Emotional Support Animal Brings Comfort

Please say “hello” to our newest staff member, Ella, Deputy Chief Program Officer! Ella belongs to our Chief Program Officer, Lisa, and she is a registered Emotional Support Animal. She has been approved to provide emotional support and enhancement to all programs and services at Sound Community Services.

Per the U.S. Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals can provide comfort and support for people with many different emotional conditions. A few examples are anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder/mood disorder, panic attacks, fear/phobias, and other psychological and emotional conditions.

Here is a little about Ella’s journey. Ella is a 2 ½ year old full-bred Long Haired German Shepherd. She was born and certified “deaf” at birth. Not making the cut to be trained to be a police or military dog, Ella was put up for adoption. Ella found her forever home with Lisa, where she was trained on a vibrating collar for recall to remain safe as she did not respond to commands. As time went on, after about 6 months, Ella was showing signs of having her hearing return. It is still unknown if she had a virus, some other issue at birth, and/or something happened during early development, but it became obvious that Ella can in fact hear. Lisa states, “Ella can brighten up any room and make anyone smile. She is extremely bright, attentive, fun loving, social, enjoys her human connections, and has a heart of gold and gift of working with people.”

Ella has been with Sound Community Services for over a week, and she is adjusting well to her new surroundings, building relationships with fellow staff members, but most importantly our client community! She has brought many smiles to our agency and is enjoying all the ear scratches and treats!

Welcome to the team Ella!

#SoundCommunityServices#Ella#EmotionalSupportAnimal#ESA#BringingSmiles