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What Is Animal-Assisted Therapy?

And How a Calm Dog Can Help You Feel More Human Again

If you’ve ever felt the quiet comfort of a dog resting their head on your knee, you already understand something important: sometimes healing doesn’t start with words—it starts with safety.

Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) is a therapeutic approach that integrates the natural calming presence of a trained animal into a therapy session. It’s not just about petting a dog; it’s about creating a space where your nervous system can finally start to relax.

At Arizona Connection Counseling, I work alongside my certified therapy dog, Jake—our “CEO of Emotional Support.” He’s a gentle co-regulator, helping clients feel more grounded, connected, and safe, especially during tough emotional moments.

Why Animals?

Animals don’t judge. They don’t rush. And they never expect you to explain yourself.

When your body is in a fight-flight-freeze response, just being in the presence of a calm, connected animal can shift your nervous system from hypervigilance to safety. This matters—because real healing can only happen when your body believes you’re safe enough to feel.

What Does a Session Look Like?

In an Animal-Assisted Therapy session, Jackie may sit beside you, rest her head near your feet, or quietly offer gentle pressure by laying across your legs. Some clients find it easier to open up while petting her. Others find her presence simply makes the room feel softer, calmer, more human.

You won’t be asked to “perform” calmness. Instead, we use the natural bond between humans and animals to help your nervous system begin to settle in its own time.

Who Can Benefit?

Animal-Assisted Therapy can be especially helpful for:

  • Adults dealing with trauma, anxiety, or grief
  • Clients who feel emotionally “shut down” or overwhelmed
  • People who struggle to stay present in traditional talk therapy
  • Anyone who finds comfort in animals and nature

What If I’m Allergic or Anxious Around Dogs?

No problem. While Jackie is often in session, we also offer “dog-free” appointments. Just let us know what makes you most comfortable—we’ll always honor that.

Final Thought

Animal-Assisted Therapy isn’t about distraction or cuteness. It’s about connection—the kind your body and brain may have forgotten how to feel. Jake helps reawaken that connection, one safe, quiet moment at a time.

Ready to experience the calming support of therapy with Jake by your side? Book your free 20-minute consult with Kim today.

Eating Disorders - It's Not About the Food

By Kelly Lopez

If it’s not about the food, what is it really about?

The eating disorder serves a function, it does a job. Despite the problems an eating disorder creates, it is an effort to cope, shield against, communicate, and solve problems. Behaviors may be a way to establish a sense of power or control, self-worth, strength, and containment. Bringing may be used to numb pain. Purging may be a way to release emotions. When one cannot cope in healthy ways, adaptive functions (behaviors) are created to ensure a sense of safety, security, and control.
According to Carolyn Costin*, some of the “adaptive functions that eating disorder behaviors commonly serve are”:
  • Comfort, soothing, nurturance
  • Numbing, sedation, distraction
  • Attention, a cry for help
  • Discharge of tension, anger, rebellion
  • Predictability, structure, identity
  • Self-punishment or punishment of "the body"
  • Self-cleansing or self-purification
  • Protection or safety (through creation of a small or large body)
  • Avoidance of intimacy
  • Proof for self-blame instead of blaming others (for exampl, abusers)
It’s not about the food, it’s a way of coping with low self-esteem, negative emotions, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, unstable home, difficulty resolving conflict and much more.
*Costin, Carolyn. The Eating Disorder Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Causes, Treatments and Prevention of Eating Disorders. 3rd. edition, McGraw Hill, 2007.
Fuller, Kristen. “Eating Disorders: It’s Not All about Food.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 22 Mar. 2017

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-state-mind/201703/eating-disorders-it-s-not-all-about-food