With many students feeling the stress of upcoming finals, Natural Helpers hosted a therapy bunnies event April 10. This event gave students the opportunity to request a 15-minute time slot during the school day to relax, alleviate stress and play with rabbits, Mikelle and Brinker. Natural Helpers partnered with North Star Therapy Animals to bring students a fun, unique and overall hoppy way to de-stress before finals, AP tests and IB exams.
Senior Natural Helpers co-president Susannah Israel said the club focuses on students’ mental health by offering students a safe space to relax and talk with other students. When asked why this event was important, she said the bunnies offer students an exciting and unique way to relax before finals and clear their minds.
“Natural Helpers is a club focused around raising awareness for mental health struggles that students might be having, which is why we’re doing this therapy bunnies event to help students destress,” Israel said. “(This event) is important because, first of all, (the bunnies) let people have a little bit of fun, and it’s just a place where people can kind of unwind. A lot of people are preparing for AP exams or IB exams right now, so it can be kind of stressful right now.”
North Star therapy animals member Catherine Tolman said she worked as a veterinarian before entering the world of therapy animals, but during a Humane Society event, she learned bunnies could become certified therapy animals and she became interested.
“Interestingly, a long time ago, I went to an event at the animal Humane Society with over 100 rabbits in the auditorium just playing around, and one of the ladies who thought or worked at the Humane Society saw my buddy at the time and suggested that I get him into the therapy program,” Tolman said. “I always thought it was just dogs and she told me that rabbits could also be (therapy animals), so a few months later my first (rabbit) became certified.”
Sophomore Natural Helpers Co-president Anjali Narais said events such as therapy bunnies can be really beneficial for students, offering a place to relax and take a break from studying. She said her goal for the event is that, at the very least, a few students are able to come down, hang out with some bunnies and relieve some anxiety.
“It can be really de-stressing, especially when there’s a lot going on academically–it’d be nice to just come down here and spend some time with the bunnies, it can be very therapeutic,” Marais said. “I’m hoping we have a good amount of people showing up, it’s kind of last minute but even if one or two kids feel like they could de-stress from (the bunnies) that’s my goal.”
According to Israel, in previous years, therapy dog events were held, but those raised a series of issues where not every student who wanted to participate was able to, so the club switched over to hosting therapy bunny events instead. Natural Helpers will host their next event this May, where they will take a trip to the Middle School and offer advice for incoming freshmen.
“We used to do therapy dogs, but there are people who are scared of dogs and there are sometimes students who have religious reasons or cultural reasons for not wanting to be around dogs, (plus) not everyone gets to see bunnies very often,” Israel said. “(Our next mission is) going to the middle school in May to help the eighth graders with understanding what high school is going to be like, and helping them feel more comfortable with the idea.”
Tolman said she’s brought her therapy rabbits to several different locations, including children’s hospitals where kids going through cancer treatment were able to relax, hold and play with the animals. She said this offered them a moment to forget about everything else and focus their attention on the loving animals.
“I started out doing therapy work at Children’s Hospital, and we were on the floor where kids were going through cancer treatment, and the kids, and also the parents, found it just absolutely relaxing to even just watch the rabbit,” Tolman said. “I could put the rabbit up on their stomach, and my rabbit would give them kisses, so it was just a chance for anyone to just kind of forget about everything else and just think about nothing.”
When asked why she initially joined the club, Narais said she wanted to focus on improving the overall mental state of the school, as well as her own. She said every student should consider joining Natural Helpers because apart from planning school-wide events that benefit students, the club also has a lot of fun events for themselves.
“(I joined Natural Helpers) just overall wanting to improve the well being of my friends and all the students in school,” Narais said. “Students should definitely join (Natural Helpers) because we not only plan a lot of events that are helpful to people, but we have a lot of fun within the group itself, we do a lot of celebrations so it’s just a fun place to be.”
