Christina Strayer Thornton – Animal-Assisted Interventions: Incorporating Animals in Therapeutic Goals & Treatment

Outline

Brief Overview

• Human-animal emotional bond
• Therapy animal vs. service animal vs. emotional support animal
• Animal-assisted therapy vs. animal-assisted activities
• Handler vs. therapist

Mindfulness of Animals and How it Helps the Human Brain

• The neuroscience of the human-animal bond
• Why zebras don’t get ulcers
• Animal-assisted interventions without an animal

The Legal Landscape

• Four federal laws that impact animal-assisted interventions
• Client rights and when not to involve an animal
• Informed consent

Evidence-Based Interventions and Treatment Goals/Outcomes:

• PTSD, Trauma, Anxiety and depression
  • Tapping technique via petting
  • Breathing techniques to relax and calm
  • Empower self-efficacy
  • Increase socialization
  • Increase motivation and goal setting
  • Mindfulness exercises with animals
• Attachment Disorders and Conduct Disorder
  • Strategies to build trust and strengthen the therapeutic alliance
  • Structured play to share emotions/cognitions
  • Identifying with therapy animal’s narrative
  • Animal commands to develop norms of behaviors
  • Interventions that provide emotional support and enhance quality of life
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD
  • Social skills via role play and conversing with the therapy animal
  • Animals as mirrors to internal states
  • Improve sensory sensitivity through AAT
  • Increase confidence in clients
  • Animals facilitating relaxation strategies
  • Impulse control via body cues/narratives

Pairing AAT with Other Evidence-Based Therapies

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Solution Focused Therapy (SFT)
• Gestalt Therapy

Components of Animal-Assisted Intervention

• Protocol for introducing animal and client
• Interaction techniques for client and animal
• Closure, documentation and secure liability insurance

Become an Animal-Assisted Therapist

• Animal qualifications/characteristics and choosing your therapy animal
• Tools to assess therapy animal’s temperament, limitations and stress levels
• K-9 training and AAT certification programs
• Compassion fatigue: your therapy animal as a support system
• Telemental health: Incorporate your animal in distance video-conferencing