P.A.W.S. - People and Animals Working to ServeWhat is Animal Assisted Therapy? The use of animals to facilitate positive changes in a broad spectrum of therapeutic settings is becoming more accepted, appreciated and valued. Under the direction of health services and education professionals, animal-assisted therapy can promote physical, emotional, cognitive, and social improvement for people with special needs. In animal-assisted therapy (AAT) programs, volunteer teams become formally involved in patient treatment regimens, helping motivate the achievement of a wide variety of goals and objective. As those who share their lives with animals will attest, animals can provide benefits that people often cannot. Research is now corroborating this conventional wisdom. Miraculous improvements have occurred during animal-assisted therapy visits. The Active Re-Entry PAWS program participates in both AAT and animal-assisted activity (AAA) programs, i which volunteers visit formally with hospital patients, nursing home residents and people in other facilities.
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