JOLIET – Service dogs have for years helped people with physical disabilities, but increasingly they are being trained to help people cope with mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Among those people are veterans such as Kevin Leverence, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Joliet who earned a Purple Heart for injuries received during his nine-month deployment to Iraq in 2004.

Leverence is two months into his relationship with America, a 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever service dog from Puppies Behind Bars, an organization in which inmates train service dogs exclusively for veterans.

America knows 92 commands – 12 of which were designed for PTSD. She can comfort Leverence on the job, wake him during night terrors, sense heightened stress and serve as a second set of eyes for Leverence in public settings.

Leverence said that despite pleas from his wife, it took nearly a decade for him to get help for depression and anger issues, and his phobia of crowded settings such as in church or at the grocery store, he said.

Leverence – a firefighter and paramedic with the Aurora Fire Department and member of Aurora Firefighters Local 99 – said unchecked PTSD symptoms not only were getting in the way of his relationship with his wife and three daughters, but also were creating problems on the job.

“At work, all of the sudden, I would hyperventilate and have these anxiety attacks that are really incapacitating. And I’d have to come home. There was a period of time where I couldn’t work a full day,” Leverence said.

Leverence said that although he initially intended to not publicly share much about his need for America, he now hopes an ongoing dispute at his workplace can start an honest conversation about mental illness.

“My whole goal with this is to make this more normal. We’re going to see more and more service dogs, and better ways to handle mental health than with piles of pills,” Leverence said. “[I want to] bust this conversation wide open that it’s OK to have trouble.”

His request for a service dog was approved in August through the Aurora Fire Department, but he said an issue recently arose when his boss ordered him to tour the department’s nine stations – which have three shifts each, so 27 visits – over three days as a way to introduce his service dog to co-workers.

“She’s not a pet. She’s a medical device. And it’s hard to make people understand that. She’s warm and fuzzy and cuddly. A wheelchair doesn’t lick your face,” Leverence said. “But I think that’s the hard part. That’s what we’re trying to show ... that she is not a pet.”

In email exchanges provided by Leverence, he told his boss, Fire Chief John Lehman, that the overwhelming schedule could jeopardize his relationship with America. Lehman turned down Leverence’s alternatives, such as using a video conferencing system or visiting stations over the course of several weeks.

Leverence said he also was worried the tour would force him into having to explain to his 200 co-workers his disability or justify his need for America.

Leverence was given notice Jan. 15 to attend a disciplinary hearing Friday. But two days before the hearing, he was told it was canceled and that another meeting would be scheduled for Tuesday to work out a compromise, he said.

Lehman declined to comment on the matter, deferring all questions to the city’s spokesman.

Aurora is following its normal procedures, according to state law and union contract, for evaluating disputes between employees and management, according to an email attributable to the city sent by Aurora spokesman Daniel Ferrelli. The purpose of the meeting, which is typically referred to as an “interrogation,” is to determine facts and circumstances surrounding disputes or complaints, the email stated.

In the months leading up to Leverence’s first day at work with his service dog, Lehman and Leverence discussed how to best acclimate the dog, according to the city’s email. It was only after Leverence began working with America that he expressed concern about the tour schedule.

“In Mr. Leverence’s case, it is the city’s hope that through this process, the parties will be able to agree upon a suitable acclimation process for the service dog moving forward,” the email stated.

Leverence filed a discrimination complaint this week with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that enforces workplace-related civil rights laws.

That investigation will focus on a department-wide email Lehman sent in August stating Leverence was granted a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Lehman’s order to tour the stations. Employers are obligated to keep medical information confidential under ADA law.