Animal Assisted Therapy
As a lifelong lover of dogs, I knew from the moment I learned about animal-assisted therapy that working with a therapy dog would be one of my goals after graduate school.
That dream became a reality after being certified with my first therapy dog partner, Archer, in 2019. Even as a dog person, I was shocked by how much having her participate in sessions with my clients impacted treatment and client outcomes. Anxious clients felt more comfortable, shy clients would open up, and depressed clients reported that they felt just a little bit better after having a session with her.
When Archer passed away in 2022, I knew that finding another canine partner to carry on her work would be a challenge. In 2023, after about a year of looking, I finally found Obi and knew he had the makings of a great therapy dog. After a year of training, he passed his therapy dog test and joined me at work in March 2024.
We are certified by Pawsibilities Unleashed, which defines Animal Assisted Therapy as “treatment which involves an animal with specific characteristics becoming a fundamental part of a person’s treatment. The goal of Animal Assisted Therapy aims to improve the patient’s physical, social, emotional, and/or cognitive functioning as well as provide educational and motivational effectiveness for participants.” he training process ensured that Obi could provide a warm, loving presence for clients and cope with people’s distress without being distressed himself.
Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are doing their job when they are being petted and interacted with. Obi is there to help lighten the mood, help practice and model social skills, provide pressure or comfort for clients who are upset, provide calm, or be an unconditionally loving presence when talking about challenging topics.