{"id":151177,"date":"2023-02-28T17:26:09","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T16:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=151177"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:40","slug":"simone-le-comte-feels-at-home-as-long-as-lotte-can-go-to-work-with-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/02\/28\/simone-le-comte-feels-at-home-as-long-as-lotte-can-go-to-work-with-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Simone Le Comte feels at home as long as Lotte can go to work with her"},"content":{"rendered":"

Simone Le Comte has a dissociative disorder. As a result, she might suddenly no longer know where she is and what she was supposed to be doing. And sometimes she doesn\u2019t even know who she is. Her assistance dog Lotte goes to work with her every day. \u201cIt\u2019s great that my employer accepts that,\u201d she says. \u201cIt makes me feel more than at home here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Simone takes assistance dog Lotte to work every day.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I\u2019ve literally gone from being on benefits to full independence in two years\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cOur department handles the Master\u2019s programmes and supports the back end of the curriculum, and that\u2019s what I also provide support for. That\u2019s basically what I do. I\u2019ve been doing it for two years now. I\u2019m very happy with my work and I think Erasmus University and the RSM is a really great place to work. I have nice colleagues, a dedicated manager and, something which is very important to me, Lotte can come to work with me every day. That\u2019s essential, because otherwise I wouldn\u2019t even be able to come to the campus. It\u2019s actually a miracle that I can work now. Until two years ago, my life was very different. I\u2019ve literally gone from being on benefits to full independence in two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t tell from looking at me, but I\u2019m a psychiatric patient. I have nightmares, sleep paralysis and a dissociative disorder. This means that under high stress, I can lose touch with reality. Lotte has a number of tasks for which she has been specifically trained, to help me in everyday life. For example, she can tell when a dissociative episode is coming on or when I\u2019m having one. She will then try to get me out of it by asking for attention. She might bark at me a bit, for example, or put a paw on my arm. Or on my face if I don\u2019t respond. And then she will bark even louder. If she really can\u2019t get me out of it, she will at least get me to safety.<\/p>\n\n\t

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