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Special Service Dog Initiative To Assist Young Man With Autism

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2m ago

Sep 15, 2024 / 1595 Views

Evan Walker

Compassion 4 Codie Facebook

Join friends & family of Codie to help raise awareness for mental Health challenges & help support Codie with a trained service dog that will serve Codie as a companion and navigate the challenges of his everyday life.

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For a young person with autism who also struggles with depression – fear and shame quickly overtake them when their minds and emotions cannot keep up with daily demands. Demands that to someone without autism might seem small and inconsequential. A person with autism is too frequently just on the edge of a state of perpetual overwhelm. Their minds flooded with daily demands, miscommunications, and past experiences of being different - not quite fitting in and still not understanding why.

A simple trip to a mall or big box store with all the fluorescent lighting and people can trigger anxiety and the subsequent need for escape. Everyday interactions, laughing, joking, teasing too often cause uncertainty.

Codie is a young man who has had some life struggles and after a traumatic event involving an unsuccessful attempt, family and friends in the Hyde Park area have decided that a service dog could give Codie more real independence in his life and a dog would be able to alert the family and Codie if he was in a dangerous emotional space. This trained service dog would help day to day specifically to Codie’s emotional needs .After researching the benefits a trained psychiatric/autistic service dog could bring to Codie’s life, the family discovered that the cost could run into into several thousands of dollars. This is where the community has stepped in.

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Compassion 4 Codie taking place at VFW Post 170 on Violet Avenue in Poughkeepsie on Saturday, September 14 from Noon til 7pm with great live music, food & vendors.. performing will be The Differents, Vito Petroccitto, Greg Douglas, Pat O'Shea Band, Evil Genius Band, Rising Son's Acoustic, Eden, Mark VanDetta Acoustic, Mike Hite and more. Come on out and help the community raise funds for a professionally trained and certified support dog to give Codie and his familly the support they need. Learn more about Codie and this event at the Facbook event page.

Compassion 4 Codie Facebook

Explore The Autism Nature Trail at Letchworth State Park

In a step toward being more accepting of neurodiversity, Letchworth State Park has opened an autism nature trail, the very first of its kind in the entire United States.

Gallery Credit: Traci Taylor