Published on 2024-10-22 by morr0604
U of M MRC Members,
In this fall’s column, I want to highlight the partnership between the MRC and the Animal-Assisted Intervention program on campus, Pet Away Worry and Stress, or PAWS. Dr. Tanya Bailey is our guest columnist and has provided us with some background information on AAI and PAWS, and the role PAWS may play in an MRC deployment. Enjoy!
-Courtney, MRC Coordinator
Throughout history, people have long found comfort and support through purposeful interaction with animals. One of the earliest accounts from the 9th century described how individuals with disabilities living on a farm in Gheel, Belgium cared for the animals as a way to contribute to and stay engaged with the surrounding community. One explanation for why humans seek out interactions with animals is Biophilia, a term psychoanalyst Erich Fromm first introduced in The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil and popularized by Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson. Biophilia is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. In other words, humans have a deep affiliation with nature. Wilson posits that humans are hard-wired for connection and engagement with the natural world including animals and other living organisms, and to divorce ourselves from our environment is to invite disease and disruption.
The discipline known as Anthrozoology helped develop and define what is commonly known as the human-animal bond and human-animal interactions. Out of these foundational structures grew a professional modality called Animal-Assisted Interactions (AAI). I define AAI as an active partnership with human practitioners and specially selected animals, both have received training, and together as a team provide the purposeful delivery of direct and measurable therapeutic and educational services for human learning and well-being. Research and practice literature show that interactions with animals can buffer the effects from stress, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and traumatic experiences.
Best practices in AAI dictate that the animal actively contributing to the session is specially trained to deliver the activities or experiences that will bring about the intended human outcomes. Along with their human partner, the animals in AAI should also have participated in and passed some type of independent screening or evaluation such as the Pet Partners® program, a national organization and industry standard for this field. Second, practitioners have an equal professional and ethical obligation to only practice AAI within the scope of their education and training. This scope of practice also extends to the animal in AAI sessions which means the practitioner has extensive knowledge, care, and experience with their animal partner. Competencies in AAI are developed over many years and through many avenues of training and mentorship, not through one dog obedience class or weekend workshop on AAI.
This historical and industry overview provides context for the University of Minnesota’s Pet Away Worry & Stress (PAWS) program which I developed in 2013 to support college student mental health. When an individual leaves home for college, important bonds with family and friends change. Students have reported that leaving their pet to attend college is more difficult than saying goodbye to the important people in their lives, and that seeing and being with animals helps normalize an otherwise stressful environment in which they now live. Furthermore, when college students become stressed from the rigor and demands of their academic schedules, they can have a greater tendency to isolate from others and resort to ineffective coping mechanisms. PAWS provides participants with an opportunity to visit with “registered therapy animal teams” – currently dogs, cats, rabbits, and chickens – for two hours, Monday through Thursday during the academic year and twice a month in the summer. Participants reduce stress and gain social support by experiencing an appropriate and restorative social connection with other living beings – the human-animal teams and other students who can relate to the mutually-challenging experience of being in college. Furthermore, the animals in PAWS can represent a transitional object for students who are separated from their own pets and help evoke comfort and positive emotions tied to home and to having animals in one’s life.
In 2014, PAWS became a partner to the MRC for disaster deployment. PAWS would be available to participate in various capacities from direct crisis response to support for disaster personnel and caregivers. When a skilled human-animal team provides AAI services, the animal can first help give focus and be a calming influence for the participant. Next, animals can provide a social connection or link between participants and providers which then helps finesse the development of rapport, vulnerability, and trust. While a participant may be uncomfortable sharing intimate details about their life or their experience during a crisis to a therapist or medical provider, they may be more willing to have these conversations because the animal is there–an unbiased and accepting source of support. Because animals live one day at a time, they are also ideal role models of living with presence, self-acceptance, and grace. Should PAWS join the MRC for any deployment, the human-animal teams would be one of many services available to support those who are facing shock and other trauma responses, and to ultimately enhance and deepen the healing and recovery process for all involved during the crisis.
Dr. Tanya K. Bailey (she/her), PhD, LICSW, identifies as a straight, cisgender White woman. She received her PhD in social work from the University of Minnesota (UMN) and is a licensed clinical social worker, educator, and researcher with over 30 years of specializing in the healing connection between humans, animals, and nature. She is the Animal-Assisted Interactions (AAI) Program Coordinator at UMN and in 2013, created Boynton Health’s Pet Away Worry & Stress (PAWS) program, a multi-species AAI program offered four days per week on campus and delivered by over 100 volunteer therapy animal teams. She can be reached at [email protected].