“If You Change Your Words You Can Change the World” or “Never Say ‘Pet Therapy’”

Imagine you are returning home from a day’s work, from a trip, or from the grocery story. You have a pet at home – a dog we’ll call Lucy. You know what to expect when Lucy sees you: Lucy’s tail begins to wag energetically. She may bound up to you and wants to lick your face. You automatically reach down to pet her, to receive her unconditional love, her pure doggie affection. You automatically smile and even chuckle a little over this creature in your life, this creature who affords such delight by her very being, such company and comfort.

Now step back mentally from this image. Would you use the word “pet therapy” to describe the effect on you of Lucy’s warm greeting and presence? Would you describe Lucy to others as your therapy dog?

What do we mean when we use the word ‘therapy’? A quick Internet search surfaced these definitions.

--“Therapy” the treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating, or curative process: speech therapy.

-- Therapy is the action taken to begin a healing process.

-- Therapy is a session where (sic) a health professional aims to provide remedial or compensatory strategies and treatment to improve a participant’s function or well-being. It may first involve assessment of needs, then planning of goals, treatment and finally, review of progress / success of treatment.

What all the definitions have in common, and what we also instinctively conclude when we hear or use the word ‘therapy’, is that it is an approach to addressing a deficit, a treatment to cure an illness, to bring health in place of a lack of it. It is a medical term.

Many nursing homes and assisted living communities have pets who live in ‘the community, and/or pets that are brought in on occasion. That’s a good thing! What is not so good in the vast majority of these circumstances is that the pets are labeled “therapy dogs” or “therapy cats”.

In these circumstances the ‘therapy dogs’ “help combat loneliness, helplessness and boredom among seniors at nursing care centers by offering sensory stimuli and a way to give and receive affection.” (Source is at link below. Accessed January 15, 2013.)

Is this how you or I view the impact our pets have on us? You get it, don’t you. In such labeling, we are medicalizing a human experience. We are medicalizing the normal human activities of interacting with another creature, a pet. We are also revealing the fact that our view of our residents is not holistic but medical.

In the movement of transformational culture change in which the nursing home moves from INSTITUTION to HOME, pets are seen, experienced and described for the wonderful creatures they are, for the gift they give to all of us. You know, just like you and I experience our pets at HOME.

We make changes in our practices and in our concepts by changing our words. Let’s use words that express what we really intend. The delight, the company, the gift of domesticated animal creatures living in or visiting our home is “pet”. Period.

Read about therapy dogs at
http://wcfcourier.com/lifestyles/resident-therapy-dog-brightens-seniors-days/article_ef0657bf-2ef1-5839-913c-7995251a3f7a.html