Contact Information
Tel: 401.333.7070Pet Assisted Therapy (PAT) Program
- About the Program
- Course Details
- About the Instructor
- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
- Download a Program Flyer
About the Program
The Program has been offered at CCRI for over five years and has led to exciting opportunities for many of the graduates. Beneficial programs at St. Elizabeth Home, the Arc of Northern RI, the Northern RI Mental Health Center, the J. Arthur Trudeau Memorial Center, Victoria Court Assisted Living, Central Falls School District, Forest Avenue School in Middletown, Sackett Street School in Providence, West Bay Christian Academy in North Kingstown among others have been developed by professional pet assisted therapy facilitator/educators associated with the course. This professional pet assisted certificate is utilized as an innovative approach to drug prevention, violence prevention, enhanced self-esteem, enhanced quality of life, and the accomplishment of treatment goals.
The program consists of three semesters: Pet Assisted Therapy I and II (listed below) and Pet Assisted Therapy III, an internship in PAT. Graduates and students from this program are certified and credentialed by the Windwalker Humane Coalition for Professional Pet Assisted Therapy.
Although this is a noncredit training program, one credit may be transferable to CCRI’s Human Services programs upon successful completion of all three courses.
Important Note:
Prior to Course II, students are required to have insurance for their pet. Please consult with your insurance agent.
Pet Assisted Therapy I
Family Therapy Pets – The Ethical Foundation of PAT
This course looks at the human companion animal bond from a historical, theoretical and practical perspective. The course will focus on history, research, ethics, safety and legal issues. Students will learn how to set up safe and effective treatment-based programs in a variety of settings. The link of these between animals and people also will be covered. The format will include visiting credentialed family therapy pets, lectures, discussions, videos, guest speakers and field trips. Temperament testing also will be included. State-of-the-art issues including credentialing and insurance will be covered. It is hoped that, by the end of Course I, each student will have a solid educational background to build on his or her bond of love, trust and understanding with the family pet, so as to be able to create professional pet assisted therapy programs based on the pet’s personality and his or her own humanity, background, talents and interests. Students must pass PAT I before going on to PAT II.
Please see our CWCE Brochure for course details.
Pet Assisted Therapy II
Building on the Bond – Hands-On, Paws-On Learning
In this course, the family therapy pet and guardian will work together getting acclimated to the sights, sounds and situations encountered in agencies and schools, including wheelchairs, school bells, elevators and stairs. While most of the sessions take place at Delmyra Kennels, there are also sessions at the Cranston Arc and Elmhurst Extended Care. The class includes training in pet therapy skills, basic obedience and lectures on animal behavior, how to “read” the pet and pet therapy with other animals, which are welcomed in the internship. Teams also will have the opportunity to practice approaching a patient in bed. There will be a mid-term evaluation as well as a final competency.
Please see our CWCE Brochure for course details.
Pet Assisted Therapy III
Internship: Experiencing the Joy
This professional internship typically spans six months and is divided into two segments. In the first, the typical student will spend one hour per week for 10 weeks at one of our training sites. At our Elmhurst Extended Care site, students will work with their family therapy pets in the program dubbed “Moving Forward with Joy.” At the Cranston Arc site, teams will work in the program “Maximum Joy.” Both of these sites not only have graduates of this program as full-time staff, but have long welcomed professional pet assisted therapy into their facilities. It is hoped that through working at these sites, students and their pets will not only touch and change lives and motivate patients to the accomplishment of treatment goals, but also will also gain the confidence and experience to move forward.
In the second phase of the internship, students will work directly with Pearl Salotto to create their own program in a site that does not have pet therapy. Following the initial program development, based on the students and their pets’ interests and talents, they will then complete one hour per week for 10 weeks. Weekly documentation and a final paper are required at both sites.
Please see our CWCE Brochure for course details.
Meet Pet Assisted Therapy Instructor, Pearl Salotto, B.A., M.P.S.
Pearl, inspired by her family therapy pet, DJ, and currently working with Maj-En and Panda Girl, has been a leading spokesperson for the professionalization of Pet Assisted Therapy since 1987. She is also known for her expertise in Pet Assisted Therapy curriculum development, as well as for her work in ethics, legislation, and public policy regarding people and animals. Ms. Salotto’s recently published book, Pet Assisted Therapy, A Loving Intervention and an Emerging Profession Leading to a Friendlier, Healthier, and More Peaceful World, is one of the most comprehensive academic texts in the field.
Graduates and students from this program are certified and credentialed by the Windwalker Humane Coalition for Professional Pet Assisted Therapy. Windwalker has been advocating for the role of animals in all of our lives since 1995.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
This program is a three course certificate program including Theory (Course I) Experiential Learning (Course II) and Internship (Course III).
This program has been running continually at CCRI since 1996, developed and taught by Pearl Salotto – author, educator and professional pet assisted therapy facilitator.
Pearl was first inspired by her family therapy pet DJ (Dog of Joy) in the mid 80’s in N.Y., and more recently by Maj-En, whose energy and boundless desire to share his love, over the past decade and a half, has touched and “changed” all in his path.
This program welcomes all who wish to share their love for their family pet with those in need of a “loving touch” in an ethically based and goal-oriented program in which the pet, the client and society – all benefit.
This program welcomes individuals from all walks of life, all ages, all professions (or not) – who have a deep and abiding respect for all living things.
This program is looking for individuals who, not only wish to work with their own pet to help others, but who are confident individuals, with good judgment, who are “thinking outside the box” visionaries looking for an opportunity to help make the world a better place.
This program welcomes individuals who cherish their pets, as family, and who have a strong bond of trust and understanding with them.
This program welcomes pets of any species, age, size and description, as long as they are family members of the student and, of course, as long as they eagerly and spontaneously wish to share their love with one and all.
This program also welcomes individuals, who may not have a pet, at the moment but who wish to learn about this profession.
This program welcomes pets, regardless of their energy level, as long as they love people, because one of the goals of the program is to build on whatever personality the pet has-in order that safe and effective programming can take place.
In this program, students will move from a classroom based experience where they will learn ethics, safety, research, legal and insurance issues, as well as how to set up professional programs – to “hands-on/paws-on learning, in which the students’ pet experience sites and sounds of PAT environments (wheel-chairs, school bells, stairs, elevators) to an opportunity to intern with your pet first, generally , with a mentor and finally, in a program of your own creation.
During this program, students will have opportunities for discussion, lectures from credentialed PAT facilitators, videos, field trips, reading and writing assignments, working and learning with your own pet, as well as temperament testing.
In this program, students will be expected to provide Certificate of Good Health, for their pet, as well as proof of insurance (Homeowners is a possibility on professional liability).
At the conclusion of this program students will receive a certificate of completion from CCRI and will be eligible to apply for credentialing for themselves and their family therapy pet from the Windwalker Humane Coalition for Professional Pet Assisted Therapy.
Students completing the Program may be eligible to receive credits in a CCRI Human Services Program. To be considered, an applying student should address the following, in writing (2-5 pages):
a. Theory of Pet Assisted Therapyy
b. Principles of PAT
c. Skills attained as a result of taking the course
Program Flier
Pet Assisted Therapy Program Flier - PDF*
