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WHO WE ARE

AUDEAMUS was founded by Corporal Christopher Lohnes and Captain Marc Lapointe in 2016.

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Retired Captain Marc Lapointe, 25 years Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Special Forces, and Corporal Chris Lohnes, 32 years Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) (23 with the RCMP Police Dog Service program), have leveraged their combined experience and expertise to develop the AUDEAMUS Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) Program. Their skills and knowledge in CAF and RCMP duties respectively is foundational to relating to and forming respectful relationships with the OSI, PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) veterans and first responders they work with.

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Both Lohnes and Lapointe have been involved with varying service dog programs in Canada and internationally and have drawn on their wealth of experience and knowledge to offer the AUDEAMUS service dog program.

Marc Lepointe, after four years of being part of this program has left the program for other endeavours. The Audeamus Service Dog Board of Directors thank Marc for his founding and initial involvement and wish him the best in the future. 

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The Audeamus Service Dog Board of Directors and Chris Lohnes are proud to continue the program and build on the foundation developed by Marc Lepointe and Chris Lohnes.

WHAT WE DO

Evidence based program delivery

  • Our Service Dog program and training standards are grounded in evidence-based methods;

  • We partner with Canadian university researchers to continually evaluate and advance our Service Dog program;  

  • We adhere to adult education learning taxonomy methods in our program delivery; 

  • Our participants have access to an on-line classroom, containing over 300 step-by-step lesson plans, 50 demonstration videos and 20 public access reference manuals.

Curriculum based training program

Teaching & Learning Philosophy

The AUDEAMUS Service Dog training program is delivered in a mixed in-person and distance education curriculum format. The curriculum is based on a client-centered, experiential approach to teaching and learning. Each program learning module incorporates multi-modal teaching methods that attend to participants’ and their Service Dogs’ varying learning needs. The AUDEAMUS training program is an empowerment-based approach, supporting learners to be self-directed and to integrate their learning within all aspects of their daily living.

Trauma Informed

The AUDEAMUS curriculum acknowledges the widespread impact and signs and symptoms of trauma in the lives of its program participants. AUDEAMUS integrates knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices and actively seeks to resist re-traumatization.

Holistic

AUDEAMUS approaches its curriculum and program delivery in a holistic manner to ensure all areas of participants’ recovery are addressed – physical, mental, social and spiritual.

No cost

Service Dogs and training are provided free of charge by AUDEAMUS. Participants are set up in safe and comfortable accommodations and provided with prepared meals while training. Participants can meet up to several times in-person in a year-long certification process as a Service Dog team.

Ongoing support

Once certified, an AUDEAMUS Service Dog team continues to receive support from AUDEAMUS, including liability insurance. Re-certification is mandatory every 3 years, as is annual feedback from the participant’s prescribing mental health professional about the suitability of continuation with the Service Dog. AUDEAMUS believes in training the dog and the person as a team and delivering on-going peer support for as long as the client requires a Service Dog.

Community involvement

AUDEAMUS provides canine training support to the PAWSitive Support Canine Assisted Learning program. This program is offered at Drumheller Institution with federally sentenced participants. Learn more here:

Therapy Dogs and Recovery from Addiction
Colleen Anne Dell
TEDx University of Saskatchewan

International involvement

AUDEAMUS has a partnership with Germany’s Armed Forces, assisting with the development of a Service Dog program for veterans.

Registered charity

AUDEAMUS provides certified, specially trained service dogs and on going support to people suffering from mental or physical disabilities to relieve conditions associated with disability with a view to improving their independence as well as their physical and emotional well-being. Disabilities served include, but are not limited to, brain injured veterans, first responders and war correspondents.

AUDEAMUS, Latin for "MAY WE DARE", is a registered charity operating throughout Canada [Reg#: 762071298RR0001].

It is 100% volunteer and veteran-run and directed. We have minimal expenses, which ensures that donations made toward AUDEAMUS go directly to supporting our veterans, first responders, and war correspondents.

We are the proud recipients of Her Majesty the Queen's decoration of Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for 2016. Awarded to individuals who have performed commendable service to the Veteran community and individuals who represent commendable role models for their fellow Veterans.

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