Animal Assisted Therapy

What if the missing element in your treatment approach isn’t another modality—but another species? The Animal Assisted Therapy Interventionist (AAT-I) Online Credential Program equips behavioral health clinicians with the clinical, ethical, and practical competencies to incorporate animals into the therapeutic alliance—enhancing client rapport, deepening insight, and expanding treatment possibilities across settings and populations.

Whether you’re curious about equine-facilitated psychotherapy, seeking to support clients with ADHD, trauma, or anxiety, or looking to integrate a trusted companion into your counseling space ethically, this comprehensive 8-course online program offers the guidance and structure to do so with confidence.

Earn your AAT-I Certificate and save $275 on this 8-course credential.

$1000 – 25.5 CE hours · full program access

Key Takeaways:

• Incorporate animals with intention: Learn to ethically and effectively blend animal-assisted interventions with your theoretical orientation and treatment goals.
• Expand your clinical reach: Discover how AAT benefits diverse clients—across diagnoses, settings, and developmental stages—and how to match interventions accordingly.
• Ensure safety and effectiveness: Develop competencies for client screening, animal selection, risk mitigation, outcome tracking, and advocating for your co-therapist.

Why this Certificate Program?

• Comprehensive and credentialed: This is the only self-paced, 25.5-hour online program that leads to the AAT-I designation, backed by a trusted CE provider.
• Led by a true practitioner-scholar: Dr. Christina Strayer's career embodies both clinical depth and experiential wisdom in the field of AAT.
• Designed for real-world practice: Learn how to begin, sustain, and evaluate an AAT practice—whether you're working in schools, clinics, hospitals, private practice, or the community.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of "The History of AAT and AAT Principles" course, participants will be able to:

• Define the Human-Animal Bond, its importance in AATC and its effect in human interaction

• Explain the rationale for Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI), Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) and Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT)

• Describe the theoretical framework/Biophilia hypothesis for Animal Assisted Therapy

Upon completion of the "AAT Competencies and Multicultural Considerations" course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the ACA and Pet Partners Core Competencies for AAT-C

• Describe various ethics, laws, risks, and multi-cultural considerations that must be factored into the practice of AAT

• List the key elements of triadic relationships and being your animal’s best advocate in an AAT setting

Upon completion of the "Animals as Co-Therapists: Selection, Behavioral, and Training Considerations" course, participants will be able to:

• Explain how to understand and know an animal’s temperament, how different animals signal their needs and/or stress levels, and how you can facilitate the animal’s socialization, desensitization, and comfort in preparing them for work in ATT

• Identify how to objectively assess an animal’s suitability, strengths and limitations for the therapy setting and how to select the appropriate training for you and your animal for AAT

• Identify key elements of animal care and advocacy, and the topic of Zoonosis and its implication in AAT

Upon completion of the "Introduction to Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy" course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the evolution of EFP and the difference between EFP, Therapeutic Riding, and Hippotherapy

• Define the roles of the mental health professional and the equine specialist in EFP, and differentiate models of interaction between the horse, client, mental health professional, and the equine specialist in EFP

• List important elements within EFP of horse behavior, reasons horses may or may not be suitable, and specific benefits to populations shown to benefit from EFP

Upon completion of the "Animals as Co-Therapists: Blending Animal Interventions with a Range of Professional Theories" course, participants will be able to:

• Explain attachment theory, how an animal as a co-therapist can provide a corrective attachment experience for your clients, and the different means by which the human-animal interaction can elicit unexpected vulnerability and disclosures in others

• Match AAI’s with a variety of evidence-based counseling theories, explain how you would incorporate AAI’s with your theoretical orientation to support the population with which you choose to work

• Describe how to assess the suitability, amenability, and related safety concerns of each client to animal-assisted interventions in counseling

Upon completion of the "Animals as Co-Therapists: Exploring Animal-Assisted Interventions Across Professions, Settings, and Populations" course, participants will be able to:

• Explain key elements that factor into the effective matching of AAIs with clients’ needs/goals and how AAT can increase empathy in clients

• Identify how AAT can be utilized in a variety of settings that include: group, crisis, trauma, ADHD, autism, speech and physical/occupational therapy, anxiety, grief/loss, substance use, aging, medical and correctional settings, including examples of specific animal-assisted interventions

• List specific health considerations that must be factored into client interaction with animals in a medical setting

• Explain the “inner Zoo” and how to have animals as co-therapists in Group Settings

Upon completion of the "Developing Treatment Plans and Tracking Outcomes" course, participants will be able to:

• Explain how to write a treatment plan with goals and objectives utilizing AAT

• Describe various AAIs that relate to building empathy, developing emotional regulation skills and client self-esteem, creating a corrective attachment experience, and working with anxious or depressed clients or those who have ADHD

• Explain the importance of using outcome measures in AAT

• Identify the different types of outcome measures that can be used to measure the effectiveness of AAT interventions

Upon completion of the "Animal-Assisted Therapy Overview and Experiential Examples" course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the Biophilia Hypothesis and its connection to the Human-Animal Bond

• Describe the Psychosocial, Emotional, Physiological Benefits of AAT

• Identify the dangers and risks associated with practicing AAT

• Describe the competencies necessary to ethically and effectively practice AAT

As you seek to bridge the clinical and the intuitive, theory and presence, people and animals—this program offers clinicians a structured, research-informed path to ethically integrate animals into their professional work, thereby enriching both client outcomes and practitioner engagement.

Add this certificate course to your cart to begin learning instantly.

This is a non-interactive, self-study program and consists of over 25.5 hours of video instruction, reading assignments, written assignments, post-tests, and evaluations.

Upon completion of all 8 online courses, individuals will earn the AAT-I and can begin using the credential AAT-I.
Textbooks are required to complete AAT-I learning content. Reading material is not included with course enrollment and must be purchased separately from retail booksellers. (See "Course Details" tab for specifics)