Cheyenne and Roy: Emotional Support from a Royal Python

Episode transcript

Chapter 1: Intro
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Hi. Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about your emotional support animal? What kind of animal do you have and what is their
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name? Hi. Um, I'm Cheyenne. Um, and this is Roy. He is a royal python.
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Um, so I've got diagnosed anxiety. So Roy here helped me with that. Okay. What
Chapter 2: What led you to decide that you needed an emotional support animal
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led you to decide that you needed an emotional support animal? Was there a specific moment or reason? When when I
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moved out from my parents, um I realized that a lot of the time when I went out, I was struggling with my anxiety and
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having Roy near me actually found it helped me find a way to calm myself down.
Chapter 3: How has having an emotional support animal impacted your day to day life
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How has having an emotional support animal impacted your day-to-day life and mental well-being? Um, it's improving it
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massively. Um, so Roy's like he's like my best friend or my little boy. So
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having him around is it makes me a lot calmer, a lot happier. Um, it gives me some extra support when I need some
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someone that I can't have a voice right there.
Chapter 4: Could you share a particular story or instance where your emotional support animal provided comfort or support
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Could you share a particular story or instance where your emotional support animal provided comfort or support during a challenging time? So I struggle
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going shopping um and I took Roy with me once. Um I was having an anxiety attack
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in the shop and I got Roy out and I was okay. I could breathe properly and it
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helped me settle really well. So, it's simple things like shopping where he's just really helpful. Mhm. What are some
Chapter 5: What are some of the biggest benefits youve experienced since getting your emotional support animal
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of the biggest benefits you've experienced since getting your emotional support animal? Um, like I said, he's like my best friend, so he does bring a lot of happiness.
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Um, and with him being able to keep me calm, it it does help a lot. But it helps when you when you're comforted by
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your own animal. It does give you a lot of um it it'll give you more joy. If you don't get along with your pet, it
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doesn't help, but when you're really close with one, it can benefit massively. Yeah, they're a
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big help. Have you encountered any challenges or obstacles with having an emotional support animal in especially
Chapter 6: Have you encountered any challenges or obstacles with having an emotional support animal
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in public places or specific establishments? So, because Royy's not like a cat or a dog, he's not your
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normal like first thought for an emotional support animal. Um, a lot of people are actually quite wary of snakes. They can be quite scared of
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them. Mhm. Um, sometimes you get people coming up to you and going, "Oh, what's that?" And they ask you if it's if he's
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real, and you just you don't know who to who to trust really around them. So, um, he's a very gentle snake, but you do get quite a bit of judgment when you're out.
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Mhm. Being a snake, it's not the same as having a dog or a cat as a support animal.
Chapter 7: Do you feel that having an emotional support animal has helped you connect with people in your community
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Yeah. Do you feel that having an emotional support animal has helped you connect with people in your community or has it affected your social life?
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Um, it's made it easier for me to socialize.
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Um, once people get used to him, people seem to be able to be around him as well. So, it's helped me be able to go out and meet new people.
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Mhm. Okay. What's the most surprising thing you've learned about emotional support animals since getting one?
Chapter 8: Whats the most surprising thing youve learned about emotional support animals
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How how attentive to things around them they can be. Um, that they can be very clever. Animals in general can be very
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smart. Um, and you find that they realize things before you even think about them.
Chapter 9: Are there any misconceptions about emotional support animals
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Are there any misconceptions about emotional support animals that you would like to clear clear up for anybody watching this show? A lot of people
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think that we just have them so we can bring our pets wherever we want. A lot of people think, oh, they've got an
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emotional support animal so they can go out with them. don't have to leave them at home. That's a really big misconception. Um for people who have
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support animals, they do need them. Um you'll never know what the real reason is because you some some um
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disabilities, they are hidden and people need to understand that we're not trying to just bring our animals out because we
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don't want to leave them at home. We bring them out to help us feel calm and safe around people and the environment we're in. I think everybody answers that question exactly the same.
Chapter 10: How does emotional support help you manage specific symptoms
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How does your emotional support at hand help you manage specific symptoms um of your hidden disability or condition? Um
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so he he's actually, believe it or not, he's good at giving hugs. Um, yeah, he will wrap you if he can feel that you're
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not happy or you're panicking, he'll wrap himself around you, but he'll do it gently. So, you know the difference between if he's trying to hurt you,
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which he doesn't. So, um, he'll wrap himself around me. He's just kind of he's just he sits there and you know you
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can stroke him. You just you stroke him, you breathe and it really helps.
Chapter 11: How all animals can tell when someone has anxiety
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It's amazing how all animals can tell when someone's um you know got anxiety or something like that, isn't it? Yeah. I think they've got superpowers to be fair.
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Yeah. Yeah. I always say they're better than people. Um how receptive has businesses and service
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providers in your city or town been towards your emotional support animal?
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Have you found certain places more accepting than others?
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Um so places with kids tend to be less accepting towards them than places with
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adults. You find that um even though you can bring them in and they know that
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they will be wary around you because a lot of kids don't get introduced to animals like for example dogs and cats.
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They get introduced to children more.
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animals like lizards, snakes, reptiles that are used for ESA is they um aren't introduced to children as much as the
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other ones. So, people can be wary around the fact that you're bringing an animal that maybe a kid's never seen
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before into a building, you know. Yeah, we've had on the show previously someone with a bearded
Chapter 12: Have you traveled with your emotional support animal
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dragon. So, uh yeah. Um have you traveled with your emotional support animal? He's been in the car with me and
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on walks. Um, he's been around where I live, but we've never really gone very far. Um,
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I've only recently been able to take him out legally properly with the ESA. So,
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hopefully I can take him to like crowd more crowded places because it would really help for me.
Chapter 13: What advice would you give to someone who is considering getting an emotional support animal
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What advice would you give to someone who is considering getting a emotional support animal? Any animal?
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Try it. You know, if you know your pet, for example, um helps you in situations that you don't think other animals might. It it can be really helpful.
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You've got to take that first step.
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You've got to find a way to get them with you.
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Um, don't be afraid because that fear that can stop you from doing a lot of things.
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Um, if you know you're better with something or someone, you know, don't let someone
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tell you you're not. Okay. Do you have any tips for managing uh the care and well-being of an emotional support
Chapter 14: Any tips for managing the care and wellbeing of an emotional support animal
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animal? Especially for people with uh hidden disabilities or mental health challenges. Having family around can be
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really helpful to help you keep and take care of your emotional support animal.
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We all understand that you can have days where you don't feel like doing things and having family around can help you look after the support and the animal
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that supports you as well in having that support system from humans as well as the animals. It it's a benefit for both.
Chapter 15: What would you like people to understand about emotional support animals
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Cool. Lastly, what's the one thing you would like people to understand or appreciate about emotional support animals that they might not realize?
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they they know more than you. Um they can read situations, they can feel
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people's emotions. If as a person who struggles with reading people's emotions sometimes, having an animal that knows
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what someone's feeling is is really helpful. Um people need to be able to understand
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that if you're walking on the street, there's a reason that animals there.
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there's a reason that someone's holding them close or if they've got a harness on and it's got like the ESA symbol on.
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There's reasons why you can't go up to them and pet them because they're doing a job they're helping someone at the same time. It's like you wouldn't go
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into someone's work and distract them so you don't distract the animals. Mhm.
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Okay. Thank you. Well, thank you very much. That was great.
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