Steve Dale, who credits advice from Oprah and Lucille Ball, plus a piano-playing cat named Ricky and a dog named Chaser, with dramatically changing his life, will share his story to open Therapy Animal Coalition’s (TAC) Third Annual Therapy Animal Expo on Saturday, March 2 at the University of North Florida’s Adam W. Herbert Center, Building 43.
Dale, a nationally recognized animal behaviorist and author, will discuss the intensity of the human-animal bond, which he says we are only beginning to understand. Later in the morning, he will hold a workshop titled “Fear Free: Be the Change” to discuss signs of fear, anxiety and stress in pets and how to better understand them.
For the first time, the event is a collaborative effort of TAC and UNF’s Brooks College of Health, and a professional track for those interested in the science and research behind the inclusion of animals in healing and education will be available. The professional track is open to anyone but targets mental health/healthcare providers and educators interested in professional collaboration with animals for health and learning. CEU’s are available for registered professional track attendees.
The program will also feature workshops, nationally recognized therapeutic-animal experts, research and clinical faculty as speakers and exhibits for all pet owners who are interested in learning about animal-assisted interventions and therapy (often referred to as “pet therapy”). It also will provide guidance for people interested in establishing an animal intervention (or therapy) program at their facility, school or business. The Expo will be at UNF from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and is open only to human attendees, except service dogs.
Speakers for the Symposium include Amy Johnson, LPC, director of the Center for Human Animal Interventions at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She founded and chairs the nonprofit, Teacher’s Pet: Dogs and Kids Learning Together, which pairs at-risk youth with rescue dogs for an intervention program. Johnson will speak to participants in the professional track on “Ethics and Professional Competencies in Animal-Assisted Therapy.” UNF faculty members, Dr. Carlene Taylor, LMHC and Dr. Amber Barnes, both instructors in the Department of Public Health, as well as their graduate students, will also present in the professional track.
Expo organizers with TAC estimate more than 250 registered therapeutic animal/handler teams — out of more than 350 who have the required credentials — volunteer for therapy assignments in Northeast Florida. About 100 facilities in the region have ongoing therapy programs.
TAC leaders have seen these numbers grow rapidly by 132 percent with increasing numbers of bona fide animal/handler teams and sites permitting visiting therapeutic animals in just the last two years. TAC’s goal is to double the number of active, qualified teams that seek out training and registration in the coming year. The group hopes to guide more of the volunteers into existing programs or motivate them to start new programs.
At the Expo, more than 20 organizations and vendors will participate, with booths and demonstrations on therapy animal training, how animals and their handlers can be registered and the organizations accepting volunteers to participate in animal-assisted interventions (aka pet therapy). There also will be experts on hand to answer questions about how a group might arrange for animal/handler teams to come in to their facility and provide therapeutic visits.
Program exhibitors may include Alliance of Therapy Dogs, Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, Baptist Medical Center Beaches, Clay County Humane, Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, Mayo Clinic Caring Canines, R.E.A.D.®, Pet Partners of North Florida and Wolfson Children’s Hospital among others.
“People are surprised to find that dogs are not the only therapeutic animals,” said Kristi Leonard, event co-chair and president of the TAC Board of Directors. “Cats, rabbits, pot-bellied pigs, even horses can bring a calming influence and have a healing effect for people who are sick, stressed or hurting. In our area we have cats, miniature horses and a rabbit registered with animal/handler teams.”
Admission to the Therapy Animal Expo & Symposium is $25. Registration is available online through UNF at https://www.unf.edu/ce/TAC/. TAC is a Ponte Vedra Beach-based nonprofit. Visit http://therapyanimalcoalition.org/index.html for more information.
