Welcome Jillian!

Jennifer Williams, Ph.D. wrote an article about how many animals, not
just dogs, can be included for therapeutic purposes, pet therapy and in
Animal Assisted Therapy for the November 2007 issue of Cat Fancy
Magazine. She did include some of my work with clients through my
cattery, Flame Point Cat and include it in the article as well. In
fact, this Pet_Therapy Yahoo Group was started as a result of my
communications with Dr. Williams. You are welcome to let her know Mary
from FlamePointCat referred you. Her information is below:
Jennifer Williams, Ph.D Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society -
www.bluebonnetequine.org <http://www.bluebonnetequine.org/> How to
Start and Run a Rescue - www.howtostartarescue.com
<http://www.howtostartarescue.com/> EquineBehavior.Net -
www.equinebehavior.net <http://www.equinebehavior.net> Another
resource is www.DeltaSociety.org <http://www.deltasociety.org/>
Can you be more specific about your goals in AAT? Are you a Therapist
looking to include an animal as a modality for treatment? Is your
background in the sciences using animals or Veterinary School? Are you
looking to enter the medical community that uses service dogs for
rehabilitation? Usually these various fields all have a small
subsection that merely mentions Animal Assisted Therapy which is why it
is hard to find one resource that pulls all of these fields together.
My experience is with Doctors, Therapists, and others in the Health
Profession to help a client with a specific need through Flame Point
Cat. I first had to get an understanding of the disability and need and
then come up with possible goals the cat or kitten can actually do.
Sometimes it required I train the cat or kitten in a particular way, but
most of the time, I spent time with the client and their newly adopted
cat to guide them both how to "help each other". I usually start by
educating the Health Professionals, Parents and Clients about how to
understand the cat or kitten's behavior. Once they can understand the
cat, then the work can begin. Usually, the people need to be taught how
to signal the cat and the cat needs to be taught the signal. It sound
easy, but it takes a strong bond to work. Is there a specific
disability you are trying to help? With more specific information, we
can probably help you further. If you do find a good source of
information, please post it on the board or send me an email. Mary
flamepointcat@... <mailto:flamepointcat@...>


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