When your teen is going through a hard time or wrestling with big emotions that contribute to anxiety and depression, it is crucial for them to get as much support as possible.
While support from you as their parent is invaluable, it will also be helpful for them to have an expanded circle of support. This can mean support from therapists, friends, extended family members, and teachers, but it can also include support from animals.
Yes, that’s right! When trained and well-behaved, there are many animals that can provide emotional support that will help your teen on their healing journey. Your teen can enlist a current pet or adopt a new pet to serve as an emotional support animal and help them take steps toward improving their mental wellbeing.
What are emotional support animals?
An emotional support animal is an animal that is trained to provide therapeutic benefits to someone with a mental or emotional health condition.
These animals offer support through companionship, and they are medically prescribed by a doctor in order to provide comfort and support to their owners.
While dogs are the most common type of emotional support animal, these animals can be practically any domesticated species from cats to turtles to birds to rabbits. Although these animals aren’t trained to provide specific services, their presence alone can be enough to help aid in a teen’s healing process.
The benefits of emotional support animals
There’s a reason why over 23 million American households have adopted a pet during the pandemic. In many studies, emotional support animals and even pets in general have been shown to have both emotional and physical health benefits.
When teens spend time with an emotional support animal, it can boost their mood, lower their stress levels, decrease feelings of loneliness, and help them feel supported.
Taking care of an animal also gives teens a sense of purpose and responsibility that can help them push through hard times and challenge negative thoughts like “I’m worthless,” or “I’m no good to anyone.”
When teens experience depression, many times they also experience feelings of worthlessness and shame that cause them to want to isolate themselves from others. Having a pet that shows them unconditional positive regard and always wants to spend time with them will help combat these feelings, helping your teens realize that these negative feelings and thoughts are not the truth.
According to the Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, emotional support animals have also been shown to reduce symptoms of PTSD and other trauma-related symptoms by as much as 82% after just one week.
Whether your teen is wrestling with complicated emotions, debilitating symptoms, or any other mental or emotional health condition, having an emotional support animal can help them manage these feelings and make progress toward healing.
Helping your teen receive an emotional support animal
While emotional support animals do not typically need to receive much training beyond what would be normally required for any other pet, getting a pet certified as an emotional support animal provides distinct advantages.
For example, emotional support animals are allowed to live in homes that have “no pet” policies thanks to the Fair Housing Act.
To receive a prescription for an emotional support animal for your teen, you need to complete the following steps:
Decide whether an emotional support animal will be beneficial for your teen. If they are afraid of animals or there is too much on the family’s plate to take care of a pet, you may want to consider other options.
Adopt a pet or make sure your teen has a well-behaved pet that could serve as an emotional support animal. While your teen’s therapist can write a “prescription” allowing your teen to show that their pet is an emotional support animal, therapists won’t provide or find pets for your family. It’s up to you to adopt a pet if you don’t already have one.
Speak with your teen’s therapist. Either you or your teen need to talk to a licensed therapist who has evaluated your teen so that they are able to write an official emotional support animal letter on official letterhead.
Once you have completed these steps and received official documentation that your teen’s pet can serve as an emotional support animal, your teen will be all set! Help your teen connect with a therapist today when you visit our website.