Animal-assisted therapy helps lower cortisol levels, reduce blood pressure and heart rate, ease anxiety and increase endorphins. As such, therapy dogs have been used at multiple Jewish Family & Children’s Service healthcare centers since 2017.
People often confuse therapy dogs with either service dogs or emotional support dogs. A service dog is trained to help people with disabilities including visual impairments and mobility issues. An emotional support dog is trained to provide its owner therapeutic benefits through companionship. A therapy dog, however, is trained to provide support, comfort and affection to one or more individuals, or even to a group.
– Diane Palacios, Jewish Family & Children’s Service
