Animal-Assisted Therapy and the Healing Power of Pets

Enjoyed this course and learning more about the use of pets in therapy and in other areas. I have a dog who sits in therapy sessions with me. She loves people. While she is not trained, she is responsive and interactive when appropriate and quiet when appropriate. Patients report that they feel calm when she is in the room. Many have developed a relationship with her. She is too old to become a true therapy dog but she certainly has her own special role in the office.

Very comprehensive and thorough.

This was a wonderful course and I would love to integrate pet therapy into my practice!

A little heavy on the history... but was otherwise terrific!

Great information and enjoyable. Thanks!

Great course!  Should be required for all counselors.

Wonderful information provided. 

I really enjoyed this course. I am an animal lover and would love to incorporate an animal in my clinical work someday.

Really enjoyed learning this subject.  

Love it! Would recommend to any therapist. Especially will recommend it to those who love animals, and would say to the therapists who don't to check it out and see how great the benefits of AAT are!!!

I greatly appreciated the strong animal centeredness of the entire course. I own an eldercare center to which I bring my dogs and many of the residents enjoy their interactions with them.

An excellent course providing a comprehensive review of the history of pet assisted therapy, key components, reference to additional articles/resources and training, as well as shared personal stories. I was most impressed. This is an area of treatment that needs a spotlight for the positive changes and treatment it provides. Thank you for the opportunity as a continuing education credit.

Being an animal owner, I really enjoyed this course. Pets can have an immense impact on human well being!!

Loved learning all of this information, which is amazing! Want to take all of these animal therapy courses.

Excellent course and makes me want to explore more into this field.

Great course! Easy to understand and complete quickly!

Loved this course. well developed and presented in a user friendly format.  Animals are gifts.

Great course! Hopefully this will get the word out. Such an under?used therapy. Interesting and informative!

Excellent, with great examples and resources. THANKS!!!

I liked how there were personal stories related to each topic.  It was very easy to follow.  It was actually nice to read about someone close to home!  (I'm from Ohio/MI and know exactly of the places referred to in the article) I also liked the references within the course, such as the websites for the various organizations mentioned.  The format was more interesting than most CEU's! Glad I decided to take the course!

I found this to be a very interesting course that met my personal objectives for this topic. Thank you.

Wonderful education on the history and key players. Heart-tugging stories. Would highly recommend!

I loved this course.  This is a big area within public schools (the use of therapy animals) and this course really helped me learn about the field.

As an avid animal lover, I found this course not only informative but completely enjoyable as well.

This was a great course. I just got a puppy and I am considering having it trained to be a therapy. It gave me some great insight and how to go about getting started.

I really enjoyed the course -- very interesting and something I hope to learn more about.

In my practice, I often evaluate college students. In the past year, several of these students have had ESA's or animal assistants.

I loved the narrative flow that was easy to read and enjoy learning.

This was a very interesting course.  It reinforced my belief that animal therapy is highly effective for people of all ages. I enjoyed reading about the history of animal assisted therapy and the anecdotes told by Dr. Rand.

I find the clinical anecdotes helpful, "case examples", to help understand how theory is put into practice.

Great course!  I will definitely recommend this course to others.

Excellent course!

I would have preferred less of the personal information and more in-depth content. Perhaps that occurs in the next courses but I was somewhat bored by this particular course. Please understand, the experiences of the author are important and invaluable...I however am looking to augment my knowledge when I take continuing education rather than develop a relationship with the presenter. I am thus more disappointed by this course than I would like.

I loved the course!!

Excellent course!  I do Equine Assisted Therapy but I did not know much about therapy using smaller animals.  Excellent history.  Excellent list of resources. Loved the personal stories.  I am elated I chose this course!

Loved learning about all the historical figures!!

This was a fun course!

Helpful course!

Strong knowledge share, very helpful.

Thank you. Great information on a subject that I've researched extensively at this point. A lot of new, insightful, and different information provided.

I enjoyed my first ever online course!! Very easy and fun to do!!

This was an excellent training and I found it very pleasant to have a subject matter that was not typical or repetitive.

I enjoyed this topic very much. It was well organized & easy to understand.

I enjoyed this course very much actually.  And as an animal lover learned quite a bit as well. Much thanks!

Loved this course so much!!

Excellent information and gives great history of this field.

Great class - another great modality to support clinical work.

Outstanding course that includes anecdotal and scientific information about the healing power of animals.

I'm now considering certifying my dog!

An absolute jewel of a course! I highly recommended to any animal lover.

Such an inspiring course! I'm motivated to act on this. :)

the narrative format was very helpful and enjoyable.

PROBABLY MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE ARTICLE!!!

I found this course to be informative and a new  way of approaching therapy for both adults and children.

I found this course very informative and entertaining. I love this subject matter and it was presented in a way I found very enjoyable. I laughed aloud on occasion!

It was interesting to read about the historical development of the fields of animal-assisted interventions and to experience the work through the eyes of both founders and later practitioners.

The issue of therapy support animals has come up often in my practice. I enjoyed learning about the history and growth of the programs.

Loved this. Currently working on getting my dog certified as a therapy pet.

Excellent course, not only very informative but enjoyable as well. Thank you

Loved the history components of AAT, the studies/research cited, and information on the variety of animals used in AAT.

Loved the history components of AAT, the studies/research cited, and information on the variety of animals used in AAT.

This course was awesome! It helped me to understand what the options are for potentially using my own pet therapeutically, and it provided a deeper understanding of pet temperaments. I love and appreciate the year long subscription offer that comes with completing the course. The links to various websites/research studies was also very helpful and convenient. Lastly, I love that the information was delivered using personal stories and experiences. Thank you!

I loved to take the test as I'm reading. Having the test before is a great help to enjoy and learn.

I happen to be an animal lover and this course gave me some great ideas on how to use this passion when I retire!

I enjoyed the interjection of actual narrations and stories of which the author was familiar.  It made the course interesting to follow and gave it more "heart," which is why I signed up for this course to begin with. I am a dog lover, and have taken my dog to my office. While not trained as a therapy dog, he simply knew which people to snuggle up to during our therapy sessions. This is helpful for me

Amazing!!! I feel enticed to want to learn more now!

This was the most fascinating course, ever! I just loved it. Thank you for your amazing courses!

My experiences with Animal Assisted Therapy with children were positive.  It was interesting to have an understanding of the history and other ways in which animals were helping in the therapeutic process.

I enjoyed learning this material, especially the stories and examples.

I really enjoyed learning more about the organizations that I can register with as a therapy dog owner, and possible opportunities for working with my dog more as a volunteer, not just at work.

I enjoyed this CEU very much. It was well written and balanced with examples, as well as great information about this topic AAT.

Very informative and interesting subject matter. I enjoyed learning more about the use of animals as a therapeutic tool.

This course was inspiring, and may well help me with a meaningful direction as I go forward in my work. I appreciated the author's accessible writing style, and decision to share stories and pictures of animals, key people in the development of Animal-Assisted therapy, and about her family and work. I also appreciated the availability of additional literature, links to videos, etc. and the generosity of the authors and creators who provided permission. Thank you for making this course available.

Dr. Rand did a great job of combining narrative and research to provide an engaging and accessible educational experience.