Specialised therapies
Animal-Assisted Therapy
What is Animal-Assisted Therapy?
- What is Animal-Assisted Therapy for?
- Fostering relationship, development and wellbeing with specially trained animals
- Is Animal-Assisted Therapy legally regulated?
- Not a separate legally regulated health profession. Offered by professionals with a relevant base profession (e.g. nursing, occupational, physio- or psychotherapy, psychology, social work or education) plus animal-assisted training. Not to be confused with hippotherapy (physiotherapy).
- Does Animal-Assisted Therapy treat illnesses?
- No independent curative treatment. Used complementarily.
Animal-assisted therapy deliberately involves specially trained animals – often dogs, horses or others – in the support process. Contact with the animal lowers tension, creates relationship and motivation, and opens a path that is often hard to reach through language alone.
It is offered by professionals with a relevant base qualification and an additional animal-assisted training. The base professions are broad: from nursing, occupational, physio- and psychotherapy and psychology to social work and social or special-needs education. Depending on the base profession, the focus is more therapeutic, supportive or educational – it is by no means only an educational offer.
It is used complementarily, for example with children, people with disabilities, on the autism spectrum, with dementia, loneliness and in psychosocial work.
It should be distinguished from hippotherapy, a medically prescribed physiotherapeutic treatment on horseback.
What is allowed
- Foster relationship, motivation and safety through contact with the animal
- Lower tension and open a non-verbal approach
- Support development, social and emotional skills complementarily
- Work therapeutically, supportively or educationally, depending on the base profession
Where are the limits?
- No diagnosis and no independent treatment of illness
- No substitute for psychotherapy, medicine or physiotherapy
- Only with suitable, health-checked and trained animals
How to recognise quality
- A professional base qualification plus animal-assisted training
- Demonstrably suitable, checked and well-cared-for animals
- A clear goal rather than mere animal contact
- Confidentiality and safety for human and animal
How it works
- First sessionclarify concern, suitability and setting
- Companionshipguided contact and joint exercises with the animal
- Reflectiondiscussing the experience and carrying it into everyday life