Help a Survivor Afford a PTSD Service Dog

My name is Sarah, and I am an abuse survivor diagnosed with severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. My service dog is costing me a total of $19,500. I am working with Errorless Service Dogs, my training program that is training and boarding Smidge, my service dog, and I must be able to afford her within 8 months from October 2023.

When I was in high school, I became a victim of physical, mental, and sexual abuse for over two years. My abuser was someone I knew and trusted, who both silenced my voice with threats and made me fear for my life. Mid 2022, I began experiencing symptoms of PTSD. A few months later, I received a severe PTSD diagnosis.

As of right now, I currently fight against PTSD in my day-to-day life that make it incredibly difficult for me to function and live. My condition has worsened and my PTSD has become a progressive disability in the last year. I now have dangerous health risks, including loss of vision, fainting episodes, and blood pressure shifts during my episodes. I am at risk for worsening health the longer I go without a life-saving psychiatric service animal. I have been coping independently with PTSD episodes that last from one day to a month where tasks such as leaving the house become near-impossible through flashbacks and obsessive, controlling thoughts. These episodes are unpredictable and have rendered me completely helpless when experiencing them.

Over the summers, I live in Skagway, Alaska seasonally and work as a naturalist on boats giving tours. I adore my job as the boats are my only safe zone from my PTSD because of constant interaction with guests and shifting stimuli. I also work 14-hour days to try to afford my service dog. On my days off when I am not in my safe zone with the boats, I constantly fight against my episodes with loss of vision and fainting. When I live in Colorado in the winters, I constantly face my PTSD with a lack of a safe zone. Although I am working hard to afford my dog by myself, I am struggling to pay my rent, student loans, and treat my PTSD while saving from my job.

Smidge is being trained to alert for panic attacks using scent (cortisol), use Deep Pressure Therapy, act as a buffer/guard in social situations, interrupt panic behaviors, and signal to me to give me a way out of a stressful social encounter. Although I am in PTSD-intensive EMDR therapy, my PTSD is complex and hard to fight with only medication and therapy. My therapist, psychiatrist, and primary care doctor have determined that a prescribed service dog would prevent me from these behaviors when not in therapy and allow me to work and visit public spaces, such as the grocery store, that I normally wouldn’t be able to go to during episodes. Smidge will grant me the security to be in crowds without fearing for my life.

With my companion and assistant to help comfort and protect me, I am confident my life will change drastically for the better and enable me to normally carry out basic tasks.

My education is currently postponed so I can pay off my student loans and due to a worsening disability, and I am struggling with work and functioning to try to afford Smidge. $12,000 can successfully help me afford a portion of my dog's cost, while I can work on paying monthly for the rest of the cost without pulling out another loan.

Some of the costs involved in Smidge's $19,500 price include:

If you would like to contribute to food, dog care, etc., Smidge and I have a gift list on Amazon!

Thank you for reading my story and for any support you may be able to give.