Question
What is animal-assisted therapy?
Answer
Animal-assisted therapy is an animal-assisted intervention that is guided by a professional. In animal-assisted therapy, the therapist has specific measurable goals and objectives. In addition, the therapist has to measure and document the client’s progress with this particular intervention.
A good example of animal-assisted therapy is using it to provide dialectical behavior therapy. I have utilized therapy dogs in teaching self-soothing through the use of your senses. I start off by talking about how the dogs use their senses to self-soothe and distract themselves and then I transition to the client so that they can then learn those self-soothing distress tolerance skills that are so critical in dialectical behavioral therapy.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, Animal-Assisted Interventions to Enhance Social Work Practice, presented by Yvonne Eaton-Stull, DSW, MSW, LCSW.
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