Psychiatric Service Dogs

Has anyone heard of getting service dogs for mental illness? I have been looking into it but am confused because I thought when visually impaired people got seeing eye dogs, they were not already their dogs nor did they have to the do the training with them or pay for it. But it seems from what I understand that you have to get your own dog (which has good points) and that you have to do the training with it.

I am actually quite interested in this as I see the dog would remind you of medication time/fetch meds, alert you of mood swings or hypomania or what ever the case...basically you can train the dog to your specifications. I am just wondering if anyone has one.

[ILADVOCATE]

I know that service animals are used for an increasing number of disabilities and I would know more about the regulations in the United States but you live in Canada so you might speak to your local independent living center there:
http://www.cailc.ca/
Its a good idea and they can be helpful but there would have to be an application process and if denied, appeals process so that's who could best inform you.

[LeftCoastChick]

Dogs aren't able to do that sort of thing, they are scent, hearing and visually oriented.  Epilepsy dogs can smell what triggers the seizures, deaf folks have hearing dogs, and so on. A dog can't be used to be a reminder to take meds, I've worked with dogs all my life, and I can't see that ever happening, especially with folks really needing them.  What I do suggest is get those pill packs, your pharmacist can put your meds in "packs" so you never forget if you've taken a med or not. Many folks with mental health issues have that done, I've considered it when I was taking more meds, because my memory hasn't been that great, but I've had my meds streamlines, into different dosages. Talk with your pharmacist, and see if they can help you.

[ILADVOCATE]

Yes sorry in reading it I got confused. Service animals can retrieve items for someone with a physical disability but they can't remind someone with a psychiatric disability when to take medication. However, "pet therapy" has been very helpful for some people with a psychiatric disability and some people with a psychiatric disability do find that a cat or dog has a calming effect. As for this being classified as an accomodation, its new to the law and that's in the U.S. As for myself, I keep all the medications I need when traveling (including ordinary trips which for myself require Access A Ride and home attendant) but by law they must be in their original prescription container. I also have a list of what medications I take in case of an emergency in my wallet. And yes the suggestion about those 7 day reminders is good and if you have cognitive confusion for any reason (such as I do) a bulletin board is a great idea, not just for medication reminders but doctors and psychiatrists appointments. Posting it on the refrigerator is good too.
  As for a service animal reminding you of moodswings, animals don't have the awareness people do but again owning a cat or dog can have a very specific calming therapeutic effect for some people. It just hasn't become an official accomodation yet.

[LeftCoastChick]

OOh pets are fantastic little healers, don't get me wrong, my pups and kitty have been essential to my daily wellness program. My dog Juno knows when I'm starting to get too agitated, he pesters me to no end, then I'll pick up him, and mellow out. I have a huge maine coone who's actually a good "alarm system" for my migraines, like my dog, he'll be all over me like lint on a black shirt. As soon as I figured out the correlation, I paid more attention to when he was doing that. Thankfully, since I've changed from SSRI's, my migraines have dropped from 6/month to 1/month or less!  There is a big fight in my city about Landlords refusing pets, especially with gov't funded bldgs for the disabled. Animals, especially dogs do very little in the way of damage, though, my bed's been destroyed around the bottom by my cat! Getting a big fat cat can chill out the crankiest person :)

[BipolarBear75]

Here are some sites I found

http://www.nepsy.com/leading/0612_ne_dog.html
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=14844&cn=109

There was another one with a better list of tasks that I will search for.

[BipolarBear75]

I do love cats and miss having one....but I haven't exactly decided to never get one either..lol...but this service dog idea is intriguing me greatly. This is the task list that I pulled up originally that amazed me so much. These dogs DO remind someone to take their meds at a certain time by nudging and they can retrieve the meds as well....brilliant!! They can get you out of upsetting situations at work...it is all fascinating!

http://www.iaadp.org/psd_tasks.html