If you are familiar with the animal assisted therapy field, you know how important animals can be to people in emotional, physical, or psychological distress. Do you know there is a deficit in programs using animals to increase the productive results of other therapies? Art, musical, physical, and psychological therapists can use animal-assisted activities as a partner therapy for treatment of conditions.
This book focuses on a study that determined the increased positive results of care planning processes and service provision to clients. Interviews with animal-assisted handlers' on their observations of the value of animals in programs that focus on caring for patients or clients in multiple physical and mental health environments are showcased. This book can be a resource to caregivers and families, community-based case management organizations, administrators, and human service professionals.
Read the book to learn more about the challenges and perspectives in the animal-assisted therapy industry.

adult day centers, age in place, aging friendly communities, Alzheimer's, Animal Handler, animal therapy programs, Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), benefits, bonding social capital, calming effects, canine / dog, caregivers, case management, case study, cat, catalyst, children, clients / patients, clinical practice, clinical professional, coding, cognitive functioning, collective conscience, community-based organizations, companion pets, counseling/counselors, data, demographics, depression, descriptive statistics, disability, domesticated animals, elderly / elders, emotional, empirical phenomenological study, environments, ethnography, experiences, Gemeinschaft, geriatrics, Gesellschaft, grounded theory, healing, home services, homogeneity, hospice/hospital, human service professionals, human-companion, in-patient, Institutional Review Board (IRB), instructor, isolation, interventions, learning disabilities, lived experiences, loneliness, mechanical solidarity, Medicaid, medical care, mental health, methodology, model of care, natural aging process, naturally occurring retirement communities (NORC), nursing facilities, nutritional services, observation, occupational therapist (OT), older adult, Older Americans Act (OAA), Oldest old adults, Olmstead Decision, OnLok, ordinal scale, organic solidarity, out-patient, person-environment, pet ownership, phenomenological design, physical activity, physical therapist (PT), physical touch, prisons, private schools, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), progressive socialization, psychological, psychosocial, psychotherapy, qualitative technique, quantitative technique, raw data, recreational therapist, registered handlers, respite, retirement communities, schools, screening, self-worth, senior centers, sense of purpose, social capital, social service programs, social workers, socialization, solitude, special needs, staff development, stress relief, tactile interaction, talk therapy, therapeutic environment, therapists, therapy animal, Title II of the American Disabilities Act (ADA), volunteers, well-being, wheelchair