Pet Partners

http://www.petpartners.org

Pet Partners’ mission is to improve human health and well-being through the human-animal bond. Pet Partners is the nation’s largest and most prestigious nonprofit registering handlers of multiple species as volunteer teams providing animal-assisted interventions.

Pet Partners teams interact with a wide variety of clients including veterans with PTSD, seniors living with Alzheimer’s, students with literacy challenges, patients in recovery, people with intellectual disabilities and those approaching end of life. The impact of these interactions is felt one million times a year. Pet Partners’ curriculum and continuing education for licensed Instructors, Evaluators and Handlers is the gold standard in the field. Additionally, Pet Partners offers superior risk management and industry safety standards, continuing education and re-registration for teams and keen attention to dealing with our unique multi-species team population.People and animal volunteer teams are the heart and soul of Pet Partners’ Therapy Animal Program. Therapy animals aren’t just dogs. Cats, horses, rabbits, pigs, birds, llamas and alpacas, guinea pigs and even rats are eligible for evaluation through the Pet Partners program.The efficacy of animal-assisted interventions is very dependent on the partnership between the handler and the therapy animal. Decisions need to be made on how to select the most viable candidates for involvement. It is also critical that the animal’s welfare is strongly taken into consideration, so that the experience is equally beneficial and safe. When all of these factors are taken into consideration, the outcomes can enrich the lives of many who are touched.

875 124th Avenue NE #101 Bellevue WA 98005