Welcome!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to our brand new website. We developed this web site to provide information about animal-assisted interventions both to other professionals and to the general public.

But first, what are animal-assisted interventions? Animal-assisted interventions are programs that employ animals to help people in some way. Types of animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) include animal-assisted therapies (AATs) in which physical or psychological/emotional client-oriented goals are set and progress is monitored, animal-assisted activities (AAAs) that are without specific goals for each client, and animal-assisted education (AAE) programs in which educators have goals for students and document progress. Animal assisted interventions are integrated into a broad array of programs, and thus vary greatly in nearly every way; their only common trait is the involvement of animals to attend to a human need—be it physiological, psychological, educational, or social.

There are many examples of AAIs, and more are being created every year. Some current examples are described on the Activities and News & Events pages. Nonetheless, it may help to give you a few examples now: A physical therapist who uses grooming ponies to guide and motivate his patients through their therapeutic exercises. A police officer who relies on her canine companion to find contraband. An educator who lets a struggling reader hold and read to a rabbit so that the student is both calmer and more motivated—both of which help the student overcome his reading challenges. Or another educator who teaches respect and responsibility through carefully monitoring his class as they care for an aquarium of goldfish. A person with seeing- or hearing-impairment who employs a dog to help navigate. An assisted-living program coordinator who creates an engaging activity with her elderly residents with visits from specially-trained cats. Or a counselor whose dog helps his patients grieve.

And why create a web site about AAIs? Although each of us came to the broad field of animal-assisted interventions from rather different paths, we have each repeatedly complained about the same thing: the lack of an easy way to find good information on what works—and what’s safe—in animal-assisted interventions.

We have also wished for a place where people from all of the many fields that inform and benefit from including animals and nature could come together, share ideas, offer support, and even begin life-long collaborations.

Sick of hearing ourselves complain, we decided to make just such a place. Welcome to the first version of it. You can learn more about the history of this web site, and our philosophy concerning it on the History page.

This web site, then, currently seeks to realize three goals:

1. To provide a place where people from all areas can find answers to AAI-related questions (and to appreciate the many, yet-unanswered questions).
2. To share information about the research, projects, and views of AAI professionals with both each other and a wide audience.
3. To give clear insights into the “hidden world” of AAIs; to let practitioners (animal-handlers, therapists, scientists, trainers, etc.) share with each other and everyone what it is really like to work with animals.

Those are our goals. Please feel free to contact us and let us know how we’re doing and what you’d like to see in this site.

The pictures on this website are donated by S. Normando, W. E. Samuels, S. Molenberghs, H. Mul, and G. Lievens

We wish you happy reading,
The AAI-team anno 2010
G. Lievens
L. Meers
S. Molenberghs
H. Mul
S. Normando
W.E. Samuels