2016

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) is an interdisciplinary term to describe interventions that integrate various species of animals into the care and wellbeing of human beings. When implemented with the appropriate education and training, AAI offers several key benefits that are central to trauma-informed care, including: reducing treatment anxiety, facilitating development of strong therapeutic rapport, decreasing feelings of detachment, and offering a non-verbal avenue for expression and processing. In this manuscript, the authors propose two ways AAI can add to trauma-informed care: animal-assisted therapy in counseling (AAT-C) and animal-assisted crisis response (AACR). Authors will discuss relevant literature, provide examples of appropriate interventions and techniques, and offer resources for further information.

Keywords: animal-assisted therapy, trauma-informed care, crisis response counseling