Regina woman looking for a job wants more understanding about her anxiety and service dog

Karlee Rabby says her job searches begin just like everybody else's, by submitting a cover letter and resume. She says she usually gets a lot of calls because she has good references and a lot of job experience. She is set to graduate with her degree in June.

Then Eddie, Rabby's psychiatric service dog, came into the picture. Eddie is still in training, but he helps Rabby manage anxiety attacks.

"A lot of people see him as a reason why not to hire me," she said. 

"Since I put Eddie in my cover letter... I haven't gotten any calls back."

Rabby estimates she has sent out around 100 applications. On Monday, she came to the Job Fair for People with Disabilities, put on by the Neil Squire Society, to hopefully find a job. 

"It feels really nice to be able to talk to somebody and be like 'Hey, this is my service dog and as you can see, he's not scary and he's not disrupting anybody and he's not going to be an issue,'" she said. 

"I feel like the face-to-face is really helping me, and it seems to be humanizing me a little bit more than what you see on paper."

Rabby said that she and Eddie are working on something called pressure therapy, which is something that helps get her out of an anxiety attack. 

"I kind of lovingly call it his punches because when I'm getting really anxious, he'll jump up on my lap and just kind of swat me in the face until I pay attention to him," she said. 

"We're working on it. He's doing really, really well."