“Dr. Holland is an incredible professional. She has helped me through several deep personal issues. She has also helped me with documentation for my service animal. He assists me with physical as well as emotional challenges. Dr. Holland is kind, gentle, thoughtful, insightful, and a great therapist. If you are looking for a psychologist, I believe you couldn’t do better than Dr. Holland.”
canine assisted therapy
Enhancing Talk Therapy with Furry Companions
Ultimately, the friendly, accepting nature of canine companions or therapy dogs makes them ideal “co-therapists”. Canine-assisted therapy has been around for several decades and will continue to be used for years to come due to its many benefits. The use of dogs as part of therapy and other forms of treatment can be beneficial for a wide range of disorders, issues, and conditions. Dr. Holland will be offering Canine Support Therapy once again as part of her practice in the coming weeks. News and updates will be available through our social media platforms and on this website.
Companion Pets Help to Ease Symptoms of Grief
Researchers found all individuals who lost their spouse experienced higher levels of depression. However, people without a pet experienced more significant increases in depressive symptoms and higher loneliness than those who had pets. In fact, those who had a pet and experienced the death or divorce of their spouse were no lonelier than older adults who didn’t experience one of those events.
Physicians and nurses benefit from dog therapy
Therapy Dogs help reduce stress
Scroll Down for Dr. Holland's Perspective on this article
New research published in Academic Emergency Medicine indicates that for physicians and nurses working evening shifts in the emergency department, interacting with a therapy dog for several minutes may help lower stress.
In the 122-participant study, emergency providers randomized to a five-minute interaction with a therapy dog and handler had a significant reduction in self-reported anxiety using a visual analogue scale compared with patients randomized to coloring mandalas for five minutes with colored pencils. Also, at the end of the shift, emergency providers had lower salivary cortisol (a stress hormone) with either coloring or therapy dog interactions compared with controls.
"Many healthcare workers and laypersons believe that dog-assisted support can improve emotional well-being in the healthcare setting, but little hard data exist to scientifically evaluate this belief, especially in emergency care," said lead author Jeffrey A. Kline, MD, of the Indiana University School of Medicine. "We provide novel data to suggest that emergency care providers enjoyed seeing a dog on shift, and received a small benefit in stress reduction after the interaction. We still do not know the extent to which the benefit was from the dog, the handler, or the combination of the two."
Read this article on Science Daily: "Therapy dogs may help lower emergency clinicians' stress." ScienceDaily. 8 April 2020. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200408085531.htm.
Dr. Holland's Perspective
"New research supports the notion that interacting with animals actually does decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) while helping to lower blood pressure. Other studies have validated what pet owners all over the world intuitively understand; that interacting with animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost a person's mood.
"I know from experience that dogs can serve as a significant source of comfort and support to people of all ages who are under stress, whether that is a pet at home or in a specially trained canine assisted therapy situation. Therapy dogs are especially good at calming patients in a hospital or clinic setting, and they also help people to feel more comfortable about opening up to a therapist. In essence, a well-trained social therapy dog can help to accelerate the healing process."
- Learn more about Dr. Holland's canine assisted therapy program
- Read about Dr. Holland's new therapy dog
- Learn about Dr. Holland's Therapy for Medical Professionals
Teletherapy Available - Short-term sessions, single sessions or ongoing support
Contact Dr. Holland for more information and for help, or call 707-479-2946 to schedule a telehealth video therapy session.
Therapy dog study results: students reported feeling more supported, less stressed
Therapy dog sessions for stressed-out students proving beneficial for mental health
Therapy dog sessions for stressed-out students are an increasingly popular offering at North American universities. Now, new research from the University of British Columbia confirms that some doggy one-on-one time really can do the trick of boosting student wellness. "Therapy dog sessions are becoming more popular on university campuses, but there has been surprisingly little research on how much attending a single drop-in therapy dog session actually helps students," said Emma Ward-Griffin, the study's lead author and research assistant in the UBC department of psychology. "Our findings suggest that therapy dog sessions have a measurable, positive effect on the wellbeing of university students, particularly on stress reduction and feelings of negativity."
In research published today in Stress and Health, researchers surveyed 246 students before and after they spent time in a drop-in therapy dog session. Students were free to pet, cuddle and chat with seven to 12 canine companions during the sessions. They also filled out questionnaires immediately before and after the session, and again about 10 hours later. The researchers found that participants reported significant reductions in stress as well as increased happiness and energy immediately following the session, compared to a control group of students who did not spend time at a therapy dog session. While feelings of happiness and life satisfaction did not appear to last, some effects did.
"The results were remarkable," said Stanley Coren, study co-author and professor emeritus of psychology at UBC. "We found that, even 10 hours later, students still reported slightly less negative emotion, feeling more supported, and feeling less stressed, compared to students who did not take part in the therapy dog session."
While previous research suggested that female students benefit from therapy dog sessions more than male students, the researchers found the benefits were equally distributed across both genders in this study. Since the strong positive effects of the therapy dog session were short-lived, the researchers concluded that universities should be encouraged to offer them at periods of increased stress.
"These sessions clearly provide benefits for students in the short-term, so we think universities should try to schedule them during particularly stressful times, such as around exam periods," said Frances Chen, the study's senior author and an assistant professor of psychology at UBC. "Even having therapy dogs around while students are working on their out-of-class assignments could be helpful."
The therapy dog sessions were organized in partnership with UBC's Alma Mater Society and Vancouver ecoVillage, a non-profit organization that provides therapeutic services, including therapy dog sessions, and mental health wellness services.
Story Source: Article provided by Science Daily & University of British Columbia. "Sit, stay, heal: Study finds therapy dogs help stressed university students." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312085045.htm.
Dr. Holland offers Canine Assisted Therapy
Connecting with a dog can be powerfully healing and comforting for individuals of all ages and walks of life. In some cases, it can help an otherwise “stuck” patient overcome hurdles in treatment and begin making progress again. The friendly, accepting nature of these beautiful animals makes them ideal “co-therapists”. Canine-assisted therapy has been around for several decades, and will continue to be used for years to come due to its many benefits. The use of dogs as part of therapy and other forms of treatment can be beneficial for a wide range of disorders, issues, and conditions.
About Tallulah – Canine Assisted Therapy
Tallulah is a highly trained service dog who works with Dr. Holland to provide assistance to clients in a variety of ways. She is warm, friendly, and very intuitive. This Labrador Retriever provides a connection that goes beyond words and straight to the heart. Depending on your needs, Tallulah can be merely a quiet presence in the room or be actively involved in therapy.