Hartpury University is a Partner of the Association for Animal Assisted Interaction Professionals (AAAIP), which means our courses provide the education required to support students who are interested in taking their Animal-Assisted Intervention Specialist Certification (C-AAIS).
Have a passion for working in Animal Assisted Services (AAS) and providing treatment, education and/or support programmes with an aim to simultaneously benefit both people and animals?
It’s worth looking at which of the three AAS categories you’d like to delve into:
Animal Assisted Treatment (AATx)
AATx providers are clinically trained professionals such as: psychotherapists, counsellors, clinical psychologists, physiotherapists (physical therapists); occupational therapists; speech and language pathologists; clinical social workers, and psychiatric nurses.
Animal Assisted Education (AAE)
Those providing Animal Assisted Education (AAE), particularly within schools, are likely to primarily be teachers or similarly trained professionals, often working with a trained volunteer or paraprofessional who is bringing the animals to the school or at the premises children are travelling to.
Animal Assisted Support Programmes (AASP)
These volunteers or paraprofessionals could also be involved in Animal Assisted Support Programmes (AASP), such as visiting animal programmes in schools, hospitals or nursing homes. Additionally, there is often significant opportunity for cross-over between these three categories in care farming, where the education, treatment or support may be provided by suitably qualified providers working along the farming teams.
Which of our courses can you study?
BSc (Hons) Human-Animal Interaction with Psychology | Hartpury University
All modules in Hartpury University’s BSc (Hons) Human-Animal Interaction with Psychology support students’ understanding of both the potential for AAS to benefit humans and the need for AAS providers to ensure high standards of ethics and animal welfare in all the work they do. The course also covers Animal Assisted Interventions and Animals in Education modules, which are specifically related to AAS.
Graduates of this undergraduate programme won’t be qualified to practice as Animal Assisted Therapists, rather they’ll gain the skills in animal behaviour, human-animal interactions and psychology as well as knowledge of the guidelines for best practice in Animal Assisted Services.
Master’s degree (or PG Diploma) in Animal Assisted Counselling and Psychotherapy
If you’re already practicing and trained as a counsellor, psychotherapist or clinical psychologist, you could study our postgraduate course which is available to those looking to provide animal assisted services.
We’re proud to be the first university in the UK to offer this programme that’s been developed with the support and guidance of several experts in the field. All aspects are designed to ensure optimal animal welfare and follow the best practice guidelines. The course covers specific AAS modules including:
- Integrating Humans, Animals and the Environment into Counselling
- Animal Training, Behaviour and Assessment
- Animal Assisted Counselling and Psychotherapy in Practice
