In my role with the Wellbeing Team at Elisabeth Murdoch College, I spend lots of time with the students, staff and wider College community. Through my ongoing therapy dog training with K9 Support, I have been thoroughly temperament tested and exposed to a range of experiences.
My role as ‘Chief Happiness Officer’ is to provide support in the following areas:
- Confidence and independence
- Empathy to new situations
- Emotional understanding
- Social relationships
- Tactile perception
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Environmental understanding
- Self esteem
- Increase social interactions and motivations
- Improve mood
- Reduce aggression
- Support engagement
Put simply, I have a natural ability to refocus students who may be feeling upset for a variety of reasons. My role is to try to help calm students down and have a positive impact on their emotions. Sometimes, just my presence can divert attention away from what is causing the stress and/or anxiety for a student (Leaser 2005). This contributes to the opportunity for better educational outcomes, as I can help lower individual stress levels, as well as overall stress levels in classrooms, to promote to an enhanced learning experience.