Some of the healing effects of therapy animal visits:

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Mental Benefits

 

Decrease in stress and anxiety, including that from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

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Decrease in depression, loneliness and feelings of isolation

 

Decrease in aggressive behaviors

Increase in socialization with an outward focus, including opportunities for laughter and a sense of happiness and well-being

Increase in mental stimulation, attention skills, and verbal interactions

 

Increase in spirit, self-esteem, and feeling of acceptance, enabling a patient to further participate in mental and physical therapy, to be more involved in group activities, and to accept social and emotional support

 

Physical Benefits

 

Decrease in blood pressure

 

Decrease in heart rate

 

Decrease in the stress hormone cortisol

 

Increase in hormones associated with health and a feeling of well-being, including beta-endorphin, beta-phenylethylamine, dopamine, oxytocin, prolactin and serotonin

Increase in level of fitness by providing stimulus for exercise, with improvement in activities in which they were limited

 

Improvement in fine motor skills, standing balance, wheelchair and other physical skills

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The Healing Effects of Therapy Dogs

 

Spending time with animals produces marked improvements in humans, affecting the physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of their well-being.

Stress leads to an overproduction of stress hormones, increased blood pressure, heart rate, and chance of heart attack and stroke. As you will see in the chart, below, a visit with a therapy animal does much to reverse the effects of stress.

Therapy dog teams frequently witness improvements in their clients, and measurable improvements are witnessed as well.  

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What is AAT?

We partner with several traditional providers of Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy to provide Animal Assisted Therapy with several of our service dogs alongside your therapists. This aides in immediate improvement in all aspects of therapy including increase in attention span along with ability to multi-task or remember sequences; reduce stress; provide motivation to complete exercises; and make therapy fun! 

We work with your Therapy team and current IEP goals to develop an individual curriculum and approach utilizing a fully trained autism service dog to unlock the potential of the child. 

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