Animal-Assisted Therapy in Counseling

Cynthia K. Chandler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317374978
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy Counselling
• Index: Psychology

The third edition of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Counseling is the most comprehensive book available dedicated to training mental health practitioners in the performance of animal assisted therapy in counseling (AAT-C). New to this edition is discussion of the human-animal relational theory, a new theory dedicated to the practice of AAT-C. This edition also has added applications for supervision and includes the most recent research and practice. Consistent with previous editions, a variety of animal-assisted interventions are described with case examples provided in a variety of settings with different types of animals. This unique resource is an indispensable guide for any counselor or psychotherapist looking to develop and implement AAT techniques in practice.

1
An Introduction to Animal-Assisted Therapy

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Albert Einstein

Imagine you are 13 years old and poor decisions you have made mean you find yourself in a residential juvenile detention facility. On this first day of your confinement, your own clothes have been replaced by a drab set of brown coveralls, your street shoes have been taken, and you have to wear thick, institutional orange socks and flimsy slippers. You are escorted everywhere by stern-looking adults in security uniforms composed of black T-shirts and camouflage pants with large black army boots. The cinderblock walls are painted pale gray and form long, cold corridors interrupted only by an occasional heavy metal door and interior window of thick glass with wires running through it in a crisscross pattern. The loud sounds you hear are the clicks and clangs from the security locks on the doors opening and then closing behind as you travel deeper into the abyss of freedom lost. The order barked from the adult security escort to pass on through the door startles you, interrupting your concentrated yet futile thoughts to regain some sense of control over the situation. You are scared. No, it’s more like you are petrified. You are no longer as sure of yourself as you thought you were a few days ago. Your mind is in a flurry. You ask yourself, “Should I run, but where would I run to and how would I get out? Should I act defiant, showing them how tough I am and that I am not going to give in to their attempts to dominate me? Or, should I just cry, because that is what I really want to do?” In desperation you resolve, “No, I must not show them how scared I am. I must not let them control me. I will … I will …” Then, all of a sudden, your spiraling thoughts are interrupted. “Wait a minute. What is that jingling noise? Is that—is that—a dog? Yes, it is a dog! Wow, it’s a Cocker Spaniel, and he looks so happy!” Then you ask out loud, “Can I pet him? Is it a boy or a girl? What’s his name?” You speak to the dog. “Hi Rusty! What are you doing here?” You say to the dog’s handler, “Oh, look, he likes it when I scratch his ears. I think he really likes me. You know, I have a dog at home. His name is Scooter. He’s just a mutt. But he is really smart. I have taught him some tricks. Can Rusty do tricks? Oh wow, that is so cool; he gave me a high five! You say Rusty is a counselor here? Wow, a dog counselor. So, can I have counseling with Rusty? Great! Thanks for letting me pet Rusty.” Now you are not so scared. Maybe this place is not where you want to be, but maybe, just maybe, you can make it through this dark period of your life all right, especially since the people here bring dogs for you to pet and play with.

Sometimes life is painful. Sometimes we do not feel as safe and secure as we would like. Sometimes we need comfort and affection to help us through tough times. We need a broad support system. We need people to help us. And yes, sometimes we really need a dog. Or we need a cat, or a horse, or some other animal to help us through our pain and to move us toward a better place in our life. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is one way animals can be very helpful to people, and working with therapy animals in the profession of counseling is what I want to talk to you about in this book. Animals that assist in the therapy process are referred to by a number of different and interchangeable titles including therapy animal, therapy pet, pet practitioner, and pet facilitator. Regardless of the variation in descriptive titles, each therapy pet serves the same basic purpose: working in partnership with a professional human therapist to provide compassionate and stimulating therapy designed to facilitate human client recovery.

Animal-assisted therapy in counseling (AAT-C) is the incorporation of pets as therapeutic agents into the counseling process. This can be done in a variety of ways and by using a variety of techniques. AAT-C is appropriate for numerous settings including schools, hospitals, agencies, and private practice. The most common and most preferred application model of AAT-C is for counselors to work in partnership with their own pet; a pet that has been evaluated as appropriate for such work. This model is preferred because a counselor is most familiar with his/her own pet and can best predict the pet’s emotional and behavioral reactions. In addition, the strong and healthy bond demonstrated between counselor and pet can contribute greatly to the therapeutic process, especially by reassuring clients that the therapist can be trusted because they observe positive interactions between the pet and the therapist. A second application model of AAT-C is for a counselor to obtain the assistance of a trained animal handler who has a qualified therapy pet. This model requires the trained animal handler to facilitate interactions between the therapy pet and client under the counselor’s guidance and supervision. This model allows counselors to provide AAT-C for clients without having their own therapy pet. Also, trained animal handlers may be able to facilitate animal-related tasks that are outside of the counselor’s skills, such as involving clients with animal training, grooming, and other appropriate animal-related activities. The disadvantages of this second AAT-C application model include the necessity of obtaining permission from clients to involve another person in the therapy process, securing a confidentiality agreement from the animal handler, and having confidence in both the animal handler and the therapy pet. A counselor who wishes to use the second model—to employ the assistance of an animal handler with a therapy pet—has the additional obstacle of finding such an animal therapy team located conveniently nearby. Some organizations provide training and evaluation for persons who wish to work with their therapy pets, most of which have a website that can assist in contacting a registered animal therapy team. The national organization that currently provides the most rigorous training, evaluation, and registration process for handler–animal teams for a variety of animal species is Pet Partners (www.petpartners.org). Another popular organization that registers handler–animal teams is Therapy Dogs International (www.tdi-dog.org).

AAT-C is one type of application in the broader field of AAT; thus, it is important to first briefly introduce the overall construct of AAT. AAT promotes positive human–animal interaction and incorporates the talents and traits of a therapy animal into a therapeutic setting to facilitate the recovery of patients seeking physical or mental health services. Under the careful guidance of a trained therapist, the animal contributes to clients’ recovery process. Examples of AAT in physical therapy would be having a patient walk a dog down a hallway or pet or brush a cat; activities designed to increase muscle strength and control. One example of AAT in a mental health counseling session could involve a child victim of abuse gently petting and talking to a dog or cat to teach the concept of appropriate touch and gentle relations; the warm and caring attitude of the therapy pet and human therapist combined reinforces the child’s positive experience.

Why involve pets in therapy?—because therapy pets can alter the dynamics of the therapy process in several productive ways:

• Clients may be more motivated to attend and participate in therapy because they desire to spend time with the therapy pet.

• Clients’ focus may be temporarily shifted away from disabling pain due to the interaction with the therapy pet, to the extent that they can work harder and longer in therapy and potentially gain more benefit per session.

• Clients may receive healing nurturance and affection through physical contact with the therapy pet.

• Clients may experience soothing comfort from petting or holding the therapy pet.

• Clients may experience genuine acceptance by the therapy pet.

• Clients may experience enjoyment and entertainment from interaction with the therapy pet.

• Clients may be able to form a more trusting relationship with therapists who demonstrate that they can be trusted by the way they interact with the therapy animal.

• Client’s personal awareness may be enhanced from the way the animal interacts with or responds to the client.

• In many instances, based on the unique characteristics of clients’ conditions or needs, they may be able to perform activities and achieve goals that would not otherwise be possible without the assistance of a therapy pet.

As a result of the unique dynamics presented, participation of a therapy pet in the therapy process may reduce the stress of therapy for clients and may allow for quicker and greater recovery.

While it is true that professionals in the field of counseling have been facilitating clients’ recovery quite well without the assistance of animals, it is important to consider what greatly significant benefits might be gained with the addition of a therapy animal. Two of the greatest assets a therapy animal brings to a counseling setting are: (1) the animal’s capacity and desire to nurture people and, (2) the animal’s ability to detect and signal emotional distress it perceives occurring in a person. The animal species who excel at this are horses and dogs because they are designed to interact in a family-like social system; horses are biologically designed to be herd animals and dogs are designed to be pack animals. There are numerous other species that work effectively as therapy animals, most of which are domesticated mammals. Each animal species varies in its desire and ability to nurture people and in its ability to detect and signal emotional distress in people. Additionally, any individual animal within a species, depending on its personality, may not demonstrate a desire to nurture people or to signal distress it perceives in a person. Many types of animals might serve as a therapy animal, but dogs and horses are the most common and I believe they offer some of the greatest benefits in the role of assistant in counseling. It is with dysfunctional or resistant clients that counselors are seeing the most dramatic positive effects of working with a therapy animal compared with the same work without a therapy animal. Yet highly functional and less resistant clients can also benefit greatly from the work of a therapy animal, in that they can have significant and important insights brought to conscious awareness.

The psychosocial and psychophysiological benefits of animals have been well documented (Fine, 2000a; Wilkes, Shalko, and Trahan, 1989). In a qualitative research study, interviewed pet owners reported that their pets enhanced their life in eight domains of personal wellness: emotional and physical nurturance, sense of family, sense of responsibility and purpose, friendship and/or companionship, social interaction and connections, personal values and/or spiritual meaning, fun and play, and physical health (Chandler, et al., 2015). Studies have reported quicker recovery and increased longevity for cardiac patients who owned a pet (Friedmann, et al., 1980; Friedmann and Thomas, 1995). Reductions in levels of blood pressure, stress, and anxiety in children occurred when a researcher was accompanied by a pet (Friedmann, et al., 1983). Decreased depression and increased socialization occurred in elderly persons interacting with residential or visiting therapy pets (Holcomb, et al., 1997; Perelle and Granville, 1993). More socially appropriate behaviors occurred for children with developmental disorders who interacted with a therapy pet (Redefer and Goodman, 1989). Also fewer behavior problems occurred in children with emotional and developmental disorders when they interacted with a therapy pet (Kogan, et al., 1999).

AAT has been incorporated into numerous healthcare professions including nursing, counseling and psychology, physical rehabilitation, therapeutic recreation, and speech therapy (Gammonley, et al., 1997). It has been shown to be beneficial in a variety of settings, such as schools, counseling agencies, hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, developmental disability facilities, juvenile detention centers, and prisons (Burch, 1996, 2003; Chandler, 2005a; Delta Society, 1997). Much has been written on the subject of AAT, yet more controlled-research studies are needed to support and expand on existing clinical findings.

DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION OF AAT

It is important to comprehend the difference between animal-assisted activity (AAA) and AAT. Most people tend to lump AAA and AAT into one category called “animal-assisted therapy.” However, technically speaking, AAA involves mostly social visits with a therapy animal, whereas AAT strategically incorporates human–animal interactions into a formal therapeutic process.

AAA involves goal-directed activities designed to improve patients’ quality of life through use of the human–animal bond (Gammonley, et al., 1997). Animals and their handlers must be screened and trained. Activities may be therapeutic but are not guided by a credentialed therapist. AAA usually involves such tasks as visiting with persons and friendly petting with some playful activity. It may also include education about or related to the animal itself. However, AAA is a less formal human–animal interaction when compared with AAT.

AAT uses the human–animal bond in goal-directed interventions as an integral part of the treatment process. Working animals and their handlers must be screened, be trained, and meet specific criteria. A credentialed therapist, working within the scope of a professional practice, sets therapeutic goals, guides the interaction between patient and animal, measures progress toward meeting therapy goals, and evaluates the process. AAT may be billed to third-party payers just as any other kind of reimbursable therapy (Gammonley, et al., 1997).

A taskforce for the International Association of Human–Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO, 2014) produced their White Paper in 2014 presenting definitions, descriptions, and guidelines for animal-assisted interventions (AAI):

An Animal-Assisted Intervention is a goal oriented and structured intervention that intentionally includes or incorporates animals in health, education and human service (e.g., social work) for t...