Social Work Intervention Utilizing Animal-Assisted Therapy

Social Work
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Question 1 The intervention utilizes animal-assisted therapy, which uses animals towards targeted treatment. This type of intervention can be used for physical, mental, or social goals and outcomes. During the practice, a visit program was introduced to where animals accompany their owners on appointments or frequent visits with the residents. This intervention's success depends on effective obedience training that the animal should be subjected to before beginning to work with the patients. Temperament tests and other complete screenings are also conducted on the animal to maintain the safety of the patient and healthcare providers. Animal-assisted therapy offers numerous advantages to the treatment journey of a patient. Unlike traditional therapy methods, and animal acts as a tool which targets a variety of treatment goals. The benefits are but are not limited to helping the patients improve their balance, morbidity, endurance, and range of motion (Tavella, 2020). Also, an animal can be instrumental in helping a patient compensate for his or her cognitive and perceptual deficits. Consequently, the patient receives numerous psychological benefits such as building rapport with the animal, stress reduction, motivation, and increased self-esteem. To assist on the project, I called upon the services of Qu Wu, the founder of China's PHF treatment do public welfare project and Wuqi studio. His expertise in pet behavior was needed in the implementation of animal-assisted therapy on mental health patients. He is keen on pet protection, training, and education, making him the perfect fit for the project at SMHC. Qu Wu has a clientele of older adults with cognitive disabilities, children with autism, children with leukemia, physically disabled, and depressed individuals (Dimitrijević, 2009). The intervention session was divided into three; preparation, actual session, and preparation. In preparation, the agency gets in touch with the clients and surveys them to collect the needed data. A service dog agency is contacted, which is Qu Wu, and a location is picked. The clients that are involved in the project vary in characteristics depending on their state of health. Some clients are completely recovered and are in stable condition. Another section of clients is still battling the side effects of the medication they took in previous treatments, while others are not socialized. This intervention is conducted outdoors on the Bingjiang skateboard park and inside Wuqi studio. People involved engaged in games with different breeds of dogs while sharing stories and naming them. While interacting with the dogs, the individuals learned how to train and observe the mannerisms of a therapy dog. This intervention was successful as all individuals involved seemed to enjoy spending time with the dogs. The environment was joyous and with volunteers and clients bringing food to share. Consequently, they showed a willingness to be involved and participate in future sessions. Question 2 Termination of treatment can occur for many reasons, such as lack of agreement on a treatment plan, lack of funds, psychiatrists closing their practice, or patients moving away. Whichever the case, the generally accepted process of termination protects the wellbeing of all individuals involved. The structure of an agency s crucial in maintaining acceptable termination of treatment. For instance, a competent organization will provide patients with a termination notice. The notice depends on the length of treatments and the patient's condition. For most cases, a 30-day notice is considered reasonable; however, a psychiatrist should liaise with state medical boards and insurance providers to provide a specific date (NCBI, 2010). After that, the psychiatrist should give clear. Recommendations to the patient on the course of treatment going forward. This included a clear explanation as to why he or she believes that the patient should or shouldn't continue with the treatment. A patient experiencing termination of therapy needs to have closure and understand why changes are happening in the treatment program. Failure in a system can be catastrophic to a patie...