CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s a process when it comes to breeding and nurturing labrador puppies into service dogs.
“(It is) a very awesome, rewarding, but also sad experience," Marci Turso, Director of Operations for Project 2 Heal, told WCNC Charlotte's Nick Sturdivant. "People are like, 'How do you do that?' When you see where they go and what they do for someone, you can let them go."
The Charlotte nonprofit is responsible for developing successful service dogs for people in need.
“Our mission is to increase the availability of service dogs to veterans, adults, and children with special needs and disabilities,” Turso said. “What’s really cool is that we are the only nonprofit in the country doing this work where we breed, raise, and nurture labrador retrievers and donate them to carefully selected partner organizations.”
Project 2 Heal aims to reduce the cost and time to connect people with physical or mental health challenges, with service dogs.
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“So, with a vet with a mental health concern or even a person with anxiety ... The hypervigilance, the night tremors, general anxiety, anxiousness, [service dogs] are shown to lower the cortisol levels,” Turso explained.
New numbers from Mental Health America’s annual online screening program show that rates of anxiety and risks for psychosis remain higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Overall, we saw that about three-quarters of people who came to take any one of our 11 mental health screens scored at risk for a mental health condition,” Schroeder Stribling, President and CEO of Mental Health America, said. “Inside that number, a couple of other things that we saw about a third of the people both youth or adults who took the screen for depression report that they are having frequent suicidal ideation.”
Stribling said about 6.5 million people took the online screening in 2023.
“There is hope and there is help within reach. And you are not alone,” Stribling said.
Help, that Project 2 Heal hopes can support people processing the challenges they face.
“You see that person that had a hard time. They couldn’t pick up something off the floor because of a mobility challenge or they’re living a very anxious life or having hypervigilance and then you see them with a calmer demeanor and getting through life well. You just kind of say 'yeah, we’re doing the right thing,'” Turso said.
Right now, Project 2 Heal is working towards moving into a new and bigger facility.
If you or a loved one are facing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, there is help readily available. You can call Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat with them online. There are also resources in North Carolina available here and in South Carolina available here.
Contact Nick Sturdivant at nsturdiva1@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.