Advanced Animal Assisted Psychotherapy team. By Mairead Ashcroft 31/3/2019
Moon Shadow and I have spent the past week upgrading our Therapy Dog qualifications. After intensive training and testing at Alpha Canine Professionals and having been put through simulated counselling situations by Lead The Way Institute , Moon Shadow is now classed as an Advanced Therapy Dog, and Co -Therapist in our little psychotherapy team. Particular attention was payed to her responses to human emotional ques, from crying, laughing and shouting, to the more subtle body gestures such as introverted body postures and nervous ticks to energetic covert and more elusive, overt aggression ques. Moon Shadow has shown aptitude for relational subtleties. Working with a Therapy Dog at this level will enable clients to experience lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone which we carry in our blood stream in times of stress. With lower levels , we can think with clearer minds, breath with less constriction and lower our heart rates, leading to an overall experience of better wellbe
