Animal-assisted therapy can be incorporated into all therapy services. As a Registered Wildlife Carer, I often care for orphaned kangaroo joes and have an enclosure where particulates can interact with the rehabilitated animals.

Animal therapy, also called pet therapy or animal-assisted therapy, refers to various services using animals to help people with specific physical or mental health conditions.

Animal therapy builds on the human-animal bond, which describes people’s desire to interact with and relate to animals. For many people, interacting with a friendly animal can form a bond that can produce a calming state.

This bond itself may help the person in several ways, such as :

• reducing boredom

• increasing movement and activity through walks and play

• providing companionship and decreasing loneliness

• increasing social interactions

• improving mood and general well-being

The positive interactions with an animal may lead to benefits in the mind and body, such as reduced stress and an overall more balanced mental and emotional state.

Animal therapy partially uses this bond in a directed way to achieve the goals of the treatment.