THE THERAPET ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY FOUNDATION

Since 1994, Therapet has provided Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) or Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) free of charge. Therapet is directly involved in a wide range of human services including physical and cognitive rehabilitation, therapeutic interventions with victims of family violence and sexual assault, reading programs, education seminars, and community events. In 2023, Therapet sponsored approximately 85 human/animal teams including 75 dogs, 3 cats and a cockatoo. Therapet teams served the community with approximately 7,093 volunteer hours of AAA/AAT and an estimated 5,000 human/animal encounters yearly including over 1,164 animal visits. Therapets 2023 accomplishments:1. Therapet Skills Class: Therapet continued training teams with 17 formal classes especially designed to train new teams. 8 new teams were certified.2.Team re-certification: To ensure Therapet teams are highly skilled, certified teams undergo an annual recertification process and volunteer orientation. 72 teams were recertified.3.AAA/AAT programs: Therapet maintained or enhanced AAA/AAT services to an extremely wide range of settings. These include the following:a.Community agencies who provide emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.b.Community agencies who serve as advocate for abused children.c.Hospitals, rehabilitation centers and schools for patients, clients, students who are mentally challenged, have a neurologic deficit due to stroke, injury or birth defect or those who are recovering from major surgical procedures or debilitating diseases.d.Community agencies and schools to assist students reading below grade level improve reading skills and comprehension.4.Capacity building: Therapet has hired an executive director since 2015 and this has enabled us to focus on growth and retention with the goal to be able to remove agencies from our waiting list and meet the demand for our services.