Cleo the donkey makes Bemidji State De-Stress with Pets debut
Dec. 6—BEMIDJI — In the words of Liz Letson, founder of the
Eagle Vista Ranch and Wellness Center,
you can lead a donkey to campus but you can't make it go inside.
Such was the case on Tuesday during
Bemidji State's
semiannual "De-Stress with Pets" event, a day before Reading Day where students will cram in some last-minute studying before finals begin on Thursday.
Among the usual array of therapy dogs from the
Paul Bunyan Dog Training Association
along with dogs and cats from
Great River Rescue,
miniature donkey and therapy animal "Cleo" proved to be stubborn as passersby tried coaxing her with food and pulling her into the Upper Hobson Memorial Union where students and faculty alike mingled with furry friends.
Despite the trouble, Cleo still received several pets on the back and admiring looks from students transitioning to their next classes.
"We're certainly getting a lot of laughter and a lot of engagement because we've had a lot of people trying to help her in," Letson said. "It's probably one of the cooler group activities and this is playing out the way it should."
BSU Health Education Coordinator Jay Passa noted Cleo as the event's "special guest" and hoped she would soon come inside once the event kicked off.
"We're having a little bit of trouble getting Cleo in the door. She's a little building-shy apparently," Passa said lightheartedly. "She's here for us, but our goal is to try to get her through the door."
As their first time at BSU's De-Stress with Pets, Letson noted Cleo's presence at other campuses and schools throughout the area including Red Lake High School and Leech Lake Tribal College.
Letson expressed excitement when finding out Cleo would have a chance to meet some BSU Beavers, and is now looking ahead to Northwest Technical College's event that takes place next week.
"Hopefully that goes better," Letson said with a laugh.
Letson added that Eagle Vista Ranch and Wellness Center also has a miniature horse and five larger horses that are used for equine-assisted psychotherapy and learning, which can be used to treat social and behavioral challenges, trauma, anxiety, addictions and depression.
More information can be found at
Passa noted other resources available to students at De-Stress with Pets including a table with information from the Student Center for Health and Counseling, which presented on BSU and NTC's new
Therapy Assistance Online
resource.
Therapy Assistance Online, or TAO, is free to students and includes over 150 educational sessions covering 50 topics relating to mental health, wellness and substance use issues.
Counselor Amanda Gartner emphasized that such a resource is especially important during the final stretch of the fall semester when a student's workload mounts and they want to learn about test anxiety or stress when they have more time.
"Around finals week, people are maybe a little too stressed to keep their counseling session," Gartner said. "If it's midnight and you're feeling like you're ready to learn about anxiety ... you can do that at your own pace."
Informing on-campus students about TAO is one way that Gartner hopes to support students in case of extensive waiting periods before counseling sessions are available at the Student Center for Health and Counseling.
"We have a nationwide shortage of mental health professionals including in the Bemidji area, so we're doing our best to meet the needs of on-campus students," Gartner left off.
A research poster from Great River Rescue also displayed stress reduction data since 2015, including average comparisons of a student's level of stress from before attending De-Stress with Pets to after.
When asked to rank their stress level on a scale of one to 10, students consistently reported a three-point decrease after spending around 15 minutes with the animals.
"Stress levels of our college students are at an all time high, so we put a lot more effort into events and activities that will help reduce stress," Passa said.
And for many of those students, reducing stress includes meeting Cleo the miniature donkey.
