This semester I decided to take advantage of the internship opportunities provided by the UNLV College of Liberal Arts. I first want to express my immense gratitude to Dr. Diane Villa (SSSD's co-founder) & COLA for helping me discover my dream career! Prior to this, my degree was tailored towards my interests (majoring in psychology, minoring in philosophy & sociology) rather than a specific career. This experience served as an epiphany of sorts. Given my love of psychology and animals, I can't believe I didn't decide to become an Animal Assisted Therapist until now!
I was initially quite nervous since I came in with no dog training experience what so ever, but that quickly faded away thanks to Dr. V's support. In order to be successful in this internship, students need to have loads of patience, time management & organization skills, a strong work ethic, and the ability to stay motivated. As far as educational requirements go, students should be majoring in psychology (or a very similar field) and have a basic understanding of issues such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, etc. Students should also have basic working knowledge of google drive, docs, and excel.
While this is a major stepping stone towards my goal of becoming an Animal Assisted Therapist, I need much more hands on experience training service dogs & participating in animal assisted therapy sessions . I will also need to earn a certification from one of the many accredited programs/institutes/colleges. There are a plethora of options but they all strive to display your understanding of topics such as: working w/ animals in an educational or therapeutic setting, understanding animal cognition and emotions, understanding the legal & ethical issues involved, etc. Of course, building a network is always a must!
Below is a photo of our wonderful dog Griffith at our first animal therapy session at a Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority facility!
