find out more about the Academy, and book a tour.
