Hey animal-loving therapists…
Feel confident adding animal-assisted interventions to your practice,
whether you currently have a therapy animal partner or not!
Are you looking for a new way to target client goals that is fun and effective without burdening yourself with undue liability risk?
Want to bring your best friend to work?
Do you ever feel stuck trying to get a client to engage in a therapy session?
It seems like now more than ever our caseload requires us to manage:
anxiety
attention and sensory processing differences
challenges with working memory
refusals to participate
before we can even begin to directly address a client’s goals.
Chances are you’re already really great at identifying and targeting goals for your clients. But at the end of the day, if you can’t get them to participate meaningfully because of dysregulation and distraction you’ll never actually meet those goals.
Sometimes the mental effort to combat dysregulation and distraction all day leaves us exhausted, frustrated, and wondering why we even picked this career in the first place.
Five years ago I was right there with you.
But then I deployed a secret weapon... one with a wagging tail and empathetic heart who brought joy, spontaneity, and a sense of calm to my office day after day.
Have you been looking for an animal-assisted therapy training course with a focus on practical application?
What if you had the FOUNDATIONAL KNOW-HOW to incorporate a therapy animal into your work for calmer, more joyful and productive work days?
I get it…
You’d love to bring your furry best friend to the office but you’re just not sure how to do it safely and meaningfully.
Your employer is worried about liability risks and you’re wondering how you’d fit one more thing into your work day.
Imagine the IMPACT your services could have…
…when you have a willing partner to help reduce anxiety, increase joy and memorability for therapy activities, and help you build rapport with even the toughest clients!
Ready to jump in?
I want to help you avoid mistakes and build a strong foundation for years of fun, productive work with your four-legged co-therapist!
This IS possible!
If I can incorporate a therapy animal into my work with children with a variety of special learning challenges and moderate to high support needs, you can too!
Introducing Talk to the Paw!
A unique animal-assisted therapy course
The foundation you need for partnering with a therapy animal to safely and effectively engage your clients in joyful, productive, animal-assisted interventions.
More than 7 hours of content, including:
Avoid myths and misconceptions about therapy animals working in a professional setting.
Discover why animal-assisted interventions can be effective for your clients and how they can benefit you as well!
Understand what makes some animals better adapted to this work and how you can minimize risks through better understanding of your animal’s welfare needs coupled with client education and liability insurance options.
Then, follow a step-by-step process of preparing your animal partner for a successful introduction to the work and learn a myriad of ways you can include them to address a variety of client goals, both directly and indirectly.
Finally, get ideas for troubleshooting common challenges and working with special populations.
Learn at your own pace with access for the lifetime of this course.
Start with a bird’s eye view of what animal-assisted interventions are and then choose your own path through the lessons:
Need risk management details to explain to your boss? Start at the beginning!
Want inspiration to better envision how this could look in your setting? Jump to the Animals at Work section!
Already working with an animal partner but experiencing some challenges? Try the Troubleshooting module.
All taught with over 70 video examples from actual therapy sessions so you can see the nitty-gritty, real-life details of working with a four-legged partner…by someone who lives this on a daily basis!
Join Today!
Only $389.00
Now PRE-APPROVED for continuing education hours to maintain your Certified Animal-Assisted Intervention Specialist (C-AAIS) credential through Association of Animal-Assisted Intervention Professionals!
(Find out more about the C-AAIS here)
What people are saying about Talk to Paw!
Sharlet is a leading voice in therapy animal inclusion. She has developed evidence-based strategies to integrate dogs into therapy, helping clinicians engage clients in meaningful and effective ways.
She recently wrote a textbook with ASHA and then launched her course. It’s an amazing value and so easy to digest!
This is a rare opportunity to learn from an international expert and explore new ways to integrate our amazing therapy animals into our work.
Gen Ward, SLP, AAT provider, and owner of The Speech Express, Melbourne, Australia
"I loved everything about this course!
Jennifer Mitchell, school-based SLP and facility dog handler
Hi, I’m Sharlet…
I’ve been working as an animal-assisted speech therapist since 2019.
After seeing the immediate and lasting benefits of incorporating my calm Great Dane mix into sessions with my most challenging kids, I added in my high energy Brittany Spaniel and have since partnered with two more dogs you’ll meet in the course.
Each brought their own unique strengths and quirks, challenging me to develop my skills as their handler in order to read their different communication signals, develop therapeutic activities that draw on their natural tendencies, and find ways to keep them rested and ready for more!
I know from firsthand experience that there’s no one right breed or temperament for therapy work and I’d love to show you why!
The problem was, I started off making a lot of mistakes! …
At the time there wasn’t much “how-to” information available to aspiring animal-assisted interventionists (in fact, I didn’t even know that term!), so pretty much everything that could go wrong did.
Thanks to my resilient dogs and wonderfully supportive clients I was able to persist and fill in the gaps in my knowledge. I learned so much, I even wrote a book about animal-assisted speech therapy!
Now I see the positive outcomes my therapy dogs bring to sessions day in and day out, working on a wide variety of goals with kids of all ages and their caregivers.
I’m passionate about helping other professionals get started without having to learn the hard way like I did…for the joy and safety of their clients, their animals, and themselves!
Are you ready to feel confident partnering with a therapy animal?
Join today for just $389!
More praise for Talk to Paw!
Before receiving my facility dog, I completed a course through Speech Dogs that focused on animal-assisted intervention.
That experience offered me a beautiful overview of what this work can look like in practice.
It was filled with video examples, real therapy moments, and creative ideas that helped me begin to envision how a dog could support communication in meaningful and intentional ways.
It gave me a lot to think about before stepping into [training with my dog] and helped shape the lens I brought with me.
Jennifer Mitchell, school-based SLP and facility dog handler.
Here’s what we’ll cover in the course:
CHAPTER 01
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Discover if what you've heard is true...Myths and Misconceptions about therapy animals working in a professional setting
Explore a variety of special traits therapy animals bring to sessions
Identify barriers to entry that make AAI a skilled specialty
Define key terms and concepts
Understand what the research does and doesn't actually tell us about AAI
Identify the benefits and challenges for both sides of the therapy animal-handler team
CHAPTER 02
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Understand what qualities make a helpful therapy animal
Manage risks when bringing an animal to work
Identify what your therapy animal is telling you
Make a plan to prepare your animal partner for the workplace (and the workplace for your animal partner!)
Consider the special aspects of different work environments
Develop a protocol for introducing potential clients to the concept of working with a therapy animal
CHAPTER 03
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Make a plan for smooth introductions between clients and your therapy animal
Identify 3 key ways your animal can actively help address client goals
Understand 4 ways your therapy animal can improve sessions even while just resting in the room
Consider the addition of animal-related engagement to your therapy repertoire
CHAPTER 04
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Identify approach-avoidant behavior in clients and understand how to manage it to keep sessions calm and productive
Make a plan for addressing distractions a therapy animal might bring
Understand special considerations when working with very young children
Identify proactive steps to minimize animal mischief in the work environment
Recognize when to train and when to manage therapy animal behaviors
Understand reasons behind therapy animal behavior changes and identify ways to address them
Discover 3 challenges you yourself may face as an animal-assisted interventionist
Ready to learn more about what animal-assisted interventions are and why they might be a good fit for your work?
I’ve prepared a FREE one-hour video overview to show:
Why therapy animals can be a good fit for therapists and educators working with clients with special learning needs
The special challenges we face including animal-assisted interventions with our client population
Examples of my therapy dogs helping out in a variety of ways both through active participation and their calming presence. Plus, get a glimpse of ways to build on a client’s love of animals even when a live one can’t be present.
What you can look forward to learning in the full Talk to the Paw: Foundations for Therapy Animal Inclusion in a Professional Setting course!
Experience more joy in your work with help from a therapy animal partner!
Enroll in Talk to the Paw: Foundations for Therapy Animal Inclusion in a Professional Setting today!
Questions?
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That's okay! You'll learn foundations that will inform and inspire your planning when you ARE ready and you'll have access to the recordings for the lifetime of the course!
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Of course!
You'll personalize the activities you create with your therapy animal to meet the specific needs of your population, but the underlying concepts of welfare, safety, and capitalizing on the human-animal bond are the foundation of all animal-assisted intervention work.
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Sure you can emulate what you see on social media, but if you don't understand the why behind choosing when and how to facilitate interactions with a therapy animal you can quickly find yourself in a situation that doesn't fulfill your furry partner's needs and risks damaging their welfare, your clients' safety, and your practice's reputation.
Plus, you'll learn to recognize what a therapy animal is communicating and train your eye to better evaluate what you're seeing in popular online clips (hint: there's a lot of questionable and potentially dangerous situations posted to get likes and followers).
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Paws for Progress and the Talk to the Paw course complement each other but have separate aims.
While there's some necessary overlap in foundational principles, the course allows you to see these topics applied in real-life therapy sessions through more than 70 video clips from actual sessions.
Plus, with book edits completed in early 2024 I've continued to expand my understanding of therapy animal behavior and psychology as I started with my young therapy dog Sky and experienced an even greater variety of client interactions. I'm able to share these insights with you in this online course!
Take the course to see details with your own eyes, buy the book to confirm your learning and have a ready library of activities to apply immediately!
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You might be surprised to uncover your companion animal's hidden aptitude for therapy work, but even if you're sure you don't have the right partner at the moment you'll learn how to recognize traits that a future partner animal needs.
Plus, you'll be inspired by videos of actual client-animal interactions and even learn how to incorporate animal-related engagement for when an animal can't be physically present.
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Not a problem!
The specific examples are from speech therapy, yes.
But the underlying concepts of therapy animal selection and behavior, choosing when and how to effectively include a therapy animal, and managing risks to keep everyone safe applies across health and human service fields.
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Yes, the examples given are all with therapy dogs because that's where my personal experience lies, but the basics of recognizing animal welfare, considerations for introducing clients to animals, and choosing activities to help target goals by including a therapy animal apply regardless of species.
You'll just need to seek out information on how to read your own species' communication signals and adjust to the environmental needs of your chosen partner.
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Including a therapy animal definitely takes lifelong learning, but this self-paced course gets you started with OVER 7 HOURS of in-depth content!
Complete it at your own pace and come back to lessons as you need them with access for the lifetime of the course.
When you're done you'll have the foundations you need to start (or improve on) your animal-assisted intervention journey with confidence and excitement!
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Please contact me at sharlet@speechdogs.com!
I'm passionate about this work and the benefits it can bring, and I'm happy to chat so you feel confident in applying your knowledge of animal-assisted interventions.
Since I'm constantly working to expand my own knowledge base, chances are if I don't have the answer myself I can direct you to someone who does!
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When you've completed all the modules you'll have the option of printing a certificate showing the number of professional development hours (PDH) you've earned.
Here's a link for speech therapists about how ASHA counts PDHtowards your certification maintenance. Or check out this informative podcast episode from Fix SLP.
If you're not an SLP, please check with your own credentialing organization for their requirements.
Ready to dive in?
Learn how to bring more joy to your workplace with the addition of a therapy animal. In Talk to the Paw: Foundations for Therapy Animal Inclusion in a Professional Setting you’ll gain the confidence and know-how to:
minimize risks when bringing your therapy animal to work
maintain your furry partner’s welfare
capitalize on a therapy animal’s strengths to build bonds with your most difficult clients
understand how to include your animal partner in sessions to help your clients regulate, focus, and engage…all leading to increased progress