Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy and Counseling: Canine, Feline, & Equine Therapy

Animals have been aids to humans for centuries. In our modern times we have now chosen to utilize them as helpers in the psychotherapeutic process. While much of the research on animal-assisted therapy is qualitative and full of personal description, researchers are now beginning to study the use of animals in a quantitative manner. Research with animals as psychotherapy assistants suggests that humans show signs of reduced stress, fear and anxiety, and increased calmness and comfort when the right animal is present. Interacting with animals can improve mental health by reducing loneliness and increasing meaning in a person’s life.

Animal assistants come in all shapes, sizes, types, and breeds. Unique to the field of animal assistants is the process of engaging with a horse also known as Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) or Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP). Animal-assisted therapy is being used within many populations including, but not limited to, at-risk youth, children with language delays, geriatrics, victims of violence, wounded warriors, and those with varied mental conditions (autism, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, substance dependence, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders). Overall, animals in a psychotherapy situation can enhance trust, prompt thoughts of safety, promote emotional expression, encourage the use of appropriate social skills, and empower clients.

In this intermediate comprehensive course, you will view five brief real-world videos (transcripts provided) and read ten articles. The videos set the stage for working with animals both in an office and outside into another arena. Through viewing, you will notice how the presence of an animal enables a client to interact with the world around them in a special way that might not be accomplished through traditional talk therapy. The articles define and describe the benefits of an animal assistant when matched with specific psychotherapy theories. In reading the articles you will learn more about how having an animal present may offer the client difference in physiological responses, various approaches, the terminology associated with, and the differences in therapy from practitioner to practitioner.

Disclaimer: This course is purely educational and does not intend to serve as a license (or permission) to mental health professionals to prescribe or practice any of the approaches discussed in this course unless they fall within the scope of practice of your profession. Check with your licensing board about the scope of practice of your profession to make sure you practice within that scope. It also does not serve as a permission to title yourself in any specific way.