West Chester University has an innovative approach to offering students relief from stress by using therapy dogs, writes Diane Dreher for Psychology Today.

With the percentage of students experiencing anxiety and emotional distress continuously increasing nationwide, campus counseling centers are struggling to meet demand.

To help combat this pressing issue, the counseling center at WCU conducted an outreach program. They introduced a golden retriever certified therapy dog named Tucker to the student union at the end of the semester. Then, after seeing a positive response, the counseling center started bringing in the pooch more often and set up an information table about the center.

The outreach quickly became so popular that more dogs were added to the schedule. It was also expanded to include visits throughout the entire year.

Survey research on the effects of the program shows that students now not only looked forward to the dog visits, but also gain great stress relief from them. In fact, a number of students even indicated that the time with the dogs was the best part of their day.

Read more about new approaches to dealing with student anxiety in Psychology Today here.