About
Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is an intervention incorporating trained animals into a person’s treatment plan. It involves guided, structured interactions between a client and a certified animal and their handler to enhance and complement the benefits of traditional therapy.
The sessions might be to help the client reach specific treatment goals, to help with recovery, or to help with the management of their mental health challenges. AAT harnesses the bond felt between humans and animals; using the comfort, calmness and safety that animals bring about, particularly for those feeling stressed or anxious.
Animals involved are trained to be obedient, calm, and comforting, and go through specific training to become certified.
Benefits
- Both physical and mental health benefits, helps with pain, reduces stress, improves psychological state.
- Animals provide a calming effect
- Can help build a stronger bond between client and counsellor. Building the bond with the animal can also help for the client to develop a better sense of self-worth and trust, more able to regulate emotions, and improve communication and social skills.
- Animals help to counteract loneliness as they boost social support
How It Works
- Can take different forms depending on the client and what their treatment goals are
- The therapist, client, and animal work together in therapeutic activities that have clear goals for change, measurable objectives, and the expectation of identifiable progress towards treatment goals
About Ruben
- Ruben came into my life in 2020 as a foster greyhound who quickly found his forever home with me.
- Ruben enjoys the smaller things in life, like sniffing flowers, eating treats, going on strolls. He has a calming energy that he brings to the counselling sessions.
- We completed our training with Therapy Dogs NSW in 2022.
- Rubens relaxed presence helps clients enjoy moments of mindfulness during the sessions, to relax and reduce anxiety, and allows for little “breaks” between discussing one’s issues.
What to expect in Animal Assisted Therapy:
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Ruben brings a calming friendly presence to any session, he is even known to pop his head in on the telehealth sessions!
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Having Ruben in the sessions allows for moments to take a break from discussing the “heavy stuff”, providing a gentle distraction for clients (and sometimes comedic relief!)
