I found this a crucial opportunity to connect as a therapist with patients who otherwise seemed unreachable. While we are always amazed by reports of animals physically rescuing people from danger, therapy animals often perform equally heroic acts on an emotional level. My experience has led me to create a program where each of my residential patients will be assigned her own therapy dog over the full course of treatment. They find it easier to empathize with ingenuous, honest animals and begin to learn to trust others. Affectionate animals help them relate to others.
Animals provide unconditional acceptance and a bridge across their gap in trust.
For some people, touch from another person is not initially acceptable. Especially among the physically and sexually abused, connecting on an affectionate, tactile level is a hard-fought antecedent to recovery. Diane Bell, pet partners coordinator for the Delta Society, a group devoted to improving health through service and therapy animals, lauds the diverse services these animals provide. Speech pathologists have had repeated success with the hearing-impaired when animals are trained to react to the patients' commands. The Delta Society reports that patients improve fine motor skills through brushing and petting animals and increase their mental acuity by increased verbal interaction and elevating their desire to connect with the world around them.