Animal-Assisted Therapy
Animal-assisted therapies (AAT) are approaches to mental health care that incorporate animals into the psychotherapy process, emphasizing the bond created during human-animal interactions. Emotional recovery and positive psychological transformation often occurs when the relationship between an individual and the therapy animal grows.
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AAT can offer many benefits to children. For instance:
- Build self-confidence
- Increase self-esteem as the child learns and performs new skills
- Improve verbal and nonverbal communication skills
- Teach boundary-setting skills (what is acceptable and unacceptable)
- Improve organizational and planning skills
- Teach compassion and empathy for others
- Demonstrate how to offer and receive unconditional love
- Teach children to take responsibility for themselves and others
- Help a child make a connection that is free of judgment—an animal will not laugh at or bully a child
- Build trust
- Hone fine motor skills
- Improve independent or assisted movement
- Calm anxiety or make a child feel less lonely
- Help to develop social skills
- Increase a child’s willingness to join in activities
- Improve interactions with others
- Make the child more willing to exercise
- Help a child get through medical or dental procedures with less anxiety and fear
- Teach skills that might be useful at school or in the workplace, for instance how to calculate feed rations
- Reduce pain, anxiety, fatigue, and depression
More information can be found at:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/animal-assisted-therapy