The Kid's
Therapy Center LLC
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Bismarck & Valley City, North Dakota
Animal Assisted Psychotherapy
Human-animal bond is like no other in a healing setting.
Animal Assisted Psychotherapy services is integrating the animal in therapeutic interventions for the client.
COMING SOON!
What is AAP?
Animal Assisted Psychotherapy (AAP) is the practice of integrating an animal into traditional counseling or psychotherapy sessions. Our mission with our AAP program is to help those of all ages heal through the use of the unique bond that is built between human and animal. This program is different than what has been known as Animal Assisted Therapy services (Pet Therapy) as Animal Assisted Therapy Services are used in a more emotional support capacity in different settings such as hospitals, schools, nursing homes, etc. where our Animal Assisted Psychotherapy services will be integrating the animal in therapeutic interventions for the client.
How does it work?
Animal Assisted Psychotherapy incorporates the human-animal bond, through the use of specifically, specialty trained animals and counselors, into the therapeutic interventions to enhance the healing process of the client(s). The human-animal bond will work to enhance our client(s) therapeutic goals.
The Benefits
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It has been found that through the use of the human-animal bond client(s) are more engaged in the therapeutic process (Flynn et. al., 2020 & Barnhart et. al. 2020).
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Flynn et. al. (2020) found that incorporating animals into the therapeutic process increased more than just engagement in the therapeutic process but promoted an increase of progress in areas such as self-regulation, self-awareness, self-worth, bonding/trust, etc. as well.
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Along with promoting clients to reach their therapeutic goals AAP also has been found to have a lower dropout rate than conventional psychotherapy (Seeger et. al. 2024). To read more about these benefits of AAP as well as others please refer to the citations that are listed below (click on DOI link).
