As a patient, it is usually easier to create an alliance with care and your therapist if you feel safe and calm. The security can help them to express themselves more easily and become more positive about receiving treatment. This is where Stina, who has worked at the reception for six years, comes into the picture.
– The patients can feel very confirmed by Stina. She conveys very clearly no matter who she meets that she wants to be with the person she meets. It is in that meeting that good things happen, says Maria Westholm, Stina’s mother and specialist nurse at the reception.
Sees three patients a day
Stina is at the reception two days a week and sees three patients a day. Then she participates in various contact-building exercises such as picking up a soft toy and putting it on her lap, being whispered in her ear and spinning around. She can also get close and look a person in the eye or put her head in their lap. That type of exercise raises the level of oxytocin in the body, a hormone that makes us humans feel good.
– The exercises make the patients present in the moment, can think about something else for a while and get away from negative thoughts, says Maria Westholm.
At the reception, Stina encounters various types of problems. It can be about anxiety, PTSD or people with autism who have problems with depression. But Stina has also met patients in round-the-clock care who have been seriously ill and close to suicide.
– When Stina did her internship, we were, among other things, at PIVA (psychiatric intensive care unit). Meeting Stina could make the patients end up in a different state of mind and get to know a little what it’s like to feel good, even if it was only for a little while. But the meeting with Stina could still make a big difference for them in their recovery, says Maria Westholm.
Informs that one of the employees has fur
That people can be allergic to dogs has never been a problem during Stina’s time at the clinic. Maria always informs all new employees that there is a dog at the reception, and visitors are informed at the entrance that one of the employees has fur. Curly coated retrievers, like Stina, are also a low-allergenic dog breed.
– Stina is important to the staff at reception as well. When they have a break, they like to come and say hello to Stina, and if Stina is not at planning days, they wonder where she is, says Maria Westholm.
Stina received her award as service dog of the year in connection with the Stockholm Dog Fair in December.
– It feels very great that Stina has been named Service Dog of the Year. This is still a bit surreal actually, says Maria Westholm.
