Bruins Find Comfort In Emotional Support Animals

Nevaeh Mock and her dog, Lottie. (Courtesy of Nevaeh Mock)

When walking across Belmont’s campus, it’s common to see an abundance of dogs. While some of them are only visiting, many live on campus as emotional support animals. 

Emotional support animals are becoming more and more common across the nation, according to a CBS News article. This includes Belmont. 

“At ResLife, we want to encourage making the dorms into a home, and that includes having a support system,” said senior Antoun Ibrahim, a Resident Assistant in Russell Hall. 

Pets aren’t typically allowed in university housing. However, ESAs aren’t just pets; they’re a licensed companion and a form of mental health support.  

An ESA is a companion animal prescribed by a licensed mental health professional for individuals with a diagnosed mental illness, according to the National Service Animal Registry. 

Freshman Juliana Moffat is diagnosed with severe attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression and anxiety. Her cat Cranny helps ease symptoms. 

Juliana Moffat and her cat, Cranny. (Courtesy of Juliana Moffat)

“I just look at her and she's the happiest that she could ever be. And it just kind of grounds me back in life,” said Moffat. 

Sophomore Nevaeh Mock can relate. With all her responsibilities, she gets overwhelmed—but her emotional support dog, Lottie, helps keep her calm and motivated, she said. 

For students with severe mental illnesses, taking care of another living being helps them take care of themselves, according to the Registry. 

Tending to the different needs of an ESA brings structure to students’ everyday lives in ways which might otherwise be made difficult by mental illness. 

“I have to get up in the morning because she needs to eat,” said Moffat. 

Their testimonies are backed by science. Having a pet lowers cortisol, a stress hormone, and increases oxytocin, a happiness hormone, according to the Registry. Even simple activities with an ESA can stimulate happiness. 

“You can get unconditional love from a pet. The practice of petting a pet lowers cortisol, the stress hormone,” said Dr. Mason Hale, assistant professor of mental health counseling at Belmont. 

Part of the reason emotional support pets can work better than human support is just the reason Dr. Hale said, unconditional love. 

“There's a big part of companionship and feeling like, 'oh, there's someone always there,'” said Naomi Dornfeld, an RA in Russell Hall who has two ESAs living on her floor. 

ESAs don’t just benefit the individual owners, but the people around them as well. 

“It's nice to have a community pet because we like to come together as a community,” said Ibrahim. 

Mock agrees. She said that having Lottie has been helpful for those around her. 

“I've seen a lot of people who have really been positively impacted by seeing her and just have said that it's a great add to their day as well, seeing her,” said Mock. 

It’s not all positive, however. Having an ESA comes with some challenges. It is, after all, still a pet. 

“Owning a pet is a very big responsibility and it's important to acknowledge that and be aware of that,” said Mock. 

Many ESA owners can handle this responsibility. 

“I'm very conscious about how it might affect other people… but no one's really complained about it, so that's good,” said Moffat. 

However, some have a harder time than Moffat. Dornfeld said she once dealt with a challenging ESA situation as an RA. 

“Everyone's coming into a shared living space with a lot of different preconceived ideas of cleanliness,” said Dornfeld. “And I think that the reasons why pets aren’t allowed at Belmont are valid reasons.” 

Dornfeld, Mock and Ibrahim all advocate for clear communication between students with ESAs and their roommates. 

To register an ESA, a licensed mental health professional needs to write a legitimate ESA letter.  

Moffat admitted that it was easy for her and Cranny to get ESA approval, which raises concerns for her. 

“If you have a diagnosis, it's pretty easy for you to get an emotional support animal, which I guess makes me worried for people who want to get animals just to have it and kind of abuse the system.” 

She worries that certain ESAs will give a bad reputation to those who need ESAs and make it harder for people with diagnoses to get support. 

“ESAs can serve as a great emotional support for residents and I support that 100%,” said Ibrahim.

“We shouldn't have a barrier for having certain pets, but to address the main health and noise complaint issues, just communicate with your roommates and make sure that they're okay with having an animal living in the residential space.” 

Written by Olivia Abernathy