Romi is the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) office’s very own “therapy dog.” He wanders from office to office when he gets bored and routinely cheers up staff and students alike.

“He’s almost 11 [now], and he is starting to get a little sassy,” Romi’s owner and CSD Associate Director Sara Vogt said. “He might decide our office is not as exciting, and he’ll sneak out to someone else’s.”

Vogt is not only the CSD’s associate director but she is disabled herself. For seven years, her service dog Romi has helped her treat her own health issues, depression and anxiety.

Vogt, who has a doctorate in disability studies and has been working for over 14 years, found out herself the benefits of service animals. On a particularly bad day of dealing with depression, Romi curled up on her lap and wouldn’t leave.

“I didn’t even realize how depressed I was until he took care of me in that way,” Vogt said.

Now, Romi has helped Vogt’s work with students on campus.

“It’s made [me] more approachable on campus because I have a cute little dog coming around with me,” Vogt explained. “But then also, too, I think it kind of opened up people’s eyes about what service dogs can be. The idea of service animals for psychological purposes is relatively new.”

The first psychiatric service dog was placed in 2009, the program being less than 25 years old. The vast majority of people have no experience with service dogs for non-obvious disabilities.

Vogt said Romi has outed her to a certain extent because her disability isn’t visible. Most people don’t have any idea that service dogs can exist for those reasons.

There are three categories of psychological support dogs: emotional support animals (ESAs), service dogs and therapy dogs.

Emotional Support Animals are used as part of a therapeutic treatment plan and live with the person. The animal’s presence is calming and soothes depression and anxiety.

Service dogs are used for a variety of different roles to help their owners. Most service animals relate to some sort of physical disease, such as detecting seizures or signaling for potential allergens.

However, some service animals detect when their owner is going through a mental health episode and can be trained to interrupt PTSD flashbacks or provide deep-pressure therapy.

Deep-pressure therapy is when an animal lies on a person’s lap or legs. The pressure has a calming effect, which can help relieve different types of mental illnesses.

Therapy dogs are trained by handlers who bring the dogs to different places, such as hospitals, nursing homes or even UW-Whitewater’s library to provide a calming presence.

On the UW-Whitewater campus, numerous students have service animals or ESAs. Vogt’s office helps approve them and works with both students and housing.

“We want the university to be as accessible to all students,” Vogt said.