Wylie is a 2 1/2-year-old Australian labradoodle who loves meeting people and giving kisses.

He’s also a trained therapy dog and started working with students in the Counseling and Psychiatric Services office at the University of Colorado Boulder last semester.

“While it can just be sitting here, petting him and hanging out, true animal-assisted therapy involves playing games with him and doing more physical exercises and different things to get more of an active and experiential form of therapy,” Wylie’s owner and CU Boulder staff psychologist JB Mitchell said. “So we do that individually, and we’re starting a group for it, too.”

Wylie helps students work through anything and everything, including depression, anxiety, transition to college and identity development. Mitchell focuses on implementing a true form of animal-assisted therapy where Wylie is an actual intervention in the therapy room.

“It can be really helpful with different coping strategies where it’s paying attention to how his breath is moving (and) grounding into the moment with different sensory exercises using him,” Mitchell said.

Counseling and Psychiatric Services at CU Boulder is taking new approaches to campus mental health, reshaping how students access and experience support while focusing on accessibility, innovation and inclusivity. According to the department, more than 80% of students who considered leaving CU Boulder reported that attending a session with CAPS influenced their decision to stay.

Last academic year, Counseling and Psychiatric Services had 4,796 visits and supported 23,644 students.

Liz Schmidt, director of Counseling and Psychiatric Services, said innovation and trying new methods — such as bringing Wylie on board — is key to supporting students as their needs and the mental health landscape constantly evolve.

“These are the kinds of programs that I always want to say yes to and try because I think if it brings more students in. It makes students more comfortable, increases access and the kinds of care we provide, I want to do it and give it a try,” Schmidt said, adding, “I think it’s really meaningful, and the research really supports animal-assisted therapy, too. So I knew that we would be able to have a good impact on our students when we were able to get it going.”

Mitchell and his partner work in the mental health field and wanted to get a dog that could do therapy with them. They got Wylie from a breeder in Colorado Springs, who conducted temperament testing to see if he would be a good fit. Wylie and Mitchell have since completed all the training necessary for Wylie to become a therapy dog.

Since Wylie started working at CU Boulder last semester, students have gone out of their way to schedule appointments with him. They tell Mitchell how it was nice to smile that day and how Wylie helped ease their nerves about the session.Students who struggled to find the words to talk about something they’d never spoken about before suddenly opened up with Wylie being there.

“Him being on their lap almost gets that filter out of the way and they can just talk without realizing necessarily some of those barriers that usually exist with them sharing things,” Mitchell said.

Wylie is friendly and curious. He loves to cuddle and play, and he’s highly attuned to what other people are feeling. He loves human connection, and Mitchell said he’s felt great about how therapy with Wylie has been going so far. Next, Mitchell is looking to start group therapy sessions with Wylie.

“We always want to be creative and think about the new ways we can meet our student needs,” Mitchell said.