Animal Assisted Therapy

Our dog Maggie, AKA Professor McGonagall, and I work as a team to help youth and families who experience various forms of anxiety, depression, or an inability to connect with others.

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Maggie and our clinicians with students with pervasive developmental disorder, autism-spectrum symptoms, Tourette syndrome, medical difficulties, behavioral problems, and various levels of ability. The approach used depends on the cases we are working with but one of the the primary goals of Animal Assisted Therapy is to increase emotional well-being. 

One recent case we worked we worked with was a student with Tourette Syndrome who experiences significant physical and verbal ticks. The ticks were so intense that the student needed to leave the classroom two to five times in a 50 minute class period. After the student, Maggie, and the clinician started working together in the classroom setting the ticks were reduced to the point that the student no longer needed to leave class when Maggie was working. The student attributed the decrease in intensity of the ticks to a decrease in anxiety and his connection with Maggie.