Pawsitivity: More than a dog club

By Brielle Aguayo •

With more than 100 clubs at NSU, there are tons of opportunities for students to get involved on campus. Pawsitivity is a mental health dog club that was founded in 2019 and has left its paw print on campus.

Christina Tamchin, senior psychology major, is the president of Pawsitivity.

“My goal for Pawsitivity is to really make sure that we’re really enforcing the idea that we are a mental health awareness club,” Tamchin said. “A lot of people on campus really know us for bringing the dogs to campus, but they always seem to miss the fact that we are a mental health club and that they’re here for mental health awareness, too.”

NSU students give therapy dog Rosie,
from Canine Assisted Therapy, affection at Yappy Hour. PHOTO COURTESY OF PAWSITIVITY.

Pawsitivity organizes events with dogs that releases stress and creates a fun environment while also maintaining the message that mental health matters.

“My favorite events are our Mental Health Mondays where we come together and relax with an activity that is calm and relaxing,” Rylee Roe-Lipsky, sophomore exceptional student education major, said.

In addition to Mental Health Mondays, which consist of activities like making DIY stress balls with balloons, vision board making and origami, the club has developed a self-care panel with National Alliance for Mental Illness.

“We also do the NAMI self-care panels, where members can send questions anonymously to a panelist from NAMI, and they will basically just talk to us about how to cope with the different stressors of being a college student and overall just the stressors of life and giving students coping strategies and different things that they can do to help themselves in times of stress,” Tamchin said.

In the past, the club also volunteered at Broward County Animal Care and Adoption Center, an animal shelter, where it was able to give back to the local community.

Volunteering and service help the club stay motivated, as it believes giving back is therapeutic for the members’ own mental health, a priority for the club’s president.

“I’m a psychology major, so obviously I do care about my mental health and other people’s mental health as well,” Tamchin said.

Pawsitivity’s members strive to implement their message of the importance of one’s mental health, their love for dogs unites their club and brings light to a difficult topic.

“I joined Pawsitivity my freshman year, and the more I learned about it, the more I liked the mental health aspect,” Tamchin said. “I think Pawsitivity just has a great message and a great mission. It was started for a really good reason to help advocate for students and help them with their mental health, especially because college is such a big transition.”