CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi ISD introduced their newest member of the Veterans Memorial High School counseling team and he has already proved to be a good boy!
Paxton is a black Goldendoodle and has been on the job for two weeks. His handler, Certified School Counselor Sarah Baumgartner, said Paxton is already making a difference on campus.
“We have had a few opportunities for Paxton to have one-on-one time with students experiencing elevated emotions or a crisis,” said Baumgartner, a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate and Certified School Counselor at Veterans Memorial High School. “His fur is soft, he is calm and he provides a sensory experience that can ground a student.”
Paxton had to undergo training and pass a series of tests to be able to qualify as an official therapy dog.
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“Pax means peace,” said Baumgartner. “I gave him his name because I knew his purpose would be to light up someone’s day.”
Paxton comes to Veteran's Memorial at a time when students are under increasing pressure.
The CDC says about 9.4% of kids ages 3 to 17 had diagnosed anxiety from 2016 to 2019 — about 6 million. About 4.4%, or 2.7 million, had diagnosed depression.
Recent events are putting serious pressure on young people: The CDC says in 2021, more than a third of high school students said they experienced poor mental health during the pandemic
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