Message From Our Founder: Guardian Angels Nationally Recognized for Their Work in Suicide Prevention

Guardian Angels won the 7th Annual Veterans Award for Suicide Prevention from the Academy of the United States Veterans (AUSV) for their work with veterans and suicide prevention for the second year in a row! The award is not just for the service dog industry; it’s for all for-profits and non-profits that help veterans.

Of all these organizations across the country, Guardian Angels won the award for the most success in preventing suicide. Four years ago, Guardian Angels was also awarded for the work they do for mental health with veterans.

We are in our 12th year and have paired nearly 400 teams across the country. We have never had a suicide, yet the national statistics tell us that there are up to 22 suicides a day in our veteran community, and our first responder community parallels that, and chances are our civilian communities parallel that as well.

At Guardian Angels, we have less than a 3% divorce rate among our teams which is pretty incredible when the average divorce rate for Americans, in general, is 47%. That number goes up by 90% if someone in the family has a disability, so the fact that we can keep our divorce rate under 3% is pretty incredible.

I want to thank our staff at Guardian Angels. Every single person, regardless of what their department or job is within the organization, they are all incredibly important to us accomplishing these goals, but most importantly, we need to thank the dogs because they are truly amazing.

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Carol Borden

The Founder and CEO of Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc., Carol Borden, titled her first dog at the age of ten. Mrs. Borden has logged nearly 60 years training dogs in multiple disciplines, from competition to training a dog for a movie, to training the #1 Service Dog in the US, which was the first service dog to ever become the Top American Dog Hero winning over all categories of working dogs in the United States. She started the non-profit Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs organization in 2010.

Mrs. Borden’s expertise and accomplishments are acknowledged by numerous national awards from various industries and agencies including the 2018 Corporate Pet Industry Woman of the Year and multiple awards for her organization’s work in mental health and suicide prevention.

She is frequently requested as a Keynote Speaker, and as an Industry Consultant to teach service dog laws to judicial systems, attorneys, and businesses, and to assist in service dog bills in multiple states that were passed into law. In 2020, she started an Institute for Higher Learning and the Borden Veterinary Hospital. Additionally, she has written and teaches college-accredited/VA-approved apprenticeship courses on dog training and service dog training.