Animal Assisted Therapy

April 30, 2001 -- It's a beautiful spring day in Brewster, N.Y., and today Steven (not his real name) is learning a thing or two about relationships.

He's a boisterous 10-year-old boy who stands too close, speaks too loud, and doesn't have the foggiest clue when it comes to personal boundaries. This resident of Green Chimneys Children's Services, a state-based agency that combines life on a farm with schooling and counseling for kids in need, is participating in an innovative therapy approach known as animal-assisted therapy (AAT).

Steven charges at the donkeys in the pen, desperate to interact with them. They run. He tries again. They run.

?

Then his therapist suggests a new tactic -- try approaching the donkeys calmly, quietly, and slowly. It works. The donkeys stand while he happily strokes their muzzles.

The therapist praises Steven on his gentle manner and talks about body language. Steven may not know it, but he's working hard and learning a lot. Later, when he is ready, his therapist will help him see how these same social skills can help him improve his relationships with his peers and the other people in his life.

More Than 'Warm Fuzzies'

Animal-assisted therapy is more than just petting animals, says Patricia LaMana, CSW, a social worker at Green Chimneys. Unlike programs that provide what are known as animal assisted activities (AAA) in hospital and other settings, AAT interactions need to be goal directed, individualized to the patient, directed by a human health professional (like a therapist or social worker), and have documented progress.

"The warm fuzzies are definitely a place to start the work, but it goes way beyond that," says LaMana.

While the results of animal-assisted therapy are just beginning to be documented in the medical literature, those who work in the field use words like 'magical' and 'groundbreaking' to describe the results they are seeing. One of the largest organizations, Delta Society, says their Pet Partners program has over 4,000 human-animal teams in the U.S. and five other countries. The Delta teams provided over 600,000 hours of service, both AAT and AAA, in 2000.

Building a Safe Bridge

Why animal assisted therapy?

If a child has gone through some type of traumatic event -- like the death of a parent, a divorce or separation, or even sexual or physical abuse -- having an animal present can make the therapist, and the therapy process, seem much less threatening, says Ann Howie, ACSW, the founder of Human Animal Solutions and a longtime AAT advocate.

For example, the therapist can ask the child to tell the dog what happened, says Howie.

"Many times children will tell things to an animal that they don't feel comfortable telling an adult or a therapist," she says. "This provides a bridge for the therapist, who of course is in the room hearing the conversation."

Another approach may be to ask the child to draw his or her family, with each member represented by an animal. The therapist can then probe why certain members are certain animals.

"The goals of AAT remain the same as they would with another method, it's just that the technique is altered a bit," says Howie.