Main fundraiser photo

A Service Dog for Danielle

Danielle has OCD, Generalized Anxiety, Depression, Panic Disorder, and Tourette's, and is excited to receive a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) to help her with the many challenges these disorders bring. While these dogs usually cost between 15,000 and 30,000 dollars, Danielle is receiving hers free - through a series of miracles and actions from many wonderful people. Danielle is extremely grateful for this blessing!

However, Danielle will still need to raise some money for the plane tickets (the dog is being trained across the country from her) and hotel stay, as well as for a harness and registration. These costs can add up fast, and she could use all the help she can get, since she has very limited resources. She is 19 and trying to go to college, she just simply doesn't have the money required. She also has to worry about rent, and dog food, and vet checkups, all sorts of things!

We're raising money to help Danielle get her service dog, and we can't do this on our own. Please donate what you can. Even 50 cents will help - it all adds up. But even if you can't donate then please PLEASE spread the word to others so that someone who can help will see it.

If you can't help then we completely understand, but it'd mean the world to us.

What does a Psychiatric Service Dog even do? How will it help Danielle? See below for some ways PSD's help their handlers, and check out the videos in the Gallery for some PSD's in action!

A list of just a few possible PSD tasks:

- Warm handler's body during a panic attack
- Interrupt repetitive and/or harmful behaviors
- Attend to handler during emotional distress
- Mitigate paranoia with reality testing
- Providing "Deep Pressure Therapy" to minimize the severity and duration of anxiety or panic attacks. This involves the dog using his weight to apply pressure to places of the handler's body that typically elicit a calming effect
- Alert, interrupt, and alleviate anxiety or panic by physically engaging the handler
- Wake handler from night terrors and nightmares
- Alerting handler to impending panic or anxiety attacks before they even start
- Interrupting self harming behavior
- Waking up handler when severe fatigue caused by depression causes the handler to sleep through a normal alarm clock
- Using "blocking" techniques with the dog's body to create a buffer area of personal space when the handler feels closed in
- Reduce anxiety and stress and help handler regain self-assurance
- Preventing or interrupting impulsive and/or destructive behaviors, such as self-mutilation, self-harm, or picking, then redirecting to a better alternative
- Perform emotionally comforting behaviors suck as licking or snuggling with the handler. Feelings of isolation, sadness, or of being unloved can be relieved by unconditional positive interaction with another living being.
- Stand behind handler to increase feelings of safety, reduce hyper-vigilance, and decrease the likelihood of the handler being startled by another person coming up behind them
- Turn on/off lights
- Interrupt obsessive/compulsive behaviors
- Alert handler to a change in mental state
- Assist in coping with emotional overload by bringing handler into the "here and now"
- Providing tactile stimulation to help handler reorient during a panic attack

Does Danielle qualify for a Service Dog?

Yes!

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has a 3-part definition of disability. An individual with a disability is a person who 1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; or 2) has a record of such an impairment; or 3) is regarded as having such an impairment.

Danielle meets these qualifications, and is thus protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and has a right to a Service Dog. It is important to remember that just because you can't physically SEE a disability doesn't mean it isn't there.

Danielle is recieving her service dog, Malachi, from a very generous war veteran who mainly trains people on how to train dogs for veterans with PTSD. You can learn more about her organization here and here.

Here are some pictures of Malachi as he grows up and learns how to be Danielle's service dog!




















Organizer

Danielle Judith Driggs
Organizer
Pleasant Grove, UT

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