research 

in order to truly understand this topic we did some thorough research along with our interviews. we wanted to understand the therapeutic side rather than just the owners' side. in our textbook we learned a bit more about different types of therapy such as person-centered therapy which is described as, "techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to promote clients". and, we learned about other psychologists' opinions such as sigmund freud's thoughts on therapy "people could achieve healthier, less anxious living by releasing the energy they had previously devoted to id-ego-superego conflicts". most importantly though, we made sure to study therapy animals. their work is most commonly referred to as "animal-assisted psychotherapy"or AAP/AAT (Bachi 2016). according to most articles about therapy animals say that these animals can help with a "variety of physical and mental issues. it can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and increase positivity and socialization"(Giorgi 2017). as we continued to gather information we wanted to understand where they are best fit. where can they visit for their appointments? these places are all therapeutic in a sense, "schools and prisons, as well as hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, and outpatient care programs. comfort dogs have also been used widely for community disasters, such as major fires, mass killings, and natural disasters"(Turner 2020). a great example of comfort animals is surrounding a huge mass killing, "a vietnam war combat veteran who had a 40-yr history of PTSD not alleviated by many years of counseling. he felt that equine therapy “saved (his) life"(Altschuler 2018). more information about specific cases and how they have helped can be found in our experiences and interview tabs at the top.