Animal-Based Therapy Reflection

considered to have emotional disturbances and were not in the general classroom all day. These children where in an individual school for children with bad behaviors. The research noted that many of the children were getting the benefit of the classroom, but when crisis arose they would revert back to their bad behaviors. An example of this was a boy who was doing well in the classroom with his behaviors, but when his parents were arrested on felony charges, his behavior became unstable. When the research had started, the school social workers in the schools had therapy dogs and where trained in Animal Based Therapy. When the children’s behaviors acted up, they were sent to the social workers office where the dogs would be. Just by petting the dogs and sitting with them while they were talking to the therapist, the children showed vast improvement in their behavior after the crisis and where more likely to discuss their problems openly. The dogs gave the children support and guidance, which allowed then to open up. (Geist, 2011).
Section 9

When entering the social work field, I was not educated about every therapy technique and every social work theory. My instinct was to use a strengths based approach. I still incorporate strengths based because specializing in fields that deal with poverty, domestic violence and homelessness, some of these clients really need the boost to know that they do have the ability to help themselves. Now that I have more practice and knowledge of theories, I can do more cognitive approaches with my clients that center on