I guess you could say this all started in my first year of university.
Engineering student Jennifer Francis and service dog Spirit are the first mental health assistance dog team in London. Francis is an engineering student at Western.
I remember after moving into residence my parents getting into their car, waving goodbye and saying, ‘I will see you in a month.’ I quickly said “I can’t wait and I will miss you,” then I turned around and walked away.
What I should have said looking back five years later was: “Mom and Dad, the person you’re saying goodbye to, you are doing it permanently. I am about to enter into the longest and hardest fight of my life, to ultimately save my life. When you do finally see me again, all put back together, I won’t be the same. I will have learned strength, hope, perseverance and what it means to fight for your life.”
It took six years of countless doctor’s appointments, medications, different therapies, and three hospitalizations to finally get to where I am today.
Finally my diagnosis includes Bipolar Disorder Type II, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Panic Disorder. I take a wide variety of medications to treat these illnesses. I have a disability and it is chronic, which means I will be on medication for the rest of my life; but that’s not going to stop me.
Accepting this wasn’t easy, but it was crucial to my recovery, acceptance and education about mental illness. I am now proud to say I have chronic mental illness, that I have beaten it, and that I will continue to fight it for the rest of my life.
There are no words to express the gratitude that both my family and I have for The University of Western Ontario, especially the staff and faculty in Engineering. They have gone out of their way to help me through this. If it weren’t for their help, guidance, and encouragement, I would have had to withdraw from school a long time ago.
My family has also been instrumental in my recovery, especially my mom. Without her I can honestly say that I may not be around today. She has come to every appointment and every hospitalization, without question. I have not and will never fight this battle alone because of her.
For me to solve my battle of mental illness is like putting the pieces of a puzzle back together. One piece to my puzzle is from a different source – it is my dog Spirit.
Spirit isn’t just an ordinary dog; she is specially trained to mitigate my illness. She is a service dog trained through an organization called Encouraging Paws Service Dogs.
Together, Spirit and I are the first mental health assistance dog team in London.
Training one of these dogs combines many different fields including Seeing Eye, Hearing Ear, and special skills. These dogs are trained based on the needs of the individual.
Spirit attends school with me, including all of my classes and exams. She wears a blue harness and has an organization identification card on her.
They say heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but mine comes with four paws.
I want everyone to know mental illness does not pick and choose who it affects, it can affect anyone. There shouldn’t be a stereotype for this illness.
It took me six years to get to where I am today and I can proudly say I have beaten mental illness, a task that many consider to be impossible. My greatest fear is that one day it will return, but no doctor can tell me when, or even if, it will. So, for now I live each day to the fullest.
Mental illness does not define the person I am, but it will help to define the person I become. One day a professor at the university asked me why I hadn’t just given up. I said, “If I give up this illness wins and I am never going to let this illness win.”
I am speaking out with the hope that someone reading this will realize they are not alone and seek help and continue to fight. The university has many resources available for students who are struggling, not necessarily with a chronic illness, but also for those who just need someone to talk to and require additional support.
I live by two quotations in life: ‘If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him, but no one would have remembered him either” and finally ‘those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”
Need help?
Student Health Services offers counseling and psychiatry appointments. To speak to a counselor contact the clinic at 519-661-3771 for an appointment.
Information about campus counseling services is available through the Student Development Centre’s Psychological Services at www.sdc.uwo.ca/psych/. The numbers for London’s crisis centres is also available on this website.
The writer is an Civil Engineering student at Western.