For graduate student Amy Shelle, animals have always been a source of comfort.
“I grew up in a home that was very violent, and I can remember having two dogs and three cats and they were my comfort growing up as a kid,” she said. “They don’t have the part of the brain that thinks about hurting you. They’re just always there and always happy to see you or wanting to cuddle with you, so it was something that I always connected with.”
Shelle said throughout her life, she’s always been passionate about animals. During her undergraduate years, she said she started off as an animal science major. She said she also has a two-year degree in horse management.
Nowadays, she said she has a service dog for her PTSD, which has been incredibly beneficial. She said having her dog constantly around makes her feel safer and more at ease.
Shelle is the president of the Animal-Assisted Therapy organization at MSU, a group which aims to educate others on the benefits of animal-assisted therapy.
“Our next big thing is wanting to go out and educate school children about the use of animals in therapy, and the correct etiquette with service dogs,” she said.
Shelle said there are three main different types of animal-assisted therapy: service dogs, equine-assisted therapy and hippotherapy.
Service dogs are usually used to help children open up more, whether they’re testifying in court or simply in a therapy session. Shelle said seem to be more relaxed and at ease when they’re interacting with an animal.
Equine-assisted therapy involves using horses to mirror the emotions an individual is giving off. Shelle said horses pick up on what a person is feeling, so if someone is having a bad day, the horse will reflect that and be more difficult to work with. She said this is used to help people become more aware of what emotions they’re feeling and how to cope with them.
Hippotherapy is another type of equine-assisted therapy that focuses more on an individual’s physical abilities. Shelle said, typically, the individual will be riding a horse and working on building different muscles or improving their balance or something similar.
Shelle said there are a multitude of benefits to incorporating animals into therapy, especially for people who don’t want to take medication for a certain condition, such as PTSD.
For one, there aren’t any side effects to having a service dog.
Also, service dogs provide more than any medication could, such as comfort, companionship and interaction.
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