The Cubil Program, aimed at adolescents with emotional blockages, has been running for almost ten years, and each year I gain new methodologies and new aspects, which I share in the classes of the Master in Animal-Assisted Therapy.
After twenty years as an educator, during which I have been fortunate to share the journey with many people, I would like to thank ISEP for offering me the opportunity to write on the blog about dog-assisted interventions, specifically with groups facing social difficulties.
Animal-Assisted Intervention as an Aid to the Educator
Working with dogs provided answers to multiple difficulties I encountered in my work as an educator: I stopped fighting with young people and creating power relationships, and began to generate truly trusting and participatory spaces, where the involvement of dogs in the process allowed for genuine attention to individuality. I managed to get to the causes, instead of covering up the consequences, and approach with permission the struggles of each person and accompany the process of generating a new life model. Perhaps, there is no more wonderful gift.
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life, said Confucius, and that’s how I work, enjoying every day, learning from the people I work with and from the animals that participate in the sessions, sharing with other professionals and a reality that allows for easier, less invasive, and more personal work.
And that’s what this article is about: sharing all the realities that come with introducing an animal into our interventions, whether in therapy, education, or activities, allowing us to improve our intervention. From all these years of work, our conclusions based on the evaluation of each session and program show evident improvements.
Advantages of Animal-Assisted Intervention (AAI)
The benefits of having this type of intervention are many and varied; below I list the most prominent ones:
- Greater motivation for sessions.
- Lots of fun.
- Better relationship between educator and recipients, stronger and faster bond to consolidate.
- Naturalization of spaces.
- Emotional catalyst.
- Large doses of spontaneity without breaking the schedule.
- Increased atmosphere of relaxation and trust.
- Increased interrelation and cooperation among group participants.
- Emotional support in moments of vulnerability.
- Opening new conversation possibilities: putting words into action through the dog.
- Greater speed in achieving objectives and their solidity.
- Permanent emotional support for people who come with their dog.
- Assuming responsibilities in a more fun way.
- Not applicable to all people; for those who do not bond with the dog, the educational relationship is not harmed and continues its normal course.
- Improved coexistence.
- Fewer conflicts and a greater number of educational interventions.
- Increased social networks and improved relationships with them.
- Faster educational processes that allow for quicker incorporation into normalized resources.
- Individualized attention, no competition for attention.
- Better external and internal perception of participating in biopsychosocial care resources.