Clara Jurgenliemk with Mac (Handler: Cindy).
When students walk into a B.A.R.K. (Building Academic Retention through K9s) drop-in session, they are greeted by two volunteers and a flurry of activity. For the B.A.R.K team, the excited chatter and bustling energy sparked an idea for research.
“We were having conversations between volunteers and staff members,” Clara Jurgenliemk, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology student, explains. “We were saying this is pretty overwhelming for anyone. We started brainstorming about a more Zen version of a session, and talking about who would really benefit from it. We narrowed down on autistic students who often experience setbacks in social and mental health areas. These areas don’t have as many supports available as academic resources do.”
Building on those discussions, Clara was inspired to apply for an Undergraduate Research Award to research how an adapted version of the BARK program could support autistic students on campus.
After receiving the award, Clara began designing and implementing the adapted B.A.R.K. sessions with the support of the B.A.R.K. team. Working under the supervision of Dr. John-Tyler Binfet in the Okanagan School of Education and Dr. Jessica Lougheed in Psychology, she guided the project through every stage—from ethics approval and recruitment to running the sessions and conducting semi-structured interviews.
“There was definitely a learning curve,” she says. “There’s so much that goes into research that you don’t really see from the outside, like organizing consent forms, coordinating volunteers, and working through the research ethics board process. It taught me a lot about attention to detail and patience.”
For the sessions, a calm, low-sensory environment was created by dimming lights, limiting the number of participants, and reducing background noise. Each participant interacted with a golden retriever to have a consistent experience (similar size, colour and temperament) while one-on-one with the handler. Following the session, the students had an interview about their experience. Her preliminary findings have shown that even small changes made a big impact.
“What’s been the most meaningful part has just been hearing about participants’ general experience of the environment,” she says. “It’s really seemingly helped people to just feel like they can relax and unmask and not have to put on a show to seem neurotypical.”
Learning Beyond the Classroom
Clara has always been drawn to understanding people — and finding ways to make a difference.
“I knew that I wanted to do something that would kind of combine academics as well as working with people,” she says. “I really like to do things that challenge my brain and my problem-solving skills, but also where I can interact with people directly and have that really special interpersonal connection.”
Even back home in Nova Scotia, Clara had heard about the B.A.R.K. program and it helped inspire her cross-country move.
“I knew about the program before I came to UBCO, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it somehow,” she recalls. “Lots of people say that they come here because of BARK, and that was definitely a deciding factor for me.”
When she arrived on campus, she wasted no time getting involved — attending sessions, getting to know volunteers, and eventually joining the team herself. What began as an opportunity to work with dogs and people soon became something much more meaningful as she found herself unexpectedly drawn to the research.
“I knew research was something that I should probably do to prepare for grad school,” she admits. “But I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I do. Once I started doing classes that mentioned research, it just kind of clicked with my brain.”
Through her time with B.A.R.K., Clara says she’s gained a new perspective on how impactful the program truly is.
“I’ve come to realize even more than I did before the impact of the BARK program,” she says. “When we’re running a session, there are people filtering in and out, and it’s easy to miss the impact we’re having. But speaking with people one-on-one about their experiences—it’s really heartwarming to see how much it means to them.”
The experience has also helped her grow as a communicator. Conducting interviews with participants offered an unexpected chance to develop skills that mirror those used in clinical practice.
“You don’t often get to practice interpersonal or clinical skills in your undergrad,” she explains. “Conducting interviews gave me a chance to connect with people one-on-one, to help them feel safe sharing their experiences.”
Looking Ahead
Using what she has now learned from the adapted sessions, Clara will be expanding the research as part of her honours project. In addition, as she’s looking ahead toward graduation, she’s preparing to apply to clinical psychology graduate programs.
“I’m really hoping to pursue clinical psychology,” she says. “It’s a really competitive field, but it’s something I’m passionate about—integrating those interpersonal connections with a rigorous academic field.”
For other students who are thinking about field of research, Clara encourages you to give it a try.
“If other students feel like research might be worth a shot but they’re not sure if it’ll be a good fit for them, just try it,” she says. “I didn’t expect that I would like it so much, and it’s been so rewarding. You never know what will happen.”