In 2018, after the tragic shooting deaths of two Fredericton Police Officers and two civilians on August 10th, friends and family members from Family and Industry came together to develop a Facility Dog program dedicated to First Responders to aid and assist with their mental health within the workplace. The non profit organization was formed in spring 2019.
Canine Therapy for First Responders Non-Profit (792496937) was founded in February 2019 by Friends, Family and First Responder Industry Colleagues in honor of Officer Robb Costello, after the line of duty murders of two Fredericton Police Force members, Constable Robb Costello (306) and Constable Sara Mae Burns (401) on August 10, 2018.
CTFFR was created to “aid and assist the Mental Health of First Responders by introducing Canine Therapy Support and Facility dogs to New Brunswick’s First Responders”. This is our mission statement and mandate.
CTFFR is a non-profit volunteer and community driven program to provide Certified Facility Dogs and Certified Service Dog K9’s to Atlantic Canada’s First Responders and Canadian Armed Forces personnel for free with a dedicated organization to support the Client during the entire process which includes Mental Health collaboration and support with Professionally Licensed, Qualified and experienced Mental Health Advisory experts.
We Offer Free Mental Health Supportive Services and Canine Therapy program for First Responders across all Industries including Canadian Armed Forces Active and Retired Members in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia.
Facility Support dogs are for use by Professional Agencies (Policing, RCMP, Victim Services, etc) with individuals in traumatic situations. These dogs are highly trained to provide comfort to victims or witnesses of a crime or sudden tragedy. Facility Support dogs will provide on scene support when requested to those most vulnerable in our community, as well as provide added support to persons providing difficult disclosure to police for crimes such as child abuse, sexual assault, etc. These K9’s may work with members of the public as described, or soley within their assigned station supporting the Members of their Department/Crew. Each dog undergoes extensive lifelong training with support direct from our Training Team.
Service Dogs aid their Owner handlers regain independence socially, they may retrieve objects, open and close appliances, and open and close doors, alert to nightmares or anxiety in public. These Dog Guides are intensely trained to “activate an alert system” when help is needed by their owner. This is trained from birth and for the lifetime of the dog. Owning a Service Dog is a responsibility for the life of the Dog. The Handler owner and the dog become a bonded pair working together.
The Certified Service Dog’s ability to perform such a wide range of tasks puts Service Dog Guides in very high demand, and CTFFR Atlantic is the only cross provincial Organizations that offers an industry evidence based model, certified and calibrated for free to assist the need in our region.
If you’d like to learn more about our project please send us your contact information along with your inquiries and we will get back to as soon as we can!
If you’d like to learn more about our project please send us your contact information along with your inquiries and we will get back to as soon as we can!
