A Furry Approach To Preparing Healthy, Resilient Nurses

Our country is in the middle of a mental health crisis. Nearly one in five American adults will have a diagnosable mental health condition in any given year. That includes 42.5 million adults with anxiety and 21 million adults with depression. Various forms of mental illness—from mild to severe—touch nearly every family.

The pandemic deepened the crisis. Since nurses were on the frontlines during the most dangerous, heart-wrenching periods, the impact left a painful scar on both the nursing profession and nursing students.

Recognizing the new reality, the leaders at Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing decided to do something about it. Angela Clark, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, the Maxine Clark and Bob Fox President of the college, brought a wealth of mental health background with her when she assumed her role in May 2022. For the past two decades, Dr. Clark has been a mental health advocate through her research and in higher education leadership roles.

“Since the pandemic, mental health issues are increasing and profoundly impacting quality of life and the ability to learn, engage, provide patient care, and stay in the nursing workforce,” Dr. Clark says. “In addition, an increasing number of students in higher education are reporting their struggles with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health conditions. These challenges are debilitating in a competitive academic nursing environment, and as a team, we’re wrapping our arms around them and increasing support.”

She continues: “Nursing is a highly stressful role, so it's critical to ingrain self-care strategies for mental health and wellness in students now before they transition to high-intensity clinical nursing roles.”

At Goldfarb, faculty and staff support mental health through a variety of avenues, from engaging in mindfulness-based stress reduction workshops and mental health first aid training to planning for a future gratduate certificate program for psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners.

As part of these offerings, the team also brought in service dogs during mid-terms and finals and saw the positive impact the dogs have had. “Research has shown that just petting a dog decreases stress and anxiety levels and boosts our oxytocin,” Dr. Clark explains. “Our team quickly realized the canine visits twice a term weren't enough, so we requested an in-house dog.”

Dr. Clark went all in personally—which has become her signature style. 

"My family personally supports student mental health through a fund we established at The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital," she says. "These funds directly support students' needs and college-wide training."

Dean of Snuggles Focuses on Mental Health

In March 2024, a 2-year-old Labrador Retriever named Mr. Barnes became Goldfarb’s first-ever full-time mental health mascot—with an official title of Dean of Snuggles. Dr. Clark began extensive training with the CHAMP Assistance Dog in September 2023. Mr. Barnes, named by students, lives with Dr. Clark and her family, and she brings him to the college each day as his official handler.

“We made the decision to add Mr. Barnes to our team as part of our commitment to normalizing and elevating conversations about mental health,” Dr. Clark says. “He has an important job as a full-time mental health support dog to comfort and support our students and team members.”

Debbie Mettlach, administration and operations director at Goldfarb, is in training to be a secondary handler for Mr. Barnes. She has personally experienced the calming effect he brings. “If he senses I’ve had a rough day, he lays at my feet—he just knows,” she says. “When we take him to the Commons area, the students’ faces light up and you can see the stress lowering. He lightens the mood and is helping to change our culture.”

The college hopes Mr. Barnes and their own personal experiences will help students go forward into their careers with attention to wellness by actively engaging in strategies for additional support. The result? More resilient nurses caring for the community.

Donor support through the Foundation is critical to advance resilience in our nursing workforce and provide crucially important support for students at Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing.

Support student mental health!