Animals As Natural Therapy

Animals As Natural Therapy provides mental and behavioral health services to youth, veterans and elders through animal-assisted Therapy and mentorship. What began As simple human-animal interactions with young people in 1999, has developed into a highly sought after and well-respected therapeutic model. Ant offers a variety of programs in response to specific community needs: a) the safety net program, which was created in response to the need for alternative interventions for youth for whom traditional Therapy was ineffective, unaffordable, or unavailable, now serves between 350-400 youth per year. It also includes school workshops on leadership, bully awareness and self-confidence. B) the new horizons program, a collaborative effort with seamar visions chemical dependency treatment center, provides therapeutic services for 60 teen women struggling with chemical dependency from throughout Washington state. C) the eagle program provides equine assisted experiential learning services to a dozen veterans yearly. Ant has developed a proven model in all programs that uses Animals to help a person build trust, respect, and self-confidence. In turn, participants find hope and healing As they learn to manage their own behaviors and negotiate healthy relationships. The experiential component enables participants to physically explore their strengths, weaknesses, and options As they handle challenging situations that the Animals present, and success in this effort ultimately shifts their beliefs in their own capabilities.