Approach · Animal-Assisted Therapy
Animal-Assisted Therapy
Meet Xander, my therapy assistant. He is a Bernedoodle, and he is a very good boy.
A Presence, Not a Requirement
He loves coming to work with me and is present during psychotherapy when necessary; he can calm and comfort you by sitting with you or just by being present.
Many inpatient facilities use animals as a part of their treatment program as well. I feel fortunate to have Xander at Introspect, because it helps in creating an environment of comfort for clients.
"A body of research has suggested that interactions with therapy dogs can temporarily affect the release of various neurotransmitters in the brain; oxytocin (a chemical heavily linked with bonding) and dopamine (a chemical associated with reward and motivation) levels are increased, while lowering cortisol levels (an immunosuppressant associated with stress)".
What Necessary Means
When Xander Actually Joins
“Present during psychotherapy when necessary” is a deliberately narrow phrase. It does not mean Xander is a fixture of the office that every client encounters by default. It means that on the sessions where his presence would plausibly help (a client who is visibly overwhelmed, a teenager who talks more easily with something warm and undemanding nearby, a session where the content is heavy and a body in the room lowers the temperature), he may be brought in. On many other sessions he is not part of the picture at all, and nothing about the therapy changes as a result.
That distinction matters because animal-assisted support here is a supplement, never a substitute. The therapeutic work is still the conversation, the history-taking, the pattern recognition and the relational frame described on the main Approach page. Xander does not change what is being worked on. At most he changes how easy it is for a nervous system to settle enough to do that work in a given hour.
Your Choice
Declining Him Changes Nothing
Clients may decline his presence, and sessions run exactly the same without him. This is not a workaround or a lesser version of the therapy: it is simply the default format that most sessions already use, since he is not in every room. If you would rather not have a dog present, whether because of allergies, discomfort, an active fear of dogs, or no particular reason at all, that preference is honored without needing an explanation. The solution is straightforward: he is not brought into the room, and the appointment proceeds on the usual schedule and at the usual cost.
This is consistent with the way the whole practice is run. A systemic, relational approach means paying attention to what actually helps a particular person in a particular context, and imposing a fixed element on every client would work against that. Whether Xander joins a session is one more thing decided in collaboration with you, not for you.
If animal-assisted support sounds useful alongside your own work, it fits most naturally inside individual therapy, and is often mentioned by clients working through anxiety, where a calm physical presence in the room can make a hard conversation easier to stay in.
Xander is described here only as a Bernedoodle and as Athena’s therapy assistant. He is not presented as licensed, certified, registered or formally trained.
Common Questions
Animal-Assisted Therapy Questions
- Is Xander in every session?
- No. He is present during psychotherapy when necessary, which is a judgment made session by session rather than a fixed arrangement. Plenty of sessions happen without him in the room at all.
- What if I do not want a dog in the room?
- You can simply say so. Sessions run exactly the same without him: the same time, the same attention, the same work. His presence is offered, never required.
- What if I have allergies or am uneasy around dogs?
- That is handled the same simple way: Xander is not brought into the room. There is no need to explain or justify the preference beyond letting Athena know.
- Is Xander a certified therapy animal?
- Xander is described here only as Athena's therapy assistant and as a Bernedoodle. No certification or formal training is claimed for him.
Start With the Contact Form
You do not need to decide about Xander before your first appointment: that is a conversation for the session itself.