Therapy Partners
Providing moments of calm in uncertain situations
Therapy Partner teams have made over 135,000 visits since 1994
Animal Assisted Therapy has been in practice since 1960.
Dr. Boris Levinson discovered that he was able to connect with a “withdrawn 9-year-old boy” when his dog, Jingles, was in the room.
Dr. Levinson presented his findings to the American Psychological Association a year later.
Within 10 years nearly 20% of clinicians were using Animal Assisted Therapy.
Today, an increasing number of hospitals utilize AAT, and nearly 60% of hospice care providers that provide alternative therapies offer pet therapy to patients.
Source: Alliance of Therapy Dogs
Therapy Partners In Our Community
We serve the community by providing registered teams of handlers and animals to work as a therapeutic tool for organizations.
We also introduce the community to our services by attending speaking engagements, participating in community walks, presenting at organizations and taking part in many other local events and programs!
In addition to participating in large scale community events, Therapy Partners has 8 additional areas of community engagement:
Therapy Partner teams make one-on-one, interactive visits with patients in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, assisted living, memory care and residents in long-term care facilities.
We are on call for hospice visits & animal assisted therapy for children and adult bereavement programs
We partner with our schools to achieving literacy
Serving adults with behavioral, mental and/or emotional disabilities
Connecting with children in difficult circumstances
Rapid Response Teams to provide comfort and emotional support in times of disaster
Serving the American Red Cross at Fox Clinic & other military based organizations
Our Wait, Ask, Greet Safely program teaches what to do if frightened by a dog & how to safely approach a new dog
Are all therapy animals dogs? No.
Within Pet Partners, the organization that registers our handler teams, most of the therapy animals are dogs (92% of total registrations), but they also register cats, equines, (horses & donkeys) rabbits, guinea pigs, domestic rats, birds, miniature pigs, and llamas & alpacas.
The most important quality a therapy animal will have is a natural bent for interacting with people, remaining calm, and trustworthy behaviors in all situations. Handlers often have an idea where they would like to serve, but it’s decided by the animal’s affinity and the area most comfortable for them.
The handler and their animal must have a strong bond of trust, and the handler needs to be in tune to their animal’s emotions … able to read their body language and advocate for their welfare is key. We have a well established process for becoming registered as a team. Click here to learn more
