ABSTRACT
Once upon a time, I had a supervisor who challenged me to “increase client attendance in groups”. I thought, well, I would go if there was a dog there, so I asked my supervisor about animal-assisted groups. She then tasked me with putting a proposal together to present to the board of directors. I compiled research, designed a group for adults with depression, presented to the board, and got a green light. This began my journey into animal-assisted social work. For several years, I worked in this outpatient mental health clinic providing social work to both kids and adults. I was able to register my Labrador retriever, Maggie, as a therapy dog and ran groups on anger management, self-esteem, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, just to name a few. I wanted to demonstrate the benefits of these groups, so I was sure to collect pre- and post-test measures. These groups were amazingly successful and what was truly rewarding was seeing the changes in clients! One adult in a depression group shrieked in terror as Maggie and I entered the room. Mortified, I thought my co-facilitator had forgotten to explain there was a dog in the group. The client responded that she truly wanted to attend and hoped to overcome her fear of dogs. So with some quick thinking, we re-arranged the circle of chairs placing her chair in the corner away from any contact with the dog. Over the course of the ten weeks, she slowly moved her chair in the circle, progressed from letting the dog pass in front of her to petting her. At the conclusion of the group, she posed for a picture hugging the dog so that she could “hang it on my refrigerator to show my family that I overcame my fear”.
