What are some signs that my teen would benefit from animal-assisted therapy?

Children communicate through play and through experience. Many children have a hard time talking to express emotions or to express complex thoughts. Working with an animal can help children within the experience during therapy. The struggles that are most commonly seen when working with children in animal-assisted therapy are:

What are the benefits of animal-assisted therapy for my teen?

Animals provide a layer of protection for teens when it comes to therapy. Teens are often in a place where they are wanting to become their own person and they want things to go and be the way they want them to be. They are either overly compliant or push back against adults. They can find themselves in tough situations due to their inability to say no to peers or rebellious actions against their parents. Animals are often a being that teens can have empathy for and actually are comfortable being able to ask for what they want from an animal. It allows for lines of communication to come up in an emotionally safe manner for a teen. Teens often have a hard time being able to recognize and see their patterns of relating or processing emotions or thoughts until they can see them in action with a non-judgmental and honest animal.