Living with PTSD feels like living a half life, I need a service dog to help me live it fully.
I live with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is the result of repeated and sustained exposure to traumatizing events beginning in my childhood and carrying on into my adult life. I lost my father to suicide as a child, the effect of that event resulted in beginning treatments for mental health conditions at age 15. I have been in various forms of treatment and therapy for nearly 21 years and have been unable to work due to symptoms of CPTSD for two years now. I have been incredibly dedicated to surviving this diagnosis and have used all of the energy I have when I'm functional to recover. Despite my best efforts, various forms of therapy and medication, working on meeting my basic activities of daily living I still struggle to be functional. I continue to live with symptoms of depression, being on edge or hyper vigilant, panic attacks, dissociation, night terrors and nightmares. I struggle to go out in public because of hyper vigilance, fear of again experiencing triggers or panic attacks while I am away from home. I am afraid of dissociating in public again. Basic tasks are exhausting for me.
I want to give myself the best possible chance to rejoin society, be able to do the things I used to enjoy, return to work and hopefully eventually school. I feel as though I have lost so much of my life to symptoms of this illness, I do not want to live a half life anymore. I truly believe that I still have time to build a beautiful life for myself but need to regain the ability to support myself so that I can be independent and autonomous.
My medical team agrees that the benefits of a service dog would assist in helping me to regain more of my life. The tasks the service dog will be trained to assist me with are alerting to panic attacks and triggers, redirecting and applying DPT (deep pressure therapy) to assist in reversing the panic attack. The dog will also be trained to alert me when I am dissociating and to wake me up during nightmares and night terrors and apply DPT. I would greatly benefit from this grounding/distracting/guiding in moments that I am overwhelmed by my symptoms.
Information about PTSD service dogs This is also the company I will be getting a dog from
I have already been interviewed and screened with MSAR service dogs to ensure I am a candidate for benefiting from a PTSD service dog. After being approved through an interview I am experiencing a renewed sense of hope. If I am able to cover the deposit soon, I could possibly be able to start training with a service dog once as soon as 3- 6 months.
Your donation will help pay for a trained service animal catered specifically towards my needs as well as the maintenance costs for a year. Service dogs are extremely expensive and not covered by my regular health plan, long term disability insurance and I cannot find grants. I need your help. I am hopeful that the dog will help me to rejoin society, help me start living and enable me to return to work.
I would be grateful for your support today so that I can start rebuilding my life.