Therapy animals in schools, clinics, and offices
One-stop-shop for professionals working with therapy animals
AAAIP Services
The Association of Animal-Assisted Intervention Professionals (AAAIP) serves professionals partnering with therapy animals in schools, clinics, or offices. This field is called animal-assisted interventions (AAI). Whether you’re just getting started or growing your existing program, we have all the tools you need to do it safely and ethically.
Education
What every professional needs to know when working with therapy animals. Our self-paced courses cover a range of topics in AAI at every step of your journey.
Certification
The Certification for Animal-Assisted Intervention Specialists (C-AAIS) tests your knowledge of best practices and gives you credibility to work with therapy animals.
Evaluation
You’re a professional, your evaluation should be, too. This evaluation takes place in your workplace and determines your animal’s degree of fit for your specific work environment.
Membership
Enjoy deep discounts on education and certification and attend all AAAIP events for free. Join a community of therapy animal professionals to propel your career forward.
AAAIP Courses
Whether you’re new to AAI or want to deepen your knowledge, you’ll feel empowered to work at the highest standards. Our courses cover everything you need to know, down to the how-to guides and documentation templates to support your work.
Save with AAAIP Membership
Become a member of AAAIP and learn the best way to add therapy animals to your work in schools, offices, clinics, and other professional settings. Members save on courses, certification, and attend events for free.
Attend Our Next Virtual Event
Preparing Your Workspace for AAI
August 19, 4 p.m. ET/1 pm PT
When bringing a therapy animal into your workspace, you need to have carefully planned and prepared the environment to ensure both the therapy animal and the people it serves thrive. How is your workspace set up to support the animal? Do you have designated retreat spaces? What signage do you need on your doors? Have you planned for designated areas where the animal can eliminate, and are you equipped with the right cleaning supplies and first aid kits? Thoughtful preparation for these factors is essential to meet field standards and create a safe, supportive environment. Join us for a session with Kerri Golding Oransky, LCSW Child, Adolescent and Adult Therapist, as we discuss these important practical considerations for setting up your workspace for a successful animal-assisted intervention.
Testimonials
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This term describes all activities involving therapy and facility animals. These are interactions that intentionally incorporate animals in health, education, and human service for the purpose of therapeutic gains and improved health and wellness.
These are therapy pets that have been evaluated to be safe to interact with a wide range of populations. This special evaluation proves that the animals can effectively provide physical, psychological, and emotional benefits to those they interact with. Facility animals are a specific type of therapy animal that are regularly present in a residential, clinical, or educational setting.
AAAIP is the only organization created specifically to serve the needs of professionals who integrate therapy animals into their practice. Other therapy animal organizations provide services for handlers who plan to volunteer with their pets. But AAAIP provides education, certification, and evaluation for people who will work with their animals in their professional roles in fields like mental health, allied health, and education.
Yes. There is a large field of professionals guiding this work, empirically investigating the intervention, and developing best practices that set the standards for this work. AAI has been empirically proven to be effective in impacting various treatment and educational outcomes.
For too long, therapy animal professionals have not had a central place to come for help ethically integrating AAI into their work. They’ve had to rely on volunteer organizations and develop programs in isolation. As a sister organization to Pet Partners, which serves volunteers, AAAIP is led by field experts and collaborates with subject matter experts around the globe.