Latest news with #OscarKilo9
BBC News
9 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
The four-legged friends supporting Warwickshire Police staff
Working as a police call handler can involve dealing with stressful and upsetting situations, which is why a police force has brought in the help of some furry Police now has visits by four wellbeing and trauma support dogs from Oscar Kilo 9, or OK9 - a national network within animals visit staff, particularly after major incidents, to help boost their mood and bring down stress."You've got a lot of negative in here, haven't you? Everything is just quite negative, and then you've got beautiful Freya who comes in and brings you back down to Earth," said call handler Becky Richardson. All of the dogs are trained to deal with a good fussing as well as noise. Their handlers are mental health champions at the of the dogs, Bear, is owned by his handler PC Danny Boxx - who is one of Warwickshire's mental health triage officers. "I work around the digital forensics, working mainly with the child abuse investigation team… it's a horrible job to do, but having the dogs in work just breaks it up a little bit," PC Boxx said."He's my pet, I take him home every night, aren't I lucky?"There are now 150 OK9-accredited dogs across the country who can be called upon to support staff after a major incident. It is not only the call handlers that the dogs are helping - they also visit response officers."We're going to horrific scenes, and sometimes we need to decompress," said PC Gaz Starskey."A four-legged furry friend is something I rely on in my own life, and when you've got one at work as well it sort of helps the process."Insp Steve Webb told the BBC that having the dogs "lifted" the room."We use the dogs as a vessel to get people to open up, so when they start having those interactions with the dogs we can just jump in with some simple questions about how they're doing, see what's going on," he said."Actually, it's a way of opening up and getting that early support." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
London Fire Brigade: Six well-being dogs welcomed
London Fire Brigade (LFB) now has six newly qualified wellbeing dogs to help firefighters recover from traumatic scheme works by members of staff volunteering to be trained with their pet dogs to give emotional support to on a request basis, they can now visit any of the 102 fire stations across London to offer teams a morale commander for Hammersmith and Fulham, Lucy MacLeod, who volunteers with her dog Blue, said: "He is happy to be stroked, adores being made a fuss of and he is very calm around people." Lucy said that Blue, a miniature Australian Shepherd, "generally loves being around humans".She added: "Evidence shows that animals like Blue, can have a calming influence on people and provide a positive distraction; there's no judgement from a dog." To qualify to support colleagues, the duo had to complete 20 modules in the Oscar Kilo 9 (OK9) Dog Trust's handlers course and a behavioural assessment. Owners also had to pass a two-day Mental Health First Aiders course and a one-day OK9 peer support course. 'Bridging the gap' Once everyone has completed training, the team will have 10 dogs and their handlers but the fire service hopes to recruit more in the of health and wellbeing at London Fire Brigade, Natalie Elliott, said: "Our fire crews are called to all manner of incidents, not just burning buildings."Some of these incidents may have a significant impact on a person's mental health... it's impossible to know who and how someone is going to be affected from the outset, but we do know that some incidents will stay with our staff long after they've left the scene."The wellbeing dogs help provide support and are key to bridging the gap between early interventions such as peer-based post incident support and more structured support, such as trauma therapy, which the brigade provides."
