Feburary is National “Animals Helping Humans” Month…
National "Animals Helping Humans" Month is on again from February 1st through to February 28th. This is our 3rd National event showcasing Australia’s Animal-Assisted Services Sector, a rapidly growing health support industry that is meeting the many mental and physical health needs of our communities. When you register to attend this event you get to choose the sessions that are most relevant to your interests. Every day throughout February there is a one-hour event that can be attended on the day or up to 6 months afterward as a recorded session.
Financial Members of Animal Therapies Ltd receive complimentary registration. Membership starts from $55 for ordinary membership. You can view the membership levels and join here.
Animal Therapies Ltd (ATL) is the leading Australian institution for promoting the prevention and management of mental illness, disability, disease and suffering through animal-assisted services. This includes people at risk of, or who are, experiencing mental illness, eye disease, hearing impairment, seizures, asthma, life-threatening allergies, diabetes, fluctuating blood pressure, cerebral palsy, autism, post-traumatic stress, episodic or serious medical crises, disability, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke, spinal cord injury, and other physical, neurological, or psychological conditions.
During the pandemic, these needs were further heightened by lockdowns and there were many challenges faced in delivering traditional health services to growing numbers of people in need. Between 16 March 2020 and 25 April 2021, over 15.0 million people accessed Medicare subsidised mental health-related services.
ATL is a registered charity and is committed to assisting people through the provision of animal-assisted information through our website registry and funded services. ATL is also committed to providing opportunities for education, training, and the dissemination of research, that brings clarification to the important contributions that animal-assisted services offer. Additionally, our aim is to facilitate networking and professional development opportunities for those interested in or working in the animal-assisted services sector.
As with our 2021 online event, our 2022 "Animals Helping Humans" Month will bring together a broad range of experienced speakers and presenters for our audience’s engagement. Announcements via our website and social media will update our 2022 program of speakers presenting at the event. They will include allied health professionals delivering Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), educators, coaches, learning and development professionals delivering Animal-Assisted Learning (AAL), professional animal handler teams who qualify for visits to workplaces, hospitals, aged care homes, places of study, and other institutions delivering Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA), and professional assistance animal trainers meeting standards as required to train animals to help people with a disability, better access public life (AA).
The 2022 Animals Helping Humans Month uses Whova event application that pivots from in-person to virtual events, providing a suite of interactive tools. This allows the subscriber to tailor their own rich learning experience and networking opportunities. Whova allows Australia-wide participation providing attendees the opportunity to select what is relevant to them, and when it is delivered to them. Whether via scheduled sessions, podcasts, opportunities for virtual Q&A sessions throughout the live sessions, or for later engagement through recorded sessions. Subscribers to the 2022 Animals Helping Humans Month event will have full access to recorded sessions on demand for a 6-month period after the close of the event ending February 2022. Closed captions will be available for all live sessions and transcripts are available for recorded sessions upon request.
The 2022 Animals Helping Humans Month event in February 2022 provides a great opportunity to network with corporate, business, and community organisations, health practitioners, industry leaders, funding body representatives, government organisations, service providers, universities, training organisations, people who have a disability or a lived experience of how animals have helped them, and those people who are looking to work in the sector.