Animal Assisted Therapy in Dallas, TX- HeadFirst Counseling
Further your progress in therapy and get a good dose of oxytocin (the feel good hormone) released by participating in Animal-Assisted Therapy at HeadFirst Counseling in Dallas. We are proud to announce Olive, a Golden Retriever and our certified therapy dog!
We’ll let Olive take it from here:
Hi Everyone!
I’m Olive! I’m 8 years old, but don’t let my little bit of gray hair fool you. I still love to run and play. My favorite thing in the world is to climb into people’s lap (if they want me to) and let them pet me. Turns out, it helps the people feel good just like it does for me- or so my handler Laura says. She told me that by petting me, it releases good hormones in both of us that helps us both calm down and think more clearly. Plus it just feels great!
I have helped lots of people by coming to the therapy sessions every now and then, and hopefully I can help you too! From the outside, it will seem like your therapy session doesn’t change very much when I am there- but on the inside there is a lot going on! Sometimes I will just lay down in the corner and let you and your therapist do most of the work. Other times, if I can sense with my special powers (through my nose!) that you are getting upset, I will try to help by coming over to you and asking you to pet me by nudging you, since the motion of petting helps us both feel good (remember? You’re getting it now!).
When I can sense that you are holding something back that needs to be let out, I may try to help you let it out by nudging you some more, or even pacing around the room. I love when people are able to talk about the things that are bothering them. Especially things they haven’t said before. It helps them feel so much better afterwards, and I am there to help take care of them.
Don’t get me wrong- I’m not all about hard work! Sometimes if I can sense you are in a happy and fun mood, we will just play together. I love giving kisses (that’s doggy lingo for licks) on your hands. Some people even let me do it on their face! If we are really having fun, I may even show you some of my tricks. But we’ll just have to see how the session goes!
I CAN’T WAIT to meet you! You may just be my next favorite person!
-Olive
Read more about the benefits of Animal Assisted Therapy here. Olive is a certified therapy dog through Pet Partners (www.petpartners.org) with the Complex level rating. Olive works exclusively with Laura McLaughlin, her certified handler. To schedule an Animal Assisted Therapy session at HeadFirst Counseling, call (469) 665-9416 or email info@headfirstdallas.com