Seoul City to adopt animal-assisted therapy service

By Lee Hyun-jeong
Seoul City is pushing to introduce an animal-assisted therapy service to support psychological treatment of citizens suffering from mental illnesses, sources said Sunday.
Starting next month, Seoul Metropolitan Government will run a pilot project that offers psychological treatment through the bonding between humans and pets. The program takes a cue from a U.S.-based service that provides a chance for positive interactions with animals for the sake of people’s health and well-being.
The program will offer bonding opportunity to applicants with pets as they feed, groom, take a stroll and play games together, city officials said.
The pet-assisted therapy will first be offered to those living in public shelters and in need of psychological treatment. Each person will be paired up with a pet and its owner that have acquired due qualifications.
“This is part of an attempt to better support psychological stability for those in need and to improve the public perception toward the pets, through using the positive effects of the bonding between humans and pets,” city officials said.
The city will recruit 100 volunteers and provide 80 hours of classes in animal assisted-therapy and hands-on courses. They will be qualified to participate in the program only if they complete the courses and pass the evaluation.
The evaluation will be based on the criteria mapped out by the U.S. civic organization Delta Pet Partners, the city said. It will include tests on sociability and aggression of the pets.
The pilot project will consist of 10 classes, each running for an hour.
After carrying out the project by April next year, the city will determine whether to expand the program and include abandoned dogs, officials said.
(rene@heraldcorp.com)