Tiana is a full-time professional and mother of two who has lived with PTSD for many years and has more recently been diagnosed with dissociative PTSD. After enduring several life-altering experiences, she worked diligently to develop effective coping skills, rebuild her life, and move forward with resilience and determination. A more recent traumatic event significantly intensified her symptoms. Despite the tools she has worked hard to develop, she has been unable to regain the freedom and independence she wants in her daily life. Tiana experiences dissociation, hypervigilance, anxiety, disrupted sleep, and a persistent need to assess her surroundings for possible triggers or danger. As a result, ordinary activities can feel difficult, overwhelming, or unpredictable. Tiana hopes a Service Dog will provide trained assistance during moments when her coping skills alone are not enough. This support would help her navigate daily life with greater safety and confidence, remain more present with her children, volunteer at their sporting events, participate more fully in her community, and return to experiences she has begun avoiding because of PTSD. For Tiana, a Service Dog would not replace the coping skills she has built or erase what she has endured. It would provide trained support, helping ensure that PTSD no longer has the same power to determine where she goes, what she does, or how fully she participates in her own life.
In August 2026, Tiana met TRAVELER! TRAVELER is a sweet Golden Retriever who will help Tiana by providing deep pressure therapy during heightened levels of anxiety, paying attention, to minimize her hypervigilance, as well as behavior interruption. Wherever the road leads, TRAVELER is by her side, making every journey a little easier and a lot brighter.