To shed light on the various Animal Assisted Interventions in existence, and to discuss the scope and real life applications of the same, the Department of Psychology CHRIST (Deemed to be ) University , Bannerghatta campus held a webinar ” Animal Assisted Interventions ” on 21 August 2020 where 165 students attended the session.
The resource person was Ms. Unnati Hunjan , the founder of Therapeutic Paws, an organization that is dedicated to promoting mental health and overall well-being with the help of therapy animals.
The webinar was conducted to have an in depth understanding of Animal Assisted Interventions and to discuss the future opportunities and the scope of the same, for all the second and third year students of the Bsc Psychology Honours course. The session was led by Ms. Unnati Hunjan, founder of Therapeutic Paws, an organisation providing Animal-Assisted Therapy, Counseling, Training, Education and Research. Ms. Hunjan has conducted numerous workshops, courses and presented on national and international platforms. With her initiative at Therapeutic Paws, India, she is aiming to bring about the much-needed awareness about animal-assisted interventions and the ethical ways to practice it.
The webinar commenced with a welcome speech delivered by Ishana Grace Mathew of 3 PSYH. Then Ms. Hunjan started the session by introducing herself and by describing the agenda for her session. She covered topics ranging from types of Animal Assisted Interventions to the different animals used for therapy, also mentioning the basic requirements for a pet to be a therapy dog which are; history or past experience, temperament, socialization, obedience, special tricks, response to novel situations and the final evaluation, and even answered the confusing questions regarding the differences between therapy dogs and service dogs. She explained that AAT had positive effects on psychological, neuropsychological, physiological and social functioning. Taking the support of case studies, experiments and interesting anecdotes Ms.Hunjan actively engaged with the audience and cleared all their doubts regarding the subject. She concluded the session by explaining the ethical practices to be followed while performing AAT. Qualifications of the therapist, qualifications and training of the therapy animal, ethical conduction process and following the international standards lead to an ethical practice. She also mentioned the possible internship opportunities and certification courses open at her organization, the Therapeutic Paws.
The resource person was well-informed and very passionate about her field of work. She was very warm and friendly and was able to capture the audience’s attention with her eloquent explanations and her informative slides. Participants who attended the session described it as being very ‘interesting and informative’. The session was concluded with a vote of thanks rendered by Ishana to express gratitude towards Ms. Unnati Hunjan for spending her precious time and sharing her experiences and knowledge in the field of Animal Assisted Interventions with the students.