Animal Assisted Therapy
Sometimes the most healing relationships don’t need words. Let’s walk this path together — with a four-legged co-regulator by your side.
Grounding and Regulation: Feel calmer, safer, and more present during therapy.
A Softer Way to Heal: Gently work through trauma with the steady presence of an animal.
Experience Joy Again: Let therapy feel less clinical — and more human, warm, and connected.
We can help you move from surviving to living, with the support of an animal who helps you feel safe, grounded, and more yourself.
Meet Harleigh
You walk into session, maybe feeling a little on edge.
But before a word is even spoken, you’re greeted by soft eyes, steady breath, and unconditional presence.
No pressure, no judgment, just calm.
This is what Animal-Assisted Therapy can offer.
A different kind of therapeutic relationship—one that gently eases your nervous system while helping you feel safer, more connected, and more yourself.
Whether we're working with my therapy dog, Harleigh, cured up beside you or walking side by side outside, something shifts.
You don’t have to “perform” your healing.
You just get to be. And be accepted.
Why Animals Help Us Heal
When you’ve spent years feeling alone in your pain, it can be hard to open up—especially if support has felt cold, clinical, or disconnected in the past.
Dogs offer us something different.
They don’t ask you to explain or justify your feelings.
They don’t need you to “be okay.”
They respond to you as you are, moment by moment—through energy, breath, stillness, and movement.
That kind of presence can help:
Regulate your nervous system
Make it easier to stay grounded, even during hard moments
Bring lightness and play into the therapy room
Offer deep relational repair, without the pressure of words
Create moments of mindfulness, curiosity, and calm
And most importantly?
They help you feel less alone.
Which, for many of my clients, is one of the most powerful parts of healing.
It’s Still Trauma Therapy—Just with a Co-Regulator on Four Legs
Animal-Assisted Therapy doesn’t replace the deep work—it supports it.
We still process trauma.
We still work with triggers, attachment wounds, parts of self, and nervous system responses.
But we do it in a space that feels warmer, softer, more alive.
Whether we’re doing EMDR, parts work, or somatic processing, animals help support:
Greater presence in your body
More emotional regulation during triggering moments
Increased access to calm and even joy
A sense of safety that grows session by session
You don’t have to face the hardest things alone.
And you don’t have to power through discomfort to heal.
What Clients Say It Feels Like
Clients often describe a feeling of relief—like they didn’t know how much they needed that kind of connection until they experienced it.
They’ve described things like:
Feeling more calm and connected in therapy
A deeper sense of presence and anchor to the present moment
Feeling a greater sense of relief and ease in their bodies
A new lightness in therapy, even in the most difficult moments
It’s not just about making therapy easier.
It’s about helping you feel safe enough to do the work—and resourced enough to keep going.
Why I Offer Animal-Assisted Therapy
For clients who are interested, I offer animal-assisted therapy with my therapy dog, Harleigh. Harleigh is registered with Professional Therapy Dogs of Colorado and she is on a constant quest to be the very best girl. Connection is one of the most healing aspects of therapy, and in sessions Harleigh can provide an increased sense of comfort and support to accompany you on your therapy journey.
Harliegh is a long-haired Dachshund- Mini Aussie mix and she loves hiking and taking naps in the sun. In sessions Harleigh might sit by your feet, on the couch with you, or on the floor next us while getting lots of belly rubs. She looks forward to meeting you!
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone Anymore
You deserve a space where therapy doesn’t feel like a performance.
Where you can show up just as you are—vulnerable, scared, curious, hopeful—and be met with softness.
If you’re ready to try something different…
If you’re looking for a deeper, more connected way of healing…
Animal-Assisted Therapy might be the path.
