People who love dogs know how a big pair of eyes and wagging tail can be a mood booster after a long day. There is nothing like a bark and kisses from a puppy or other animal that faithfully waited for you to get home to be loved. Often, pets provide that love in return tenfold, more than any human can ever possibly fathom. Pets and recovery are often a great source of therapy and support emotional and spiritual health as well as boost physical health.
What is Pet Therapy
Pet therapy is a term that includes animal-assisted activities that help people in recovery cope or deal with health issues. As pets play a larger role in our lives, emotional support animals are becoming more popular as a way to help people deal with mental health conditions. An emotional support pet can accompany an offer into any place as long as it is registered as a service animal. Often, service animals provide equal parts companionship and service for the person they help.
Addiction Recovery
Some addiction treatment centers use pets as a way to increase success in recovery. Sometimes it is puppies, but it may also be horses and other animals who provide support for those who need it. A few ways pets aid in the treatment process of recovery include:
- Building confidence and self-worth: caring for pets increases confidence in doing a good job. Pets give gratitude for small gestures of love and care, which can inspire more selfless acts from the person in recovery
- Learning emotional intelligence: pets respond to emotions, and being around animals can help people in recovery learn to control how they respond and adjust to the pet’s emotional needs more than their own
- Teaching responsibility: pets need care and support. They provide for and take care of something other than the self and helps you to think about something other than your own struggle
No matter what animals a person enjoys or is willing to work with in recovery, they can provide all kinds of support for a journey to a drug-free life. If you or a loved one struggles with substance abuse, animals can support a recovery alongside professionals, therapists, and psychiatrists. There is a lot of work that needs to happen in recovery, but animals can provide comfort and care humans cannot always provide through a tough emotional, physical, and spiritual process.
Oceanfront will help you kick addiction to the curb with our premier beachfront community in Laguna Beach. Our program provides lots of ways to engage with holistic and alternative methods of recovery. We are founded on the principle of providing the best in care and services at affordable prices. We are located in beautiful Laguna Beach. Call us to find out how we can help you navigate addiction recovery: 877-279-1777
