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Ember The Crisis Response Dog Is Helping People Recover From Bushfire Trauma

Ember The Crisis Response Dog Is Helping People Recover From Bushfire Trauma

She's paid many visits to firefighters and volunteers to help ease their stress and anxiety.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

When a natural disaster hits it can take an unbelievable toll on people. Whether it's those who are directly affected by the event or the response workers whose jobs are to go into these disaster zones and either help people or help clean up.

If left unchecked, this trauma can develop into a pretty serious mental health issue, which can do major damage to a person's psyche down the track.

That's why the state of Victoria has Ember the Crisis Response Dog.

This adorable Labrador has been visiting the firefighters and volunteers who have been battling bushfires around the clock and she gives them a much needed emotional break.

Natalie Brindle, Leading Firefighter with the Country Fire Authority, told Channel 7: "I'd had previous dogs before that had done therapy work. I was looking for a dog that would like to do therapy work in hospitals and aged care.

"Ember was doing that, and one thing led to another and an opportunity came up to do some crisis response work.

"We moved into that field because I'd been firefighting for a while and thought there was a really good application there for a dog to be part of the peer support program."

According to Help Guide, a dog can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, ease loneliness, and encourage exercise and playfulness.

You can only imagine what it would be like to see Ember after spending hours upon hours trying to fight a fire.

Brindle told The Morning Show: "A lot of people deal with high-stress work, and they're having to make a lot of decisions. So when they have some downtime, it's good to focus on something positive.

"Dogs have this ability to make you feel calmer - just their presence in the room. And also, when you're interacting with them, they're non-judgemental. Ember's just got a really calming nature about her. She'll sit there, put her head in your lap and you'll be able to interact with her.

"Crisis response dogs need to be a little more resilient and be able to work in a place that they've never been before with people they've never had any interactions with, who may be a little bit more anxious and affected by their emotions.

"The handler does a lot more training to deal with those situations as well."

Thankfully for Ember, she gets to have some down time every now and then. When she's not going into difficult situations, the Labrador gets to go for lots of swims and apparently loves kayaking.

Featured Image Credit: ember_crisis_response/Instagram

Topics: News, Bushfires, Interesting, Animals, Australia