The strong psychological wall clients bring into a counseling session drives
counselors to develop innovative and unique techniques. Techniques such as
play, art, and music therapy, among others, have been added to the toolbox
counselors use to break these walls down. However, these techniques
traditionally do not shed, play dead, or shake paws on command.
Not anymore.
Johnsie S. Currin, a licensed professional counselor in Charleston, S.C., runs
Strategic Solutions, a counseling practice that specializes in animal-assisted
therapy. Currin uses a therapy dog named Cinnamon, a pure-bred Brittany
Spaniel female that Currin jokes has more training and credentials than she
does.
"It is a very solution-focused and goal-oriented therapy," said Currin. "We
work with children and adults on their communication problems, depression or
behavior problems, and with ADHD children. It is just like a medium that an
art therapist or music therapist would use, and it's very interactive and does
not put the client on the defensive."
The therapy works like this. Currin cited an example of a male ADD child. His
parents complained that he was always looking for something to react to and
talking loudly. After talking with the child for a few minutes, Currin asked
permission to bring Cinnamon into the room.
Currin explained that the dog responds to one-word commands spoken in a gentle
but firm voice. She then teaches the child a command such as "sit," and allows
the child to try it out on Cinnamon. If the command is too loud or sounds
angry, Cinnamon is trained to simply shut down and do nothing. After the child
tries the command and Cinnamon shuts down, Currin discusses with the child why
the dog did not do anything.
"I then explain to the child that the dog thinks that you are angry with her
because of your loud voice, and that people tend to think that you are angry
with them also, and we talk about reframing," said Currin. "It is a wonderful
transition to ask the child if they have problems with kids in their
neighborhood or at school."
Currin said it makes the child realize the consequence of the tone of his or
her voice. However, Currin said that this is just one therapeutic situation in
which the dog can help.
Currin has used Cinnamon in many situations, including teaching social manners
to children at a homeless shelter, working with children who have been
sexually molested or are perpetrators, and in group counseling situations
teaching children about body language.
Currin originally started using pets to comfort her mother, who is in a
nursing home with Alzheimer's. Currin said that after three years of taking
the dog to nursing homes to cheer up residents, she started to use the dog as
a bridge in communicating with children.
Currin said that the greatest contribution Cinnamon makes is breaking down the
walls clients bring into the session.
"As a result, the process is quicker," she said. "All of a sudden, [the
clients] start responding to Cinnamon. So they will open up either with me or
parallel to me while talking to the dog, and that speeds up the counseling
process."
Currin has also used Cinnamon as a reward for completing a task. She pointed
to one 8-year-old male client who refused to do his homework. Currin and the
child made a chart of his homework that week and his teacher used a dog paw
print stamp when he completed assignments. At the end of the week, if the
chart was full of stamps, Currin took the boy and Cinnamon to go play on the
beach. Currin reported that the boy instantly started to do his homework and
continues to this day.
Delta Society
Currin said she is fanatical about cleanliness and the health of Cinnamon.
Currin said she received training for working with Cinnamon from the Delta
Society of Seattle, Wash., which provides training and educational materials
on pets to volunteers, health care professionals, and the public at large. The
Delta Society runs programs such as the National Service Dog Center, in which
dogs assist people with disabilities to achieve greater independence, and the
Pet Partners Program/Animal-Assisted Therapy Services, which provides training
for owners in handling their pets.
The Delta Society publishes standards of practice to guide counselors and
other health care professionals seeking to become an animal-assisted therapist
specialist. The guidelines include an eight-hour training session for the
handler of the pet, and cleanliness and temperament testing of the animal. The
training is available through home study or through area handler trainers.
"The health care professional needs to know what is going on with their animal
and with their clients at all times," said Ann Howie, animal-assisted therapy
services director of the Delta Society.
Howie said that the Delta Society has trained more than 2,000 handlers to work
with animals ranging from hamsters to horses. In addition, the Delta Society
has the only national registration for handlers, she said.
"There are risks, which is why the Delta Society has developed standards of
practice," said Howie. "There have been cases where people have gotten bitten
and then sued. Knowing these risks and taking steps to mitigate them is part
of what we teach in our training sessions."
Animal planet
Many health professionals and even companies are discovering that the use of
pets can help to ease many different problems people face on a day-to-day
basis.
For example, the effectiveness of service dogs with people with ambulatory
disabilities was measured in a study published in the April 3, 1996 issue of
the Journal of the American Medical Association. The lead researchers in the
article concluded that, "Psychologically, all participants showed substantial
improvements in self-esteem, internal locus of control, and psychological
well-being within six months after receiving their service dog."
Pets for a long time now have been used to ease the loneliness some residents
feel at local nursing homes. Many local zoos and animal shelters have programs
that bring pets to area nursing homes. Some nursing homes even have resident
pets for the people to interact with. Residents reportedly react positively to
the animals, often remembering their own pets from childhood and adulthood.
A study by Ira B. Perelle, a professor in the department of psychology at
Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., quantified the effect pet-facilitated
therapy programs had on nursing home residents. Perelle concluded that, "The
results of this pet visitation program were, beyond doubt, positive. ... The
use of animals as part of a therapeutic team to treat a number of behavioral
disorders or eliminate undesirable behaviors is a natural progression in the
historical human-animal relationship."
Some companies have even found that letting employees bring their pets to work
helps keep them happy and improves business. Employees at certain companies in
San Jose, Calif. reportedly like the new policy because it means they no
longer have to make it home at a certain hour to care for their pet. The
Associated Press reported on June 30 that companies such as Netscape
Communications Corp. and Excite! Inc. are pet-friendly and have received no
complaints from employees so far on the dogs, cats, and birds that have taken
up residence in their owner's cubicles.
Counselors are not immune to the rash of pet sightings in offices, however,
they can justify the influx with a therapeutic philosophy. Elizabeth
Witherspoon, a school counselor in Mocksville, N.C., uses her rabbit to break
the ice with kids and to become a familiar face if they need help with
anything (See "Hopping along with a friend" on page 40 of the July 1998
Counseling Today).
Currin insisted that using animal-assisted therapy in her practice has helped
her to get through to tough clients.
"The use of a therapy dog is a huge step up from pet visitation or just having
a pet in the office," she said. "It helps me to get to the root of the problem
so much more quickly."
- Peter Guerra is a staff writer for Counseling Today.
To contact Johnsie Currin at Strategic Solutions, call 843.406.4867 or
Harborview Psychiatry at 843.402.9707. To contact the Delta Society or to
order copies of any of their publications, call 800.869.6898 or visit them on
the web at www.deltasociety.org.
CTOnline
